[Vision2020] A Response to West Point Cadet Ketherine MIller's Resignation

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of Mother Jones at:

 

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/open-letter-usma-cadet-katherine-miller-
west-point-gay-lesbian-dadt

 

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MEMORANDUM

 

TO: Cadet 2nd Class K. Miller, USA

FROM: Midshipman 2nd Class A. Weinstein, USN (Ret.)

 

Subj: SEPARATION

 

I'm an editor for Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco, specializing in
military and defense affairs. But once upon a time I was Midshipman Adam
Weinstein, USNA class of 2000.until, like you, I resigned from an
Academy-Annapolis-at the beginning of my junior year.

 

My reasons for leaving were not due to DADT-rather, I was just a liberal
with a big mouth and a lot of moral misgivings about the Academy's internal
workings, and I returned to the reserves after 9/11- but in your letter to
the chain of command I sensed a similar dilemma, a forced choice between
upholding the honor concept, which I loved, and being the person I was born
to be.

 

A flood of emotions came back to me in reading of your decision. I remember
especially the last few weeks after I'd submitted my resignation, waiting to
be separated, while I still lived in Bancroft Hall, and was among my
shipmates in the brigade, but sensed acutely that I wasn't any longer of the
brigade. It was sad, saying goodbye to a place I really loved, people I
really cared for, and a job I really saw myself doing for many years. But
there was a sense that it wasn't my place, and I grew anxious about my next
steps in life.

 

I suspect you're going to go through a similar time right now. You've
already been accepted to Yale, and given your academic interests in LGBT
equality and military affairs, you're likely beginning a fruitful, lifelong,
love-hate association with the defense establishment. I've gone that route,
and felt especially grateful for it. It's given me the opportunity to be
more critical of the military than most military people can be; it's also
enabled me to articulate the military ethos to fellow journalists and
progressives in a way that doesn't come naturally to them.

 

If you choose that route, though, you may feel the occasional twinge of
regret over your decision. For a lot of reasons, but primarily this one:
People will say you didn't go all the way. You weren't a real, proven member
of your class, and aren't qualified to speak as an authority. You'll feel
this pressure all the more, because it will come from elements that believe
deeply that homosexuality is a sin, one that can't be tolerated in the
ranks. Their way of dealing with you will be to dismiss your experience and
membership in the profession of arms.

 

I will tell you what my closest, most valued USNA classmates told me: You
must never for a second give yourself over to the sour-grapes macho attitude
of some cadets and alums that you "washed out." You made an affirmative
decision, one that demonstrates a degree of courage and strength that many
in the Corps and the professional officers' ranks will never know.

 

Beyond that, good luck. I hope to chat sometime. Or to at least meet you at
an Army/Navy tailgater.

 

V/R,

 

Adam Weinstein

MIDN 2/C USN (Ret.)

 

P.S. Beat Army!

 

-------------------

 

West Point Cadet Sergeant Katherine Miller speaks out

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60nzcYrw5Ds

 

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Pro patria,

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime."

 

-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

 

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