[blindlaw] Re Update from Senator

[Elizabeth Rene]

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