DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY

Did Shilts investigate the same military to which I belong? I was both a defense counsel and a prosecutor in the Marine Corps throughout the ‘80s, and I saw dozens of homosexual discharge cases. None of the individuals concerned were “targets” of NIS investigations. The subjects all came forward voluntarily and identified themselves as gay, presumably to obtain the honorable discharge that regulations require. (Heterosexuals had to have put in four years of acceptable service to earn an honorable discharge; homosexuals were able to get one whenever they wished, simply by admitting to being gay.)

The investigations conducted by NIS were designed to ferret out heterosexuals trying to take advantage of the regulations to obtain an early out with good paper. They took place only after individuals identified themselves as homosexual.

MAJ. PAUL T. MC BRIDE, USMC

Alexandria, Va.