The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: Rapunzel on October 28, 2013, 09:11:05 pm
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http://tavernkeepers.com/military-gives-bonus-leave-to-homosexual-couples-to-get-married/
Military gives bonus leave to homosexual couples to get married
John | October 24, 2013
The military now allows for openly homosexual men and women to serve. While this is a topic of much debate, what isn’t being discussed in a “bonus” that was given to such service members so that they could get married. In a Department of Defense announcement on August 13th, the military announced that service members stationed more than 100 miles from a state that allows same-sex marriage will receive an additional 7 days of paid leave to travel to their wedding. If the person is serving outside of the continental United States, that bonus time is extended to 10 days.
“We recognize that same-sex military couples who are not stationed in a jurisdiction that permits same-sex marriage would have to travel to another jurisdiction to marry. That is why the department will implement policies to allow military personnel in such a relationship non-chargeable leave for the purpose of travelling (sic) to a jurisdiction where such a marriage may occur. This will provide accelerated access to the full range of benefits offered to married military couples throughout the department, and help level the playing field between opposite-sex and same-sex couples seeking to be married.”
No matter what your stance on homosexuals serving in the military, the problem here is that the bonus time is only allocated to openly gay service members. There is not a similar bonus offered to heterosexual service members of the armed services. If someone is serving in Korea and wants to travel to the United States to marry their fiancé, they do not get that bonus 10 days to make it happen. Ironically, in the same announcement the Department of Defense promised to see “that all men and women who serve in the U.S. military” and their families are treated fairly and equally.
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One more reason to be ashamed of my country. :thud:
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What?!
Look, my entire outlook on homosexuals can be summed up in three words - "Don't Effing care." I have them as friends, been in the field with them, eaten with them, and shared showers and latrines with them - bunks too, on occasion.
But an extra 7 days leave? Sorry, mates, you have gone beyond what is acceptable. I got 4 days for the births of my first 3 kids. With travel time that meant maybe 12 hours seeing them. For one of them it meant sitting around on a ship for 4 days, catching up on my sleep.
One of my adopted daughters (Hey, she is mine. She told me so when she was 10 years old) got married this year. She got a grand total of 2 hours leave to attend her own wedding.
So 7 effing days?