PHOTO: Marine Veteran Eric Alva, the first American injured in the Iraq War.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Tell: An Intimate History of Gay Men in the Military
As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" comes to an end, we sent Chris Heath to interview dozens of gay servicemen from the past and present to find out what life was really like as America's military struggled with its last great identity crisis
By Chris Heath
Photographs by Dan Winters
September 2011

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201109/dont-ask-dont-tell-gay-soldiers-military?printable=true¤tPage=all

Many gay servicemen in the modern era—including Eric Alva (Marines, 1991–2004)—have completed long military careers without their sexuality ever being revealed. And therefore few people realized that the first American seriously wounded in the invasion of Iraq during the second Gulf war was a gay man.

When Alva signed up, before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he had to lie on his paperwork. "I knew I was lying," he says. "But I loved what I did, I loved my job, and I didn't want to tell anyone. I said, 'It's going to be my secret.' I knew I was not going to be happy in a way, but I knew this was what I wanted." In 2003 he was deployed to the Middle East, and on March 21 he crossed the border from Kuwait. His unit was part of a huge convoy that stopped outside Basra. Alva got out of his Humvee and went to fetch something from the back of the vehicle. "That's when I triggered the IED. I was awake, my hearing was sort of gone. My hand was covered in blood and part of my index finger was gone. The chaplain was holding my head and I was telling him I didn't want to die. I was taken off a helicopter in Kuwait—it was estimated that I was only in Iraq about three hours—and carried into surgery. I woke up later and when I looked down I saw that the right side of my sheet was flat. I cried myself asleep, only to wake up hours later and see that it's true: My leg is gone."

As he recuperated, he learned about his inadvertent status. "I don't know who designated me to be the first. I was never given a certificate or anything. One-millionth shopper. Now I have the dubious distinction of being the first American injured when the war started. It didn't make it better or worse. I mean, my life was changed forever. I was angry that my leg was gone. Even when I was still in the hospital, hours would go by so slow, and I actually said to myself: 'Who is going to love me now?' I'd never really experienced dating anyone. 'Who is going to love me now? I'm missing a leg.' "

[underpants]

1. WOW the odd irony.

There are some amazing testimonies on that site. And, there are some pictures of people that I would never have guessed were gay. Never.

great post Amerigo

[polmaven]

2. I knew that the policy before DADT

was amazingly restrictive and intolerant, but I wasn't aware that there were actually questions on the enlistment paperwork regarding sexual orientation....how stupendously bigoted is THAT???

WOW!

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Awful. AWFUL! It is shameful what they and their partners have to go through because

this country is so close-minded.

This crap should have ended during Clinton's presidency.

[xchrom]

4. We live in a DADT world. Thank you, sir, for your story. Nt