Air Force May Boot Aviator Who Revealed He Is Gay To Defend False Rape Claim

[IndianaGreen]

Air Force May Boot Aviator Who Revealed He Is Gay To Defend False Rape Claim

Megan Carpentier | August 12, 2010, 5:17PM

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach has been fighting for the right to stay in the Air Force for more than two years following a false criminal report that led to his outing. Yesterday, following reports that the Secretary of the Air Force was about to order his discharge, his lawyers filed for a temporary restraining order to keep him in the military until the courts have their say, or the Obama Administration gets around to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

So, how did a decorated combat aviator with 19 years in the Air Force end up riding a desk and hoping just to make it to his pension (for which he'd be eligible next year) instead of flying missions in one of his country's wars -- despite much-heralded changes to the military's enforcement policies?

According to the Idaho Statesman, Fehrenbach got involved with the wrong guy: Cameron Shaner, himself an Army veteran who voluntarily left the military in 1999. Shaner, who suffers from a "100 percent service-connected disability," was out of the closet when he and a classmate approached the Air Force about a supposed plot against service members.

According to the Air Force Times, on May 7, 2008 Shaner and the classmate, who was a service member, went to the base to report their suspicions to the Office of Special Investigations. They told OSI Special Agent Karolyn DeRosier that there was a plot among HIV-infected gay men to invite service members to sex parties for the purpose of infecting them. DeRosier interviewed Shaner three times over the following forty-eight hours, asking him to take an oath to tell the truth. After speaking to him, she declined to use him as a confidential informant, deemed him unreliable and, eventually, closed the case due to lack of evidence.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/air_force_may_boot_pilot_who_revealed_he_is_gay_to.php?ref=fpa

[xchrom]

1. not sure why this was unrec'd -- but recommend