There is more to 1LT Dan Choi than his being gay, chaining himself to the White House Fence, and now having a fool for a client by firing his attorney. He was a mediocre Army officer as evidenced by the fact when he came out as being gay in 2009 on the Rachel Maddow show he was not a Captain O-3, he was – and still is – a 1LT O-2. To hear Maddow and others talk this was one of the best officers the Army had. He was discharged from the military in 2010 for being gay.

Here are the facts. After graduating from West Point in 2003 Choi was on active duty for five years, including a tour in Iraq. An officer gets to O-3 pretty much automatically at year four. Thus when he came out that that he was gay he had been passed over for promotion to O-3 at least twice, probably three or four times.

Promotion to Captain is almost 100 percent. Anyone not promoted is a poor performer and their career is over. This is even more shocking since he graduated from West Point, which usually gives you a leg up. He apparently did not think his chances of making O-3 in the National Guard were very good or he would have waited until he made Captain and then come out as a gay man. He may have even been passed over in the Guard for promotion.

Other reasons for not allowing him to reenlist are his repeated criminal activities that caused him to be arrested, such as chaining himself to the White House Fence while improperly wearing his Army uniform. He has even been arrested in Moscow for like behavior. He is still pending criminal charges for one of those incidents. Last December he was thrown of the PFC Manning court-martial and off the base.

The Justice Dept. should prosecute him for continuing to wear his uniform in public – you can only do that as a veteran on special occasions, protests do not qualify. I am honorably discharged and retired with over 20 years of military service and I cannot legally wear the uniform as he has been doing. ALL honorably discharged veterans and all still in the military should be appalled by him unprofessional behavior. His behavior demeans the uniform.

If he is ever allowed back in the military, Choi will next claim he was not promoted to O-3 because he was gay. Who knows he might be able to get himself deep selected to major over his peers using that tactic.

Choi’s being a poster child for gay rights has made him a large chunk of money and the longer he can keep his face in the news he can probably pull in a six figure income each year. All in all a pretty good deal for a failed officer who either has an enormous ego or is mentally unbalanced. If he was heterosexual no one would care if he was discharged for failing to be promoted for poor performance. The Blade and other news media outlets should ask Choi to waive his Privacy Act rights to obtain copies of his fitness reports from 2003 to present. He will of course refuse as they will show what type of officer he really is.

Commander Wayne L. Johnson, JAGC, Navy (Retired), Alexandria, VA