[blindlaw] Re Update from Senator
Elizabeth Rene
emrene at earthlink.net
Thu May 17 19:13:09 UTC 2012
Mr. Dittman, which Secretary would you like to address?
The Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of Transportation?
As I recall, the Coast Guard, at least when I tried to get in, was part of
the Department of Transportation, rather than the Defense Department. I
think that therein lay the key to my possible admission. Maybe it could be
the key to yours.
The Coast Guard had less stringent visual acuity standards than the regular
Armed Forces. JAG officers entered the Coast Guard under a separate
commission than those entering to serve on a cutter. I, for example, didn't
have to learn how to swim or meet the physical requirements demanded for sea
duty. Once my commission as a JAG officer was up, though, I would be
eligible to apply for a line officer's commission.
I liked the idea of the Coast Guard because its primary mission was to
protect and police the U.S. coasts and conduct rescue missions rather than
go to battle with foreign powers overseas. I didn't have to prove my
fitness for combat or risk being deployed to a conflict I, as a civillian
citizen, opposed. But I could serve my country with the skills I did have
in a military branch with a fine reputation. And since six women were
already serving, I saw no problem with being Number Seven.
So my questions are these. Is the Coast Guard still a quasi-military branch
outside the Department of Defense? Does Title 10 U.S.C. still apply? Would
you even need to prove your fitness under a traditional military standard?
And what are your true goals for national service? Do you want to practice
military law and serve the needs of fellow-enlistees as an attorney within
the Coast Guard, maybe moving on to civillian life after your four-to-six
year stint, or do you want to fight for a place as a career line officer
anywhere within the Armed Forces on the theory that officers blinded in
active duty are already there?
Maybe you could slide under the gate through the first rubric, and succeed
where I failed. The technologies available to you didn't exist for me, and
your leadership training and prior service (not to mention your gender)
would put you way ahead of me with those admirals. Or could you even
litigate within the Coast Guard JAG as a civillian lawyer? Sometimes
civilians do work for the military. Or what about the Department of
Homeland Security? Or do they now run the Coast Guard?
Here's my point. Maybe there's a way to do what you really want in a branch
less likely to discriminate against you without having to go to war with the
army you want to join. Then, once in, you could fight for that sea command
later!
Elizabeth
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