The Search Quotes

“the commanding officer took to the barracks loudspeaker one night and began calling out names. “Everybody’s looking at one another, like, What the fuck?” One by one, he called each woman into his office and asked her to name who they thought was gay. When Laura refused, he said that someone had identified her. “It was 1993. Bill Clinton had just signed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ I said, ‘We’re in a barracks with twenty-eight women. We’ve had no days off. What are you talking about?’ ” He didn’t care. Based on one accusation, Laura was charged with an Article 15 offense and thrown into the stockade. She was given an ultimatum: Accept a dishonorable discharge or face court martial and up to five years in jail. “I chose the latter. Because one, I’m bullheaded, and two, I had no place to go. They gave me one phone call a week, and I didn’t even use it, because I could never call my family.” Still imprisoned two months later, Laura changed her mind. She signed a confession, was stripped, given civilian clothes, and handed a manila envelope with the word homosexual stamped on the front.”
― Bruce Feiler, The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World