I have a problem and to put it mildly I’m pissed off. Everybody relax, chances are that tomorrow morning, regardless of how I feel, the sun will rise in the East and set in the West. The moon will have an impact on our tides and Kate Beckinsale will not call to ask me out. Another guarantee will be some radical leftist fanatic, will respond with phrases like “you’re a f***ing idiot,” “How can you look at your homophobic face in the mirror” or “F*** you.” Several days ago I saw an article stating that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was announcing that gay military members wishing to get married would be granted ten days of military leave. Surprisingly I did not have a problem with this directive. All military members receive 30 days leave per year and they should be allowed to take leave, if approved by command authority, to do as they wish. Department of Defense directive 1327-5, along with the various branches of the military, outlines the regulation on the earning and usage of such leave. As with all government agencies the military policy on leave is elaborate and any attempt to outline all situations that leave is authorized would be futile. Basically leave is designated as “chargeable” and “non-chargeable.” All chargeable leave is deducted from leave earnings, non-chargeable is not subtracted. Example of chargeable leave is a service member going home, on emergency leave, as a result of a death in the family. Example of non-chargeable leave is one recovering from an injury or sickness. Amazingly the 10 day leave for gay military members will be recorded as non-chargeable. If a gay member wishes to get married and the jurisdiction that he or she is in doesn’t perform gay marriage and the nearest jurisdiction is over 100 miles away that service member will be granted up to 10 days non-chargeable leave to get married? To borrow a phrase from the left, “Are you f***ing kidding me?” I feel that this is an unfair policy and will have an adverse effect on moral of a unit. To say that a service member has to take chargeable leave to bury his mother, as I did while on active duty, and a gay person receives a freebie to get married is wrong. I always say that with equality come responsibility. Once you start giving benefits to one group that is not available to others, it creates a problem. This government has a remarkable ability to take a situation, drive a wedge into it and create division. This is my opinion, I entitled to it and just for the record I wish the gay community well but I just don’t think they should get 10 days extra leave.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:33:52 +0000