'60 Minutes' Sergeant Darren Manzella Discharged Under 'DADT'

Army Sergeant Darren Manzella, whose story was the subject of a 60 Minutes piece back in December, has been discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the Servicemember's Legal Defense Fund reports:

"The Iraq war veteran was the first openly gay active duty service member to speak with the media while serving inside a war zone....Manzella, 30, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While under fire on the streets of Baghdad, he provided medical care to his fellow soldiers, Iraqi National Guardsmen and civilians. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge, and also received several other awards recognizing his courage and service."

Watch the 60 Minutes segment, AFTER THE JUMP...

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USA Today takes a look at "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" 60 Minutes Army Sergeant Darren Manzella: "Manzella says he was invited to join more than 600 members of an invitation-only MySpace group, Guys and Gals Like Us, for gays who don't hide their orientation from their units. The members use pseudonyms because some gay servicemembers have been discharged for acknowledging their sexual orientation elsewhere online. Nearly 12,000 troops have been dismissed under the policy approved by President Clinton in 1993. Discharges peaked at 1,273 in 2001 and have fallen sharply since the war began. 'A lot of servicemembers are getting 'wink-wink' treatment from their commanders,' says Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which studies the policy."

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60 Minutes Army Sergeant Manzella to Speak in D.C.

Army Sergeant Darren Manzella, whose story was featured on the recent 60 Minutes episode covering "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, will make his first public appearance for the Servicemen's Legal Defense Network on January 9 from 6-8pm, at the Army-Navy Club (at 901 17th Street, N.W.) in Washington D.C.

According to SLDN, "The event, which is free and open to the public, will also feature Darren's mom, Nancy Manzella, who is traveling to Washington to support Darren as he speaks out about his experience serving as an openly gay soldier."

Said Manzella shortly after the 60 Minutes broadcast: "I have not received any notification, positive or negative, from my command since I notified them of my participation in the story or since the broadcasting of the segment...I have served with many men and women in Iraq, Kuwait and throughout the United States. In my opinion, they do not care if a service member is gay or straight. These men and women are my brothers and sisters in arms and I am the same to them. I know that what matters to most is not the sexual orientation of the person in your unit. What matters most is if that person is a good worker, a team player and most importantly, if that person has your back when it rewally matters whether it be in a combat zone, during a training exercise or day to day operations. I think that a majority of troops are in favor, or at the very least indifferent, to the repeal of this policy. I find that many are surprised that so much power and influence over the fate of this policy lies in the hands of individuals who are not even in the ranks of the military."

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Via Think Progress comes notice that the 60 Minutes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" piece really riled up Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues with the conservative group Concerned Women for America (CWA).

Said Concerned Woman spokesman Matt Barber to Cybercast News Service: "The military is no place for such radical San Francisco-style social experimentation, especially during a time of war. It's been the Department of Defense's long-standing position that to allow open homosexual behavior and other immoral conduct harms unit cohesion and troop morale. I know this to be true from personal experience," he stated. "I served 12 years in the military. During basic training, one of my fellow recruits was sent home for soliciting sex from other male recruits. The incident was an enormous distraction from our task at hand, which was to learn how to be good soldiers. Instead, recruits were violated, complaints were filed, and our command was forced to conduct a thorough investigation. It was an incredible waste of time and resources, and it definitely harmed troop morale and unit cohesion. If the bleeding-heart lefties over at CBS News and the SLDN really want to do something to support our troops and help the military, they should abandon their attempts to radically alter and undermine the armed forces, pipe down, put a cork in it and let our brave fighting men and women win this war on terror."

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Army Sergeant Darren Manzella Speaks Out After Interview

Servicemember's Legal Defense Network talked with Army Sgt. Darren Manzella after last night's 60 Minutes interview and Manzella says that so far there has been no response from the U.S. Military regarding his participation in the story.

