Lt. Col. Fehrenbach on Obama and DADT: "I was hopeful."

Some audio today on the subject of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Ana Marie Cox, founder of wonkette.com and current contributor for Air America, has been holding President Obama’s feet to the fire (or at least those of his spokesman) on DADT for several months now. A few days ago she had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, the latest casualty of the Obama Administration’s policy. Fehrenbach talks about his life, his experience in the Air Force, and why the repeal of DADT is important for America.

::swoon::

The Fehrenbach interview accounts for the first 17 minutes of the show, followed by commentary from Cox, Amanda Carpenter of the Washington Times, and Mike Madden of Salon.com.

Some choice quotes, in addition to the post title:

[DADT] forces service members to lie, basically, and to hide their private lives. And part of being in the military, especially in combat, one of the hugest things is trust. You have to be able to trust your wingmen when you’re flying. You have to be able to trust the infantryman next to you to cover you. It’s all about trust, and it’s sort of shameful that we’re forcing good, honorable, patriotic servicemembers to lie under this policy.

Since I went on national TV and told my story… I went back to work the next day, and basically my commander told my unit, ‘Our job is to do the mission. Everyone’s a member of this unit, a valued member, nobody should be treated differently, and we will just press on.’ And, you know, he’s basically proving my point that, that’s what I say; that’s the way it should be across the military.

And you know what, I’ve gotten hundreds and hundreds of emails, text messages, and phone calls from people I’ve served with all over the world for the last ten, fifteen, twenty years. Nothing but support.

I honestly believe there would be very little impact if any [if DADT were overturned]. I think people would go along their business… If the Commander-in-Chief said tomorrow that gays can serve openly I think people would salute smartly and move on with the mission.

I was hopeful that the president made this promise during the campaign, and I was very hopeful that he would act quickly. And I know he can’t do it alone. [White House Spokesperson] Gibbs said this won’t take a snap of the fingers, but you know what, it does take leadership and it does take courage.

Another round of applause for Lt. Col. Fehrenbach in his fight against this unjust, un-American law. Between the stories of Maj. Witt, 1st Lt. Choi, and Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, it’s getting harder and harder to make a case for DADT.