William Bonzo's biting, informative, and sometimes riotous memoir, Don't Ask, Do Tell: When I Finally Told the Military "Kiss My Gay..." aims directly at the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy previously enforced by the United States military. Bonzo was a Navy man before being outed and forced to leave the service. Until then, he had served his country honorably and enthusiastically. So how can a military that is dangerously short of personnel and engaged in several wars around the world afford to impose a weeding-out policy that not only de-militarizes talented leaders, but does so in an abrupt and emotionally brutal fashion? Reading this book, one is struck by the irony of training a man for years, bringing him to his peak of military knowledge and direction, and then dismissing him for his sexual orientation. Despite a light and often funny voice, the underlying message remains: Don't Ask/Don't Tell was unethical, pragmatically absurd, and often devastating to those who were targeted.
