Marching to an Angry Drum: Gays in the Military

Rating:
Summary: A ray of sunshine
Review: A warm Maugham like patriotic story about citizens we know so little about.

Rating:
Summary: Innocence revisited
Review: First I must state that this is a book of simplistic prose and structure. Nevertheless, there are points of interest. Mitchell shows the personal lives of everyone in the military should be immaterial, that gays do not enlist to put the make on people. They have a professional approach and do the best job they can. In combat situations the concern of every serviceman is the same, staying alive, not how cute the man's butt is ahead of them.
What Marching to an Angry Drum also accomplishes is presenting gay characters in seeming paradoxical circumstances: a world full of innocent sexuality and sweet dreams juxtaposed with characters fighting a deadly war. The gay men and women who fought in Iraq, maybe never wore the rose coloured glasses of days gone by - the world of Mitchell and his company of men - but they join a hell of a lot of servicemen who served their country with an invisible rainbow flag draped over their collective ample and worthy shoulders.

Mitchell realized he was gay after enlisting in the army. Today's readers can only imagine the difficulties encountered by both gays and lesbians who were required to lead a double life. 'The Angry Drum' is that aspect of the military that is totally intolerant and hostile to the gay and lesbian community. It is also that part of the military that destroys lives not only through combat but also through the hostility of purges, intolerance and prejudice.
Mitchell says his book is 90 percent factual, that he wrote it to dispel the myths that gays in the military are just out to put the make on everybody, that they can't physically serve heroically the same as everybody else.
I'd say many of those myths had been buried long before this book was published. Yet nothing I have read or heard in the debate on the topic of gays in the military has been more profound than the following line found in the introduction to Marching To an Angry Drum :

"I am reminded of the epitaph of the late

Leonard Matlovich

A gay Vietnam veteran

"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for

killing two men, and a discharge for loving one."

Rating:
Summary: Facinating reading and reliable documentation
Review: Marching to an Angry Drum Gays in the Military

BOOK REVIEW Between The Lines July 13 - 19, 2000 Pridesource.com By: Charles Alexander

As a writer C. G. Mitchell's style might best be called "old fashioned butch." This is not a putdown. It's just that Mitchell doesn't feel the need to spell everything out. His writing, especially when it comes to sex or violence, invites the reader to use his imagination (an ingredient too often missing from today's gay market novels and short stories.) As far as the butch part goes, Mitchell doesn