I don’t personally know very many people in the military, nor do I have any particularly strong ties to it (besides a father who was in the Marines), but I do see them often in the city here. In general, I’m worried by their isolation, how each base is replicated to be exactly like a chunk of America, carved out by a melon baller and plopped right in the middle of where ever, Seoul for example. This leaves them as detached from the local culture as a serviceman desires, and some have never left the base. I wonder, how can you value protecting people you’ve never taken the chance to know?

Anyway, I digress. The end of DADT was, in my limited opinion, well overdue. I’m curious if any actual changes have happened on bases since. I suspect very little. This is an excellent account from one man’s perspective, both of the stress the law caused him, and the relief that (eventually) came from its repeal. I can only hope his story is not an outlier. I suppose I’ll have to make a few more military friends and ask them.