Twenty Five Years

Twenty-five years ago today, after fifteen months and eighteen days of service with the U.S. Navy,
and after a couple weeks in their psych ward, I was issued an honorable discharge via administrative separation due to personality disorder and not recommended for re-enlistment due to homosexual conduct, then escorted off the San Diego Naval Base by two MP, and I once again was a civilian.

I had joined the ship while she was in dry-dock in Long Beach. She then re-homeported to San Diego just the November before I was discharged. They had provided me with a one-way plane ticket back to home in North Dakota. I was young and scared, so didn't stick around in San Diego.

Some people have good experiences about coming out, others have traumatic experiences of being found out. Each of us does have a great story, no matter how big or little, from which there are people who can benefit.

After going through a long period of self-loathing and such, especially in that first year after the discharge, I can look back on it as just one the chapters in my life. Long story short is that I had put myself in a bad situation and the Navy found out.

Left North Dakota for ten years ('88-'98); and during that time I tried pursuing the holier-than-thou life of denying who I was and piling on a bunch of self-loathing, even trying ex-gay ministries. Eventually I moved back to North Dakota and soon thereafter came clean with myself and then rediscovered a new, healthier relationship with God. It's been an interesting twenty-five years (-;