DADT Rolls On: Time Running Out For Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach

Over 200 gay soldiers have been kicked out of the military since Barack Obama took office. And time is running out for Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach.

The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out of the military a year after an acquaintance told his bosses he was gay. He thought he could hang on until the government eliminated the military’s policy forcing gays and lesbians to keep their sexual orientation secret, but now he isn’t so sure. Obama “was someone who had experienced discrimination firsthand and that’s why I had a lot of faith,” Fehrenbach said. “I thought, OK I can fight this, and maybe by January Obama could be inaugurated and this won’t matter. That hasn’t happened.”

Fehrenbach says he was never asked, he never told. Somebody else ratted him out. “For 18 years, I played by the rules and I kept my private life private.”