After Coming Out as a Lesbian, a Student May Owe $80,000 to Army ROTC

[TalkingDog]

http://chronicle.com/article/After-Coming-Out-Student-May/65550/?key=Gj93dVg8MidPZSRjfyBIeCJROn1xKR4rbCdOYigaZV5U

Four years ago, Sara Isaacson had a full-ride ROTC scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a dream of becoming an Army doctor like her grandfather. Today she may owe nearly $80,000 for the cost of books and out-of-state tuition that the Army paid the university on her behalf.

Ms. Isaacson, who identified as a straight woman when she started college, says she acknowledged to herself last November that she was lesbian. After consulting with trusted friends and advisers on the campus, she revealed her orientation in a formal memorandum to Lt. Col. Monte Yoder, head of the university's Army ROTC program. That put her in violation of Defense Directive 1304.26, better known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the 1993 Clinton administration compromise that allows gay people to serve in the military as long as they do not divulge their sexual orientation.

She was notified in March that she was being discharged and told that a recommendation had been made that she repay $79,265.14 to the government.

The chemistry major from Port Washington, Wis., says the policy places people at odds with one the Army's key virtues: "I didn't feel like I could be a good officer if I didn't have integrity."



So if she had discovered she had epilepsy induced by flashing lights or that she was allergic to .....I dunno, army food, would they be asking her to pay back the money? This is fucked up. Seriously fucked up.

[Kolesar]

1. My ROTC roommate refused a commission & they made him scrape paint in Norfolk for 2 years as an E1

With an engineering degree

[TalkingDog]

2. I realize that part of the "deal" is to become part of a unit

And bucking orders or being an individual in any way shape or form is anathema to that, but, in her case if she didn't know, she didn't know. Even if she had a suspicion, that is not KNOWING.

Not everybody is as fully aware of their sexuality as other people; who know from the time they are very young. It could all be solved so easily.....

[Kolesar]

4. "Even if she had a suspicion, that is not KNOWING."

Life puts big decisions upon teenagers. I am sympathetic to Sara. And I can just imagine that she got some Army letter from somebody with no accountability(if the Army is anything like the Navy). In the 1980s they make you scrape paint, in the aughts, they make you pay $80,000. Maybe getting free to start a career or more education is a better deal than "Ron" got.

How would the Army collect? They cannot foreclose on her house.

[LARED]

3. That's a steep price to pay

While I admire her willingness to act as an authentic person, I don't have a lot of sympathy for her financial plight.

The Don't ask, Don't tell policy is pretty clear (and unfair), and she knew this when signing up. As far as her argument that not coming out interferes with her integrity. The Army will not buy it. As far as they are concerned having integrity is about a moral code and holding certain values. Being a lesbian is not on that list.

On edit

She could have easily meet her obligation to the Army buy simply fulfilling the time requirement that comes with the free education and then moving on with her life.

If she had discovered she had "epilepsy induced by flashing lights or that she was allergic to .....I dunno, army food" that would be considered a disability.

[ecstatic]

5. Based on the way everything unfolded, I think she wanted a way out

and was hoping the bill would be excused. I've been there done that with the college ROTC thing. You have to make a decision prior to sophomore year on if you want to continue in the program or you're stuck with the entire bill.

[Better Today]

6. That's sort of what I'm reading too. Seems an odd time to come out,

unless she was trying to get a boot-out just after getting all the perks but before having to serve.

To me, this is just another reason to end DADT, because then it can't be used to not serve once a commitment has been made.