Brokeback Army

I've known for several years now how gay the military was, but stories like this seem to be making the headlines more often these days:

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Army officials are investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography Web site, a spokeswoman said Friday.

This is not surprising to me, in the least, but I suspect a lot of people are still trying to get over that whole Jim Jeff thing.

I'll tell you what - if you're a straight-laced straight white guy like myself, the first time you hear a guy tell you, "Yeah, I used to fuck this seargent all the time - he had a great body," - well it kinda throws you for a loop, even if you thought you knew that gay military life was well-known and accepted. Statements like this make you start to wonder how widespread homosexuality in the military really is.

I'm kinda with Gore Vidal on this - I think most people are bisexual at some level - or as Vidal might suggest, there is almost no such thing as having a preference for 'male' vs. 'female' sex - you just prefer what you prefer. It seems natural to me that if all you're ever surrounded by are other men - and your stuck in the desert, or at sea, for months at a time - why not do like the Romans? Soldiers have been doing it for centuries - why not talk about it?

Like my one-time gay male roomy once said, "Think about it - if you're a gay man, what better place to live and work than the military?"

Maybe the Army of One needs a new recruiting slogan - something that would call attention to the greatness of gay Greek warrior-statesman heroes of days past.