Said Manzella: "I have not received any notification, positive or negative, from my command since I notified them of my participation in the story or since the broadcasting of the segment...I have served with many men and women in Iraq, Kuwait and throughout the United States. In my opinion, they do not care if a service member is gay or straight. These men and women are my brothers and sisters in arms and I am the same to them. I know that what matters to most is not the sexual orientation of the person in your unit. What matters most is if that person is a good worker, a team player and most importantly, if that person has your back when it rewally matters whether it be in a combat zone, during a training exercise or day to day operations. I think that a majority of troops are in favor, or at the very least indifferent, to the repeal of this policy. I find that many are surprised that so much power and influence over the fate of this policy lies in the hands of individuals who are not even in the ranks of the military."

More at SLDN...

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Duncan Hunter Defends Gay Ban: U.S. Needs "Hardened Warriors" [tr]
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Duncan Hunter Defends Gay Ban: U.S. Needs "Hardened Warriors"

If you missed 60 Minutes and its feature on Army Sgt. Darren Manzella and the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy last night, you can watch it here.

The show featured some particularly repulsive remarks from GOP presidential hopeful Duncan Hunter.

From the show's transcript: "'We aren't the Brits. We're not the Europeans. We're not the Swedes,' says Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter argues that gays do not belong in the U.S. military because American troops need to be hardened warriors, unlike soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly. 'The Fallujahs of the world, the Ramadis of the world that require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability - those are the places the Americans go. The other countries tend to go to the so-called peacekeeper zones, where they have fewer fire fights and less contact with the enemy,' Hunter says. 'And the European nations show little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places.'"

Admiral Alan West, who headed the Royal Navy when the military gay ban ended in Britain, feels that it has helped their military. West responded to Hunter: 'I think American troops are very brave and I think British troops are very brave. But we do it in a little bit of probably a quieter way generally, you know? We don't have to go 'Huh, huh, huh' and shave our heads off and shake hands very hard. You can still kill someone without having to do that.'"

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60 Minutes to Cover "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Wartime Policy

This Sunday, on 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl will look into the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, offering evidence in the form of Army Sgt. Darren Manzella that the armed forces look the other way during wartime, refusing to discharge troops even in the face of "graphic proof" that they are gay.

According to CBS: "Manzella, a medic who served in Iraq for a year, currently serves as medical liaison for the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Kuwait, where he says he is 'out' to his entire chain of command, including a three-star general. After leaving Iraq, he started receiving anonymous emails warning him about his openness that suggested he was being watched, so he went to his commander to head off an investigation he felt was coming. 'I didn’t know how else to do it,' he tells Stahl, acknowledging that he initiated an investigation of himself by violating the policy. 'I felt more comfortable being the one to say, 'This is what is real,'' Manzella says. He then says his commander reported him, as he was obliged to do, and then 'I had to go see my battalion commander, who read me my rights,' he says. He turned over pictures of him and his boyfriend, including video of a passionate kiss, to aid the investigation. But to his surprise, 'I was told to go back to work. There was no evidence of homosexuality,' says Manzella. ''You’re not gay,'' he says his superiors told him. This response confused him and, he says, the closest a superior officer came to addressing his sexuality was to say 'I don't care if you're gay or not.'"

The Servicemen's Legal Defense Network commented on the CBS piece. Said SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis: "Sergeant Manzella’s story illustrates the arbitrary and uneven enforcement of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'. Many commands, like Manzella’s, recognize that their lesbian and gay troops are instrumental in the work of defending our country. Those commanders, who want to do the right thing and retain good troops, should not have their hands tied by this unfair law. Our nation’s commitment to fairness and civil liberties demands an end to this law, and our national security interests are best served by repealing it."

According to SLDN, "Sergeant Manzella joined the Army in April 2002 and deployed to Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II, in March of 2004. He provided medical coverage during more than one hundred 12-hour patrols on the streets of Baghdad. While under fire, Manzella cared for Iraqi National Guardsmen, Iraqi civilians and his fellow service members, earning him the Combat Medical Badge, a swift promotion and several other awards honoring his courage and duty to service. He returned for a second tour of duty in the Middle East in 2006 and is currently stationed in Kuwait."

60 Minutes airs on Sunday at 7 pm EST.

Military Soft On Don't Ask, Don't Tell? [cbs news]
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