Inspiring Conversations
Veterans Day is a day for honoring and thanking the men and women of the military who served to protect the rest of us. Many veterans in the LGBTQ community live in or near Delaware’s coastal towns. They are dedicated to their country and continue to give back. It’s a diverse group with amazing stories of valor, inspiration, and courage. Letters heard just a few of those stories over these past weeks….
Lisa Mosely was an engineer/paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army, holding the rank of sergeant. Mosely joined the military after high school because she wanted to travel around the world. She came from a long line of veterans in her family: her father served in the Navy during the Korean conflict; her uncle and godfather, Jim Goebel, served in the Air Force; another uncle served in the Marines; a third uncle also served in the Navy.
Mosely served for 10 years and left due to a leg wound. She doesn’t like to talk about the injury she sustained while on duty. She simply says, “it was an honor to serve my country.”
“There came a point in my life where I had enough of rockets flying my way and I decided it was time to move on in life, so I pursued a career in computer science,” she said. She credits the military for the opportunity to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and pursue a PhD in computer science. Currently, she is an IT Program Manager/Federal Service in the Army.
On Veterans Day, she sometimes gets together to share a meal with other veterans.
Gordon Tanner’s career is an eye-popper! He served in many capacities in or affiliated with the military. He was commissioned as an officer through the ROTC Program at the University of Alabama in 1970 and got his law degree from Vanderbilt in 1973.
Tanner served on active duty in the US Air Force for four years and then signed on for another 24 years in the US Air Force Reserve, all in the capacity of lawyer in the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG). When he left active duty in 1977, he joined a private law firm where he practiced for more than 20 years. He made partner there, all the while serving in the Reserves one weekend per month and two weeks every summer.
Later, he was recruited to join the Senior Executive Service (SES) as a full-time civilian Air Force lawyer. When he retired from that position, President Obama nominated him, and he was confirmed by the Senate, to a political civilian appointment as the General Counsel of the Air Force where he had approximately 2,600 lawyers working on his team.
Tanner was inspired partly by his father, who served in the Army during WWII and received a Battle Star and other commendations for his efforts in the European Theater of Operations.
Tama Viola served for 24 years in the Army beginning in 1984. Her rank was Master Sergeant. Viola’s brother, now a retired Army Colonel, swore her in when she enlisted. She became the first woman member of her hometown VFW in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, when Desert Storm started. She and her brother became the first brother and sister in the VFW.
“I always felt patriotic and loved the USA flag,” she said. She even has a flag tattoo on her leg that moves when she walks, and she has a 20-foot flagpole at her house. Viola decided to retire when she had logged enough years to do so.
After leaving the military, she became active with the VFW, rising through the ranks to become the first female Commander of her hometown post. She joined the American Legion here in Delaware but has not yet switched her VFW Post. “I still go back to my hometown VFW to assist the post with funerals and events,” she said.
Along with Deb Knickerbocker and others, she participated in the wreath-laying event for women veterans organized over the last Memorial Day weekend by the Gay Women of Rehoboth Meet-Up, a group that often finds ways to help veterans.
Knickerbocker was in the Army, holding the rank of Colonel when she reached full retirement age. She joined ROTC at Eastern Michigan University, intending to be commissioned as an active-duty officer. She was commissioned on January 3, 1979. She served 32 years total, 10 of which were in the Army Reserves.
Like Mosely and Tanner, she followed in the footsteps of relatives who had served, including her father, her paternal uncles, and a maternal uncle. Her godmother was a Marine before working for the US State Department.
Knickerbocker earned a teaching certificate and did student teaching and coaching right before she went into the service. She taught physiology related to altitude, spatial disorientation, and night vision at the Army School of Aviation Medicine. The Air Force trained her in hyperbaric physiology so she could assist students or medical patients during hyperbaric chamber dives. As an aviator, she flew helicopters for aeromedical evacuation missions and, later, she flew fixed-wing aircraft in the Washington, DC area.
Toward the end of her military career, she focused on military support to federal disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and flooding. That led her to a federal civilian job at the US Department of Health & Human Services, continuing work in domestic response to public health emergencies and disasters. She now is retired but is Delaware’s Ambassador for the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, a volunteer role.
On Veterans Day she reflects on her many friends and former colleagues from the military and about the meaning of the oath of office that they took. “I have women friends who are veterans, and I think we find it easy to get together because we often have similar shared experiences of our time in the service,” she says.
Larry Richardson was a Master Chief Petty Officer with the Navy—a rank that only one percent of enlisted servicemembers achieve. He joined the Navy’s Delayed Entry Program (DEP) in August 1985 (the summer preceding his senior year of high school) and left for boot camp within three days after graduating in June 1986. He worked 40 hours a week throughout high school and delayed attending college. “I wanted to travel the world, and experience life far, far away from home—as quickly as possible,” he said. “Joining the Navy was the most expedient way to accomplish those short-term goals.”
When he enlisted, his oldest brother had years earlier completed a four-year enlistment in the US Army and two older brothers were on active duty with the US Marine Corps.
Richardson retired in 2011 after 24 years of service, 20 of which were with the Naval Reserves, but with active duty recall every three to five years for challenging missions around the world. “I was several years into a wonderful relationship with my current husband and, with another recall to active duty service looming, I decided it was time to leave the Navy,” he said. His decision to retire was equally motivated by a desire to no longer be constrained by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). Richardson also had a career with the US Postal Service while serving in the Reserves.
Dixon Osburn is a civilian human rights leader in Washington, DC who has tackled some of the most challenging human rights issues on the national and international stage—including the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He was co-founder and Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the organization that spearheaded the repeal effort.
His book, Mission Possible: The Story of Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, an Amazon best-seller, chronicles what it took to be successful. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, US. Osburn spoke about the book at CAMP Rehoboth soon after it was released in 2021 and speaks throughout the country on the topic. [See the December 17, 2021 issue of Letters for an interview with Dixon Osburn.]
Tanner also is frequently asked to speak to groups about the effect of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and its repeal. “As I was a senior leader inside the Pentagon—and openly gay—I had an ‘inside perspective’ on its impact and how the repeal effort was achieved and implemented within the military service branches.”
At one time, Tanner was the highest ranking openly gay, married veteran in the entire Administration. He maintains close contact with current members of DoD Pride and actively supports its efforts to enhance the visibility and equal treatment of LGBTQ+ members of the military services.
Retired Air Force veteran and former officer for the Veterans Administration’s Mental Health Department, Jim Williams, who served from 1966-70, and retired Army veteran John Zinsmeiste, who served from 1968-72, both remember what the atmosphere was like prior to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. “You just hid everything,” said Williams. He defended the Clinton Administration’s decision to enact the policy even though many did not and thought the policy did little to combat the prejudice against LGBTQ members of the military.
Richardson doesn’t often get together with fellow veterans but says that his relatively brief encounters with those who served are usually with LGBT veterans. “In some ways, the stigma and scars of DADT for LGBT veterans never truly go away,” he said.
On Veterans Day, Richardson mostly reflects on the sacrifices of those that served in the past, as well as those currently on duty. “I also think of the hard-fought battles on land and especially at sea, and I am especially moved by those who—even in their darkest hour of giving the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation—would do the same for our country without reservation,” he said. “Even with my 24 years of military service, my contribution to our country pales in comparison to theirs and these courageous heroes will forever stand head and shoulders above us all,” he added.
CAMP Rehoboth offers a heartfelt “thank you for your service” to all the veterans in the LGBTQ community. ▼
On September 20, 2023, DoD announced it will proactively review military records of veterans whose military records indicate their administrative separation was the result of their sexual orientation and who received a less than honorable conditions discharge.