Episode 36: Pride: Critical Conversation with LGBTQ+ Identities in our Force

June is LGBT Pride Month in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. Across our Army, units and individual Soldiers are celebrating their Pride. In this conversation about representation, guest host Matt Visser fills in for Joe Buccino, to navigate how placing People First involves creating an organizational culture that welcomes authenticity and the contributions of LGBTQ+ service members. LGBTQ+ identities within the United States military have had complicated experiences. Episode 36 of the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast mines those experiences for wisdom and truth in a discussion with five openly gay Soldiers. Within this episode, Captain Nell Robinson, a reserve judge advocate at the United States Army Reserve Command, engages candidly about her experience while serving under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as an enlisted soldier, and the contributing factors that led her to take an eighteen-year break in service before returning to an Army that welcomes her wife. Wes (last name withheld) is an enlisted combat medic who is awaiting training at the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS). Since joining the Army in 2018, he’s deployed with the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, to Kuwait and Jordan. Throughout the conversation, Wes proves a testament and beneficiary of many positive advancements that our organization has made to welcome queer identities equitably while sharing his unique personal perspective of someone who has always been able to serve openly. Trevor Barton is a military police officer preparing to assume command of the 21st Military Police Company (Airborne) on Fort Bragg. His experience, as a detachment commander deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, as an operations officer at multiple echelons, and as an aide-de-camp to then-Brigadier, and now Major-General Donna Martin, has informed his genuine leadership philosophy which incorporates his conviction that a leader should strive to be surrounded by individuals who don’t see every situation the same, and should pull from the diverse backgrounds and perspectives available from the Army’s greatest asset, its Soldiers”. Nick is a first lieutenant who is in the process of becoming a civil affairs officer. He is also awaiting training with the USAJFKSWCS. After he was commissioned in 2017, he was assigned to 2nd Cavalry Regiment, stationed at Vilseck Germany, where he served within the Regimental Support Squadron as a platoon leader, troop executive officer, and assistant operations officer – plans. Staff Sergeant Chris Kresback serves as a forward observer with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Chris has deployed to Afghanistan and as part of the Immediate Response Force who mobilized within the 18-hour sequence to Kuwait in 2020. The XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters releases new episodes of the 18th Airborne Corps Podcast every Tuesday and Thursday. The show offers insight and wisdom for Army leaders from history, current events, or future technology.