WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) -- In the last five years the military has fired around 1,000 gay service members with skills sorely needed in Iraq, according to a UPI analysis.
The military next week will recall from their civilian lives some 5,600 soldiers to fill out the ranks of 141,000 soldiers serving in Iraq. The service is calling in those former soldiers who have very specific skills tailor made for the Iraq conflict -- food service, truck driving, auto repair, combat engineers, administration specialist, paralegal, healthcare and infantry. It is the largest mobilization of the Individual Ready Reserve in two decades.
However, according to numbers provided by the Army and by the Defense Department, at least 948 gay former service members with the very same specialties have been forced out of the military under the "don't ask-don't tell" policy that bars homosexuals from serving. Not all of the 948 are from the Army.
For instance, the Army is seeking 790 "motor transport operators" -- truck drivers -- to pull a year's duty in Iraq. At least 113 military truck drivers were forced to leave the armed forces between 1998 and 2003.
