Friday, June 10, 2022

Douglas Dietrich falsely claims he was given a "Blue Sheet" Discharge from the USMC

During another of his pathetic attempts to lie his way out of a previous lie and refute his detractors, Douglas Dietrich claims he was given both "blue sheet" and Dishonorable Discharges from the US Marine Corps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuBFM4Jmjyo&t=13980s  

(3:45:44 to 3:47:56)


"Blue Ticket Discharge":

"A blue discharge (also known as a "blue ticket") was a form of administrative military discharge formerly issued by the United States beginning in 1916. It was neither honorable nor dishonorable. The blue ticket became the discharge of choice for commanders seeking to remove homosexual service members from the ranks. They were also issued disproportionately to African Americans."  

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_discharge

"The blue discharge was created in 1916 to replace two previous discharge classifications, the administrative discharge without honor and the "unclassified" discharge.[1] The discharges were printed on blue paper, hence the name. They were also sometimes called "blue tickets".[2] One early use of the blue discharge was for service members who had enlisted to fight in World War I while underage, but this practice was abolished by law and all such discharges were upgraded to honorable."[3]

 "However, with the mobilization of troops following the United States' entry into World War II, it became impractical to convene court-martial boards of commissioned officers and some commanders began issuing administrative discharges instead. Several waves of reform addressing the handling of homosexuals in the military resulted in a 1944 policy directive that called for homosexuals to be committed to military hospitals, examined by psychiatrists, and discharged under Regulation 615-360, section 8"

House Report on blue discharges:

"In response to reports about the disparate treatment of blue-ticket veterans, the House Committee on Military Affairs appointed a special committee to review the Veterans Administration's procedures. The committee, headed by Rep. Carl T. Durham (D-NC), issued its report officially called "Investigations of the National War Effort", commonly known as "Blue Discharges", on January 30, 1946"

"Blue discharges were discontinued as of July 1, 1947, and two new headings, general and undesirable, took their place.[25] A general discharge was considered to be under honorable conditions – distinct from an "honorable discharge" – and an undesirable discharge was under conditions other than honorable – distinct from a "dishonorable discharge".[1] 

At the same time, the Army changed its regulations to ensure that gay and lesbian service members would not qualify for general discharges.[26] Those found guilty of engaging in homosexual conduct still received dishonorable discharges, while those identified as homosexuals but not to have committed any homosexual acts now received undesirable discharges.[27] 

By the 1970s, a service member who had not committed any homosexual acts would tend to receive a general discharge, while those found to have engaged in homosexual sex tended to receive undesirable discharges."

"This was the status quo until replaced in 1993 by the policy commonly known as don't ask, don't tell".

The type of discharge did not exist during Dietrich's 90 days of active duty for training as a recruit in the USMC from Oct 1987 to Jan 1988 and therefore could not have been a document so secret that it would have been permanently "under seal" and releasable only by an action of the President of the United States.

Douglas Dietrich received an Entry Level Separation from the Marine Corps, he was neither recycled and allowed to continue his enlistment nor was he given a Dishonorable Discharge in 1991.

If he had, the National Archives documents would have listed his discharge type as "Dishonorable" and included the date of discharge.  Details of a court-martial or other disciplinary action resulting in discharge are NOT releasable under the Freedom of Information Act.

Dietrich's claim is also particularly disturbing because he associates himself with the thousands of actual Veterans who were given "blue" discharges and denied medical and education benefits as well as employment.


Sources:

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Blue_discharge

https://mvets.law.gmu.edu/2019/05/17/the-blue-ticket-discharge-a-color-that-has-stained-the-lives-of-wwii-era-veterans-for-over-75-years/

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