(Thanks, L. :)

(I note that homosexuality and "a tradition of sodomy" could be distinctly different things.)

Reader L. writes:

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Re: Anna Von Reitz: 'International Public Noti....

I am a Vietnam Army veteran, and in that era, homosexuality in the ranks was not tolerated. I remember the Master Sergeant in charge of our section, the photo lab at Fort Benning where I worked, saying "Want to get out of the Army? Jump in a bunk with...."

In Vietnam, where our Public Information Office at our unit's headquarters just outside of Saigon shared a building with a large group of clerk typists, there were a few that were quietly said to be homosexual but there was certainly nothing like any initiation into sodomy carried out by our officers.

If you wanted them, prostitutes were available in every city in Vietnam, especially Saigon. At headquarters, not out in the field, we had a Service Club with all kinds of things and entertainment available at night. There were even a couple of "round eye" volunteers, young women who who bravely came to Vietnam from "back in the world" to work with the troops. We had TV with standard US programming, boxing seemed to be a favorite among the few that watched. Some guys would play cards and drink beer, maybe even smoke marijuana right out in the open without hassle. The sergeant who had a corner room in our hooch left them alone. I knew of a couple of guys using hard drugs but that wasn't being done out in the open.

Homosexuality had to be rare, and it certainly wasn't some right of passage in the military.

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