Army to Investigate ‘Don’t Ask’ Practices

Army Secretary Louis Caldera ordered the service’s inspector general to investigate whether the Army was fairly applying the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward homosexuals in uniform. Caldera also told the inspector general to review how the policy of allowing gays to serve quietly had been handled by commanders at Ft. Campbell, Ky., where two soldiers were recently sentenced in the death of a soldier suspected of being homosexual. Testimony in the killing of Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21, showed that base commanders had done nothing to stop harassment of the victim before he was beaten to death.