1. ROTC cadet comes out; 2. Army career over & 3. now owes $79,000 for her tuiti

[sofa king]

ummm...  yeah.

that is how it should work.  lie to get benefits?  and then the truth comes out? 

you have to repay those benefits.  am i wrong here?

Bluebear  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Fri May-21-10 09:54 PM
Original message

1. ROTC cadet comes out; 2. Army career over & 3. now owes $79,000 for her tuition
   
Keep hoping, Ms. Isaacson...

Meanwhile, Isaacson needs a new life plan. The old one, which started with ROTC and included medical school and a career in the Army, is gone.


CHAPEL HILL -- Though she has long wanted to be an Army doctor, Sara Isaacson says she also wants to live an honest life. So on Jan. 25, the UNC-Chapel Hill ROTC cadet handed her commander a written statement revealing that she is a lesbian.

Doing so ended her military career and will likely cost her more than $79,000. That’s what she owes the federal government, which was paying for her UNC-CH schooling -- at out-of-state rates -- while the Wisconsin native went through her military training.

"I’ve dreamed since I was 13 of a career as a military officer," Isaacson said this week. "But I knew I wouldn’t be OK with myself if I had to lie every day."...

Drawn by a strong undergraduate sciences program, Isaacson chose UNC-CH over the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Northwestern University. She was among the top five students in a high school class of 215, and she first came to UNC-CH on an academic scholarship that was eventually replaced by the federal funds.

She’s been busy in college. Along with her ROTC classes and early morning workouts three days a week, the chemistry major has been a resident assistant, worked with a sexual assault prevention group and played the piccolo in the marching band....

Isaacson now needs a fifth year at UNC-CH -- and some financial aid -- to get her degree. Medical school is still an option, but she’s also become interested in activism. She enjoyed talking to members of Congress about don’t ask, don’t tell.

Her father, Ken Isaacson, has spent a lot of time brainstorming solutions. Could she get the money back if the federal policy is repealed? Will there be an installment plan for repayment? Could she somehow fulfill her commitment in a civilian role?

So far, no answers.

"It’s disappointing that our country doesn’t want her," he said. "But she will find some way to make her mark."

http://www.sldn.org/news/archives/mcclatchy-coming-out-... /

i don't get the issue here?  what exactly is the problem?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8388126&mesg_id=8388126

[AllosaursRus]

Oh for cripes sake! She says she couldn't go on if she had to lie. Hey stoooopid, ya didn't have to lie, all ya had to do was keep your big frikkin' mouth shut! That's why it's called "Don't ask, don't tell"!!!

I hope you end up in the frikkin' poor house! Anyone this ignorant deserves all they get! Sheesh!

I really find it hard to believe this dipshit had the intelligence to become a doctor! I know one thing for sure! I'm sure glad she washed out now before she hurt somebody after scrapin' by and goin' into private practice! As far as docs go, she would have to have been in the bottom 1% of the class!

[thundley4]

SoCalDem   (1000+ posts)             Sat May-22-10 04:30 AM
Response to Reply #42
43. Except for the part where she now owes the US government a shit-load of money
   
and they will get it ...in one way or another..

I do agree though, that is you were gay and knew the hassle you would have and the lie you would have to live, it would seem to me that you might just want to forget about a military career...at least for now..

Maybe she thought she could just get the education now, and deal with the messy part later..
 
pinboy3niner   (1000+ posts)           Sun May-23-10 04:03 AM
Response to Reply #42
60. She didn't realize she was a lesbian until her seventh semester
   
Did you read the rest of the story at the link? Like this part?:

"Isaacson realized last fall that she is a lesbian. There was no moment of epiphany, just a slow light turning on to finally provide her some clarity. She was in her seventh semester at UNC-CH, a senior enjoying her ROTC leadership role."

Yet you DUmmies argue that teh gheys are born that way. Either she was always a dyke or she was trying to scam the government into paying for her college without fulfilling her obligation to serve.

[diesel driver]

Ms. Isaacson, it's called "Don't Ask, Don't TELL!

What did you say your DUmmie nickname was again?

DUmbass!  I hope you have to pay back double what you owe.  Stupidity of your magnitude should be fatal, but I'll settle for a lifetime of pain from the wallet area....

[Freeper]

Call me cynical but when I hear of people who all of a sudden after they get trained decide to come out I believe they are scammers. I also don't understand this so called need to be honest. I don't have a burning desire to inform the world of my sexual desires. 

[diesel driver]

Call me cynical but when I hear of people who all of a sudden after they get trained decide to come out I believe they are scammers. I also don't understand this so called need to be honest. I don't have a burning desire to inform the world of my sexual desires.

"Normal" people don't....

It's just the DUmmies, and UGP....

[Ballygrl]

ummm...  yeah.

that is how it should work.  lie to get benefits?  and then the truth comes out? 

you have to repay those benefits.  am i wrong here?

i don't get the issue here?  what exactly is the problem?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8388126&mesg_id=8388126

I don't think there's a problem either.

[Airwolf]

Sorry but lying on your contract to the military regardless of reason doesn't get you a free pass.

[AprilRazz]

I saw this all the time when I worked with the Navy HPSP. You would not beleave how many people found out they were either gay or Quaker the last year of medical school.   

[The Village Idiot]

I saw this all the time when I worked with the Navy HPSP. You would not beleave how many people found out they were either gay or Quaker the last year of medical school.   

Sort of like when the Navy was called on to go to the Gulf for the first Iraq war and so many women turned up pregnant.

[jinxmchue]

Liberalism is a mind disorder.  This is proof.

[formerlurker]

Sorry but lying on your contract to the military regardless of reason doesn't get you a free pass.

Which is the point of course.    She can argue that the question is improper, blah blah blah -- but she voluntarily answered it, and she lied. 

Pay it back.  Taxpayers are not paying for her college degree because she is a lesbian <-- that is one hell of a sense of entitlement for her to think we would. 

[Tucker]

"Normal" people don't....

It's just the DUmmies, and UGP....

UGP doesn't have sexual desires, she goes into heat.

[BlueStateSaint]

UGP doesn't have sexual desires, she goes into heat.

Don't forget the spraying!

[NHSparky]

UGP doesn't have sexual desires, she goes into heat.

I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that.

[diesel driver]

I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that.

Even worse, who/what would want to mate with he/she/it....

[BlueStateSaint]

Even worse, who/what would want to mate with he/she/it....

 

Ya know, I just posted something in another thread about one having to assume that there is no limit to the stupidity over at the DUmp.  And you have to post that.

 

[diesel driver]

Ya know, I just posted something in another thread about one having to assume that there is no limit to the stupidity over at the DUmp.  And you have to post that.