Ensign Steve Crowston may or may not be gay. A few weeks ago, he initiated an investigation by the inspector general of the Naval Air Force Atlantic Fleet for the handling (and ultimate dismissal) of his own anti-gay harassment complaint. Ensign Crowston's complaint claims that he suffered months of continual anti-gay harassment and sexual discrimination from his fellow and commanding officers with Strike Fighter Squadron 136 at Naval Air Station, Oceana, Va. According to FoxNews: ...The harassment began in August 2009, says Crowston, 36, when his fellow officers called him into a room for a review of call signs, a military moniker that easily identifies a service member. He says his name was written on a whiteboard with a list of call sign recommendations: “Cowboy,” “Gay Boy,” “Fagmeister,” “Cowgirl,” “Romo’s ***,” “TO,” “Terrell Owens” and “Redskins.” Call signs can be used in official military correspondence and in radio calls, and the names often get printed onto clothing and can follow someone throughout their career... He's a Dallas Cowboys fan... So, over at This Ain't Hell, TSO writes a post titled "Nathan Lane called, he told me to tell you to stop acting like a girl." Here's a taste: ...Steve, I could absolutely care less about your sexuality. I don’t care if you are the life of the party over at the Blue Oyster Bar, giving out handies in “Don’t Tell Mama” or if you are nailing cocktail waitresses two at a time. But dude, you need to be booted for having all the rugged manliness of Andy ***. Seriously. Is the call sign stuff inappropriate? Sure, but, and here’s a distinction I like to note….YOU SERVE IN A FIGHTER SQUADRON, NOT AS THE HR MANAGER AT IBM. Jesus man, at least act like you have a pair. If you are ever in any situation where either a superior or someone who works for you calls you “Gay Boy”, the appropriate response is to hit them in the side of the head with a chair. That’s it. Right there. You can give them a verbal warning if you must, but, I say swing. One of my dearest friends once called me chicken, and we ended up throwing punches in the mud at Ft. Bragg. After the fight we hugged and it was over. That man hug has been officially rated by Out Magazine as 1/345th as gay as complaining about a call sign... It gets better after that. And now, NCIS is investigating threats against Crowston on a "blog" (more like a message board or forum): ...The threats were posted on a Naval Aviation-themed blog called AirWarriors.com and began following media reports about Naval Inspector General's investigation into Ensign Steve Crowston's allegations, which led to an investigation into the regional inspector general's office who dismissed Crowston's complaints. Crowston says he met with NCIS investigators for six hours on Thursday and during the meeting he was told that an official criminal investigation had been launched in cooperation with Virginia Beach Police Department... So keep it clean here, no need for threats. As you may know, some of us are for DADT and some of us (like me) are for repealing DADT (and changing the UCMJ). Ensign Crowston does nothing to help assuage fears that queens will rule the roost once a repeal is in effect. This is the point that TSO makes in his hilarious yet touching post. But, you know, I just couldn't help think that the guys that came up with “Cowboy,” “Gay Boy,” “Fagmeister,” “Cowgirl,” “Romo’s ***,” “TO,” “Terrell Owens” and “Redskins" just weren't working that hard at a funny call sign. Come on, no "Top Fudge"? "Sky Queen"? "Aerie Faerie"? I knew of Marine F18 pilots with call signs like "Louffa" and "Prom Date" and Marine aviators that blog like "Hurl"... Derogatory call signs are more frequent than you might know. Hell, when I was an Armor officer, we had a tanker at gunnery that blew up a teddy bear on a target so we changed his call sign to "Snuggles" for years (was even on his farewell plaque). We didn't get an IG complaint, but maybe that's because he wasn't gay (that we knew of). Put your call sign recommendation in the Comments.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/asLkj0GFMK0/derogatory-call-signs-fagmeister-goes-hot.html
Posted
Aug 23 2010, 08:51 AM
by
BLACKFIVE