Word: pecks
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...Honor winner who lost a leg in Vietnam. In a speech last week, Kerrey admitted that his own experience in the Navy SEALs had caused him initially "to drift toward the military point of view." But he changed his mind in May after he heard Marine Colonel Fred Peck testify that he would not want his gay son to serve in the Marines, fearful that his son's life would be threatened by fellow soldiers. Kerrey said, "I must tell you, Mr. President, in that moment, I said, 'Time out.' It's time for the military to change...
...next day the colonel faced the Senate committee, armed with knowledge of his son's homosexuality, a fact that both Peck men agreed should be made public. His fingers laced tightly and wearing what Scott calls "his nervous face," the colonel testified, "My son Scott is a homosexual, and I don't think there's any place for him in the military." In a single breath, he added, "I love him as much as I do any of my sons. I respect him. I think he's a fine person. But he should not serve...
...father's pain was evident as he expressed a personal concern for his son's safety. "He'd be in grave risk," he said. "I would be very fearful that his life would be in jeopardy from his own troops." Peck seemed far less disturbed, however, by the prospect of a breakdown of military discipline so thorough that a soldier's life might be endangered by deliberate friendly fire. "I'm not saying that that's right or wrong. I'm telling you that's the way it is," he said. "Fratricide is something that exists out there...
...Peck's personalizing of the debate was a touching surprise in what many critics saw as an orchestrated compromise on the gay-ban issue conducted by committee chairman Sam Nunn. "It's Nunn's dog-and-pony show," says Lieut. (j.g.) Tracy Thorne, a "Top Gun" navy bombardier who is being removed from active duty because of his homosexuality. "He's got the witness list totally skewed against those who want to lift the ban." When the Senate panel | toured the Norfolk (Virginia) Naval Base last week to hear from the rank and file, 15 of the 17 witnesses supported...
...photo-op tour of bunks in cramped naval vessels. In a week of testimony that included pleas to lift the ban on gay servicemen and -women and assertions by retired Army General Norman Schwarzkopf that openly gay soldiers would undermine morale, the emotional high point was Marine Colonel Fred Peck's surprise declaration that he would discourage his son Scott -- "a recruiter's dream" -- from joining the military "because my son is a homosexual." Many Senators seemed inclined toward a tricky "Don't ask, don't tell" compromise that would do away with the old policy of asking new recruits...