I was forced into an awkward moment in 2003 while sitting in a van with a lieutenant colonel I was mobilized with. A few minutes earlier, there were 6 of us in the 15 passenger government van. Now there were just two of us in the van, me frantically scribbling in my notebook, and the officer turned to me and made his revelation. I didn't want the weight he laid on me, I would rather have avoided his confession. This was truly a TMI (too much information) moment.
A couple days before, I was driving one of our team vehicles across Fort Bragg, and spotted a bird in a parking lot. I quickly turned around, and found a spot to get my binoculars on it. At first I thought it was a misplaced Semi-Palmated Plover, but quickly noticed the second ring on the bird's neck, and that it was faking a broken wing to lure me away from a nest. This was a Killdeer.
I had burned some precious minutes, and now late back to the team site. I hustled back to the van, and headed in to the office. Our commanding officer was waiting outside of the quonset hut we had commandeered as our operations center, talking to a few other people. "What took you so long?" the colonel asked. "Sorry Sir, I saw an interesting bird and wanted to verify what it was." The other soldiers he was talking to broke out laughing, and the colonel got in the van and left. I headed to my desk, and got back to the administrivia needed in my role as NCOIC to keep a 35 person training team moving.
The people I spent most of my time with knew of my birding. I would often carve birds out of wood on our long van rides from one end of First Army's Area of Operations to the other. At times I'd carve at my desk, and occasionally "flip a bird" at our commander. We went back over 20 years, so it was all in good fun. They were cool with my talking about birds, and didn't have a problem with my occasional side trips, or when I gushed about how gorgeous a Long-Tailed Duck is. I was accepted on my team as an equal.
Back to the story - I find myself in a van, with a lieutenant colonel at a rest area in Maryland. We are the last two in the van. He had driven the last leg of the road trip, so he was in the driver's seat. I was on a bench seat in the back. He turned to me and said "Master Sergeant, please don't tell anyone, but I am also a bird watcher". And just like that, WHAM!. I am stuck holding his secret. I am open about my life choices, but he isn't, and now I have to keep his secret. Don't Ask, Don't Tell for bird watchers. It was a heavy load to carry.
This cloak of secrecy forced on bird watchers must change if we are to be a truly inclusive military. Bird watchers should be completely accepted as equal members,. We have the right to defend this great republic. Some brave soldiers take pride in their lifestyle, and even blog about the birds they see while deployed in Iraq. This brave person was my inspiration for birding in the open while in my BDUs (okay, and occasionally in my APFUs), and I hope together we can take birding out of the closet and into the mainstream of our military.
Do you support open birding in the military? I do.
A couple days before, I was driving one of our team vehicles across Fort Bragg, and spotted a bird in a parking lot. I quickly turned around, and found a spot to get my binoculars on it. At first I thought it was a misplaced Semi-Palmated Plover, but quickly noticed the second ring on the bird's neck, and that it was faking a broken wing to lure me away from a nest. This was a Killdeer.
I had burned some precious minutes, and now late back to the team site. I hustled back to the van, and headed in to the office. Our commanding officer was waiting outside of the quonset hut we had commandeered as our operations center, talking to a few other people. "What took you so long?" the colonel asked. "Sorry Sir, I saw an interesting bird and wanted to verify what it was." The other soldiers he was talking to broke out laughing, and the colonel got in the van and left. I headed to my desk, and got back to the administrivia needed in my role as NCOIC to keep a 35 person training team moving.
The people I spent most of my time with knew of my birding. I would often carve birds out of wood on our long van rides from one end of First Army's Area of Operations to the other. At times I'd carve at my desk, and occasionally "flip a bird" at our commander. We went back over 20 years, so it was all in good fun. They were cool with my talking about birds, and didn't have a problem with my occasional side trips, or when I gushed about how gorgeous a Long-Tailed Duck is. I was accepted on my team as an equal.
Back to the story - I find myself in a van, with a lieutenant colonel at a rest area in Maryland. We are the last two in the van. He had driven the last leg of the road trip, so he was in the driver's seat. I was on a bench seat in the back. He turned to me and said "Master Sergeant, please don't tell anyone, but I am also a bird watcher". And just like that, WHAM!. I am stuck holding his secret. I am open about my life choices, but he isn't, and now I have to keep his secret. Don't Ask, Don't Tell for bird watchers. It was a heavy load to carry.
This cloak of secrecy forced on bird watchers must change if we are to be a truly inclusive military. Bird watchers should be completely accepted as equal members,. We have the right to defend this great republic. Some brave soldiers take pride in their lifestyle, and even blog about the birds they see while deployed in Iraq. This brave person was my inspiration for birding in the open while in my BDUs (okay, and occasionally in my APFUs), and I hope together we can take birding out of the closet and into the mainstream of our military.
Do you support open birding in the military? I do.
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