Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II is an example of how the lives of gay and lesbian service members were during the time when gay life was thwarted. The author of this piece, Alan Berube, tells the ugly story of American institutional life during and after World War II. Berube also documents the courage, self-respect, and ingenuity of gay GIs that enabled them to live their lives the best they could in the situations they faced. Berube points out the fact that even though the military tried their best to completely eradicate gays from the military, what actually happened was the extreme opposite. A gay subculture actually formed and thrived under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam. Encounters between men homosexual …show more content…
The VA has policies and guidelines that almost mirror the militaries’. For those service members who are ready to step into the civilian life, the process can be challenging. To transition from the structure and stability of military life into the seemingly chaotic and unorganized life of a civilian is daunting for most service members. It’s a process that takes many facets and can be different for everyone. Even though the process can be long and a bit shaky at times, the end goal is what drives veterans through until the end. To separate and transition to civilian life seamlessly is impossible. There will always be set backs, problems, and issues that come up along the way. Luckily veterans have support factors to help them along their journey with help from the Veterans Affairs (VA) office. Depending on the status of the discharge, veterans have access to various kinds of care and support all designed to help men and women on their journey to normalcy post military service. This care is usually provided for the life span of the veteran and can even be spread to the immediate family members. It’s a pretty great program set up to help those who sacrificed their freedom to ensure that others may have freedom. Now imagine a veteran who is transitioning to civilian life after honorably serving their country and wants to make the best of their new life. This vet has decided to do something they have wanted to do since they were in grade school. The decision to start has been extremely difficult, even though they know in the end it will be worth it. It has taken years to build up the courage to even admit such a thing to close friends