PostSecret: Gay Soldier

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 6:56pm

This is one of today's PostSecrets.

Words fail me, but it speaks for itself. Very sad.

We've come so far, but we have so far to go.

"I know the guys in my unit fragged me when they found out I'm gay. So no, I don't give a rat's ass about the future of this country."
PostSecret

[snl89]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 9:24pm

man, that's so sad

I think PostSecret in general is SO amazing. Actually, at the very beginning of this year, Frank, the one who started the project, came to speak at my school, and it was one of the most powerful events I've ever been to. Truly unforgettable. I think people have gotten so used to the idea of these "secrets" being.. well, being like what BroadwaySecrets is: taking specific topics (like Broadway) and using "secrets" to kind of say things you don't like about that topic that you wouldn't usually say if it weren't anonymous.

But the REAL PostSecret is soooo much more than that. There are plenty of funny ones, for sure, but even more than that, SO many of them deal with being suicidal, or just in general really really difficult things. I'd imagine Frank gets LOTS of secrets about people being gay too. It's just... it's really powerful and inspiring in a strange kind of way to see all the secrets people post.


So yeah, PostSecret= amazing



and that secret really was extremely powerful

[Parks]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 10:24pm

I'm so confused by that entry.. is that person dead? If he were fragged, wouldn't he be dead and unable to write that?

Not meant to be rude at all--truly do not understand it.

[Yawper]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 10:47pm

wounded, not necessarily dead

[snl89]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 10:53pm

I'm so confused by that entry.. is that person dead? If he were fragged, wouldn't he be dead and unable to write that?

Not meant to be rude at all--truly do not understand it.


No I definitely thought the same thing. But yeah, I guess maybe to be "fragged" doesn't necessarily mean to be killed, but just to be bombed? So maybe he was bombed but survived? That's how I took it

[Yawper]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 11:12pm

not bombed - intentionally wounded by one's own unit member(s) (usually by shooting) during an active engagement with the enemy

It was somewhat common during Vietnam when troops disliked their leader, especially if they felt the leader was incompetent

[snl89]

Posted: 10/26/08 at 11:16pm

ahhh ok

I was going off wikipedia, which made it sound like it was intentional bombing (isn't a grenade generally a bomb? Maybe I'm just not good on knowing weaponry..)

But anyway yeah, no matter what the weapon is, for sure it's a terrible thing, and that PostSecret is very sad

[Q]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 12:12am

I took it as a slight variation on the common usage - they simply wounded him to remove him from their unit, as opposed to killing him.

I also wondered about the veracity of messages such as this posted anonymously - but the fact is, I know it happens.

It brings to mind so many questions. IS the military ready to deal with openly gay personnel? Is anything actually done about these incidents? Would it be different if the force of command were thrown behind tolerance?

And in a larger sense, it really made me think about how gay people in general - with just a couple of minor incidents in the last few decades exempted - tend to just take the intolerance and try to carry on, as best we can. It doesn't seem to be in our makeup to 'fight back', so we just take and take - and hope for something to change tomorrow.

Personally, having been F*CKed over by the military myself, I absolutely understand his mental state - and I didn't even have to get wounded. It takes enourmous energy to keep putting yourself out there for the world to potentially smack to the ground - sometimes fatally.

As Priest said, "We've come so far, but we have so far to go." And as time goes on, the whole thing just seems more and more pointless to me - and I get more and more angry, and yet tired of it all.

And yet, I just keep letting it roll off my back, and hope for a better tomorrow.