'I was a pilot in the marines' - a gay mans story. X RATED
John: Wanted to share with you the story we talked about from my past.
Decades ago I was in the Navy as a pilot.
My job was to fly supplies and men to a base on Antarctica - and I would be doing 6 months on and then 6 months off.
The off period was when I was on a base in western Germany and at least this part of the job was in the warm as Antarctica was a lot of work and in the cold everything seemed twice as hard and twice as shriveled up.
I am a gay man and always have been.
We are talking here about the middle 70's.
It was illegal to be gay in the armed forces in those days.
No one knew I was gay.
There was limited and very discrete sex to be had between the few gay men on site but not a lot and one tended to just keep your head down, do the work and ignore sexuality as it would cause too many problems. But there were times and there were men - in the communal showers - that one had a real hard time not staring at and getting an erection over and I really had to just keep thinking of anything to ' put me off' sometimes or get spotted - be teased - be realized and then - sadly - be out.
SADLY: One of my jobs was to fly crew home who had been - basically - fired from the forces for being gay and while that decision was not mine, I was just the pilot, I sat with them for hours on the flight home and it was desperate.
These were good and decent men who were brilliant - BRILLIANT - at their jobs and well respected medal winners and just because they were found to like cock and not pussy, they were hounded out of the service by cowards hiding behind their uniform of heterosexuality. Any pension earned was withdrawn which always seemed legal theft as the pension was theirs, they had paid into the system and now the system was stealing decades of payments made and threw them out unceremonially and with no thought or care for the man, the person and their achievements while in the armed forces, they were just out. It was as if the system hated the thought that there was something / someone - there that they considered through their hidden fear and bigotry shouldn't have been and they were gotten rid of as fast as possible, as quietly as possible and with threats of prison if they made / kicked up a fuss, and most just went quietly.
It was around this time a gay friend who was a guard at Buckingham Palace was also investigated for being gay - as one of the guards had posed for a gay magazine - HIM Magazine - half in and half out of his uniform, and when the authorities in the Palace found out, and when the shit hit the fan, there was a long and ongoing investigation and many were fired and a massive investigation ensued as to whom else was gay and in uniform and protecting the Queen at Buck House, and this
went on and on with so many good men fired. This only came to an end when Her Majesty drew a line under the investigation by stating she was loosing too many familiar faces and of people she knew and liked and that enough was enough, and my friend spared the sack and instead, was moved and re trained to be a military nurse, something he was delighted with. So happy ending for him but not for the many gay men who were hounded and sacked and all pension contributions stolen by the pension companies and withheld. Absolute legal theft and destruction of honest and decent men - doing an honest days work and - what's more - DAMNED GOOD AT THEIR JOBS - yet fired because in their personal lives they wanted cock and not pussy. As if this makes any difference to being able to protect the Queen as when several people over the years joined the Queen for an unexpected chat - one while Her Madge was still in bed and the emergency alarm took 20 minutes to be answered, it was straight men in charge of that fuck up - so - so much for firing the gay staff when it was under their watch of the straight guards that intruders got in.
Things have changed and I retired from the armed services 30 years ago or more and have been a pilot for several large airlines since and no one has ever given me grief for being gay, as since those days in hiding, and since those days when one could be jailed for being gay, I came out and have always announced my gayness everywhere I can and considering I am 6'4" and built like a brick shit house - and where you would not want to even try to ' take me on' - I have never had a problem since leaving the forces.
Things have improved a lot. Gay laws have offered us equality and marriage. It will still be a few more generations before the mass of people accept and we become main stream with everyone else and as the gay world changes because of the internet, the world turns and we turn with it, together, regardless of sexuality or anything.
Life is what matters John and thank you for all the fun I have had at Hamilton Hall over the years and thanks for showing an interest in my story.
John H.
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