Hansen: Proud Marine is marching on 3 years after end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

Hansen: Proud Marine is marching on 3 years after end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ — and his very public coming out

http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/hansen-proud-marine-is-marching-on-years-after-end-of/article_e9eabe13-1c25-547e-b885-847b0f159cd7.html


POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 1:00 AM
By Matthew Hansen / World-Herald staff writer

Maj. Darrel Choat stood in front of a red, white and blue flag, raised his right hand and agreed to defend the United States against all threats, foreign and domestic.

He shook the hand of the colonel who read the oath, he accepted his promotion to lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps, and he grinned a boyish grin as friends and family clapped and cheered and whistled on a recent Monday in Lincoln.

The whole time, a single thought rattled around in his head. It’s a thought that signals how far we have come. It’s a thought that shows us how far we have left to go.

I can’t believe this is happening, he thought. I can’t believe any of this is happening.




AMBER BAESLER /THE WORLD-HERALD
Darrel Choat, a Nebraska native and Marine lieutenant colonel, said it took a while for his fellow Marines to accept him after he came out publicly.


FULL story at link.