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Cadet Katie Miller, who resigned last year in protest over the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy has reapplied to West Point Academy and been rejected. From the Huffington Post:
Officials at the U.S. Military Academy said they had no choice but to reject Katherine Miller's application, because the repeal of the policy barring gays from serving openly in the military is not in effect yet. The repeal did not occur immediately after President Barack Obama signed the legislation in December as training and certification are required before the ban is lifted.
Miller's statement via Outserve:
Although I am deeply saddened that I will not be readmitted to West Point, I understand and respect the decision. The Academy and the military are required to abide by a strict DADT repeal implementation timeline, and readmission would violate that timeline. My intent has never been to receive “special treatment” but rather to serve alongside my comrades as an equal.I intend to graduate from Yale University and join the military through Officer Candidate School. I harbor no resentment toward the military and I look forward to the day they deem it appropriate for me to put the uniform back on.
Another reason to step on the gas for certifying repeal, OMG (Obama, Gates, Mullen), you're missing out on good recruits.
And what is this I hear about ROTC programs returning to campuses if the military is still discriminating in the recruitment? Wasn't discriminatory practices the heart of the conflict?
6 Comments
3 years into Obama’s Presidency = DADT is still lawFeel the CHANGE yet?
January 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
Then, “Fierce Advocate” Obama is sworn in along with historic Democratic Congressional majorities.
February 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
March 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
April 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
May 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
June 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
July 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
August 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
September 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
October 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
November 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
December 1, 2009 = DADT is still law
January 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
February 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
March 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
April 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
May 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
June 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
July 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
August 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
September 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
October 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
November 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
December 1, 2010 = DADT is still law
January 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
February 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
March 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
April 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
May 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
June 1, 2011 = DADT is still law
And Katie Miller is still being kept out of service.
How much longer for CHANGE?
TimingWhy did she reapply when the policy is still in place?
Acceptance vs. matriculation, maybe?It could be that she reapplied based on the idea that the repeal would be put into place before she matriculated, and that the repeal timeline would be put in place sometime during the admissions process. (One might imagine that West Point, the military, etc. might be able to start accepting out LGB people once the certification date for repeal has been set as long as the time when they’d formally begin service was after the actual repeal date. Then again, they might not.)
Local reactionThere’s the link to Katie’s story as reported in her hometown newspaper, The (Findlay) Courier:
http://www.thecourier.com/Issu…
Not for the AcademiesStudents at West Point (and the Naval and Air Force Academies) are on active duty from their first day of basic training, unlike students in ROTC programs who are on reserve duty and periodically activated for training (like summer training with active duty units).
So the policy applies to cadets and midshipmen the entire time they are in the school, not just after graduation.
Stupid, wrong and evil policy, but this isn’t a loophole in it.
Again, that’s acceptance vs. matriculation.If the admissions schedule for West Point is anything like that in other colleges, acceptance date is not the same as the beginning of classes (or, in the case of West Point, basic training), and both are later than the date of application. The gap between the submission of the application and the actual beginning of training can, in the case of most colleges, be up to 9 months. West Point may run on an accelerated acceptance process, but I imagine that an applicant doesn’t begin basic training immediately upon applying to West Point — Miller may have submitted an application hoping that in the gap between applying and starting basic training, DADT would be gone.
(I wonder what the West Point policy will be if by, say, next fall, a final repeal date has been set but not yet enacted. Will applications from LGB students be considered if training would not begin until after the repeal date, or will students not even be able to apply at such a time?)