THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606260007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY THOMAS A. PEACOCK
LENGTH: 85 lines
I and many others take great exception to J.W. Brough's letter of May 20th; regarding HIV-positive military personnel. Mr. Brough is very unaware of the facts about HIV-positive military personnel and about HIV in general.
Last month, Congress rightfully repealed a provision in a law that would have discharged HIV-positive military personnel.
Mr. Brough states that proponents of retaining HIV-positive personnel have been less than candid or forthcoming with any rationale except ``It's the right thing to do." However, the proponents for the repeal, which Mr. Brough fails to name are the thousands of American families like mine, in conjunction with others such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Airforce Association, Former Sen. Barry Goldwater, conservative columinist Charles Krauthammer and George Will, the NBA's Ervin ``Magic'' Johnson, as well as the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of Veteran's Affairs and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General John Shalikashvili. The Secretary of Defense and General Shalikashvili have said that to discharge HIV-positive servicemembers is, ``both unwarranted and unwise,'' and ``unnecessary as matter of sound military policy.'' The VFW said in a statement that, ``to forcibly separate HIV-positive personnel while other servicemembers with equally serious medical conditions are allowed to remain on active duty seems unfair, punitive and unjust.''
Mr. Brough's believes that HIV-positive servicemembers have only minimal training and experience and have served less than four years. The Pentagon states otherwise. In fact according to the Pentagon, most HIV-positive servicemembers have served over 10 years with much invested in valuable training. Over half of these personnel are married, many with dependents that are infected. Twenty percent are officers. The Pentagon has further stated, that if you count all nondeployable personnel, those with other medical conditions such as asthma, heart diabetes, cancer, pregnancy and other such illnesses including HIV infection; that even after downsizing all nondeployable personnel make up less than three-tenths of one percent of the total military. One can hardly argue that personnel of such small numbers could cause other members to serve more than their fair share of overseas and/or shipboard duties.
These personnel do not lack good order and discipline for failing to practice safer sex as put forth by Mr. Brough. It is becoming increasingly common in the world for heterosexual couples to pass the virus from one person to the other. Unfortunately, some believe that AIDS is some wrath or punishment for immoral conduct. Even though Congress appropriated funds to the service branches in 1989 for educating servicemembers about HIV and AIDS, the United States Navy, and other branches did not even begin to educate the thousands of servicemembers from ``Smalltown America'' until 1993. Well over a decade after the first documented cases of AIDS. Just think of all the many men and women in the military who didn't have the luxury of knowledge to protect themselves.
Life-insurance policies paid to beneficiaries of servicemembers on active duty are not supported by taxpayer dollars. This is term-life insurance paid by the servicemembers themselves.
Secretary of the Navy's Instruction 5300.30C, Paragraph 9, dated March 14, 1990, states the following:
9. Active Duty Assignment and Retention
a) Military personnel who demonstrate no evidence of immunologic deficiency, neurologic involvement or clinical indication of disease associated with HIV-1 infection shall be retained in the service unless some other reason for separation exists. This policy is based on the following considerations:
1) There is no demonstrated risk of transmission of disease in normal daily activities.
2) An investment in training of these members has been made.
3) The condition may be incident to service.
In other words, HIV-positive servicemembers are not a risk to other personnel, and as long as they are healthy and are fit to perform their military duties then they should be allowed to continue to serve just like members with other medical conditions.
Discharging HIV-positive servicemembers would create a very dangerous precedent. Those with asthma, and diabetes would soon follow. Who knows, if one were to start smoking while in the service they might discharge the servicemember due to the likelihood of contracting lung cancer.
Just because someone is ``nondeployable'' does not mean that they don't do their fair share. There are countless examples of HIV-positive servicemembers that go that extra mile and strive to serve to the best of their ability. For example, I was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal, in August 1994, for saving the Navy thousands of taxpayer dollars and I am also HIV positive as well as extremely proud of my service. MEMO: Mr. Peacock, a Norfolk resident and retired Navy veteran, is
director of Servicemembers and Veterans Against AIDS. by CNB