Re-enlistment choice looms for discharged gay veterans

The main concern on the minds of two discharged service members now that "don't ask" is repealed: hitting the gym.

"If I'm going to go back to the Army, which I plan to, I need to get in shape," Lt. Dan Choi tells The Lookout. "I've been doing a lot of nonstop media stuff, so I'm not at the level. ... I used to do 100 push-ups in two minutes. I've got to get back."

Michael Gerson, who was discharged in 2005 while in naval submarine training, says he's going to get into shape to take his mind off waiting for repeal to be "certified."

"Realistically, I'm looking at the timetable, and I haven't really done much in the past six years, so I'd have to do something to get back in shape," Gerson of Stockton, Calif., told The Lookout. Both Gerson and Choi tried to re-enlist in October when a federal judge refused to enjoin her decision striking down the law as discriminatory, thus in legal terms creating an opening for would-be re-enlisters who are gay. The new law does not specify that discharged members may re-enlist, but the Pentagon's report on "don't Ask" recommended it.

Choi, who outed himself on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show and was later arrested for chaining himself to the White House fence to protest "don't ask, don't tell," says it will be difficult for him to integrate the past two years he's spent as an activist with the more regimented life of an Army officer. He says his fellow discharged veterans and activists are wrestling with the full implications of finally being allowed to join up again.

"We really are getting in the mindset of, are we ready to go back in the military? It's a tough question, because our country discriminated against us," he said. "There's a PTSD involved with getting kicked out." PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder.

More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the law since it passed in 1993.

Choi expects that many of them will rejoin, but he points out that age requirements for enlisting may prevent some. The Marines' age limit for enlistment is 28. The Army's age limit is 41. It's still unclear whether exceptions will be made for soldiers discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" who now want to reenlist.

"If it takes 12 years, I won't be able to go into the Army," Choi says. "I hope it doesn't take even one year."

Choi said that this interim period will be a time for reflection and preparation. There's "a lot of contemplation, a lot of reflection, still a bit of euphoria" among people, he said. "We all know [that during] this interim period we have to stop and reflect on what service really means."

According to various news reports, discharged Marine Tim Smith of Memphis, Tenn.; discharged Army Sgt. Anthony Wilfert of Nashville, Tenn.; and discharged seven-year Army veteran Warren Arbury of Savannah, Ga., are seriously considering re-enlisting.

Gerson told The Lookout that his re-enlistment plan is to focus on "physical fitness, pay off some bills and everything else, make sure everything's squared away so nothing's going to hinder me."

(Photo of Choi protesting the law in April: AP)