DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT LT COLONEL VICTOR FERENBACH?

Fehrenbach is an F-15 fighter pilot and 18-year veteran of the Air Force. He is ready to deploy again, but the military is firing him under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", two years short of being able to retire with full pension benefits.

Fehrenbach, a fighter weapons systems officer, has been flying the F-15E Strike Eagle since 1998. He has flown numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, including the longest combat mission in his squadron's history. On that infamous September 11, 2001, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach was handpicked to fly sorties above the nation's capital. Later he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now a flight instructor in Idaho, where he has passed on his skills to more than 300 future Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force weapons systems officers.

Since 1987, when Fehrenbach entered Notre Dame on a full Air Force ROTC scholarship, the government has invested twenty-five million dollars in training and equipping him to serve his country, which he has done with what anyone would agree was great distinction. He comes from a military family. His father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, his mother an Air Force nurse and captain. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach has honored that tradition.

His case is a CLASSIC example of why "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" makes absolutely no fucking sense, nor does the current ban on openly gay persons serving in the military. Seriously, no one knew about his sexual orientation during his 18 years in active service, but we are supposed to believe that because he's now been identified as one of 'the gay' that he's suddenly a risk to national security and his fellow officers?

Seriously - it's time for the bullshit to end.

PRESIDENT OBAMA - are you going to be nothing more than a fluff-piece working the White House? Where is the change you promised?

(On a separate note - Lt Colonel Ferenbach can fly sorties in my nether-region ANY DAY!!! YOWSA!!!!)