Extremist Dominionist Christians

Going back to the early-1980s at least, extremist Christians and now the Dominionist movement, have wanted to create "God's Army" within the framework of the US military. I served under an extremist Christian in my military intelligence unit in Augsburg, Germany, who was on a campaign to eliminate gays, atheists, Jews and Muslims from the US Army. Incidentally, he had the lowest reenlistment rate in the entire US military, so bad that it warranted a Congressional investigation. Not only was he discouraging good soldiers from reenlisting, he was robbing the military of valuable, experienced manpower - each linguist, for example, cost the military millions to investigate their backgrounds for the necessary security clearance, to train them in their target language, and for further training in the specifics of their jobs.

The 'War with Islam' this BBC article references isn't new, it's just more contemporary, and is just the tip of the iceberg of the larger extremist Christian movement.

Response to Military dot com article on returning gays from Afghanistan

The history of human progress is the history of liberal actions. Consider this - in the late 18th Century, the status quo was monarchy, hence conservatives wanted to 'conserve' rule by monarchs. The liberal action was to fight to achieve democracy; both America and France fought that fight and won.

In the mid-19th Century, the status quo in the American south was slavery, hence conservatives wanted to 'conserve' labor provided for free by slaves. The liberal action was to abolish slavery and the irony is that it was forwarded by a Republican US President.

From the establishment of the United States through the early-20th Century, the status quo was that women in America had no right to vote, hence conservatives wanted to 'conserve' the second-class status of women. The liberal action was to grant women suffrage so that they could vote.

This could go on and on backwards and forwards, but the key issue is that people and societies evolve. You can choose to be a noun or you can choose to be a verb; opt to sit and hold on to what will be The Past as soon as it occurs, or you can adapt to what will be The Future when the Now becomes The Past. You can choose to drive the ship of state by looking forward off the bridge, or you can try to avoid icebergs navigating from the stern staring longingly at Where You've Already Been.

We no longer fight with swords and shields and it's time for the current thinking to get shelved along with them.

Gays have been in the military since human time began, and we're better off for it. Any person's desire to serve his or her country should be respected, not denigrated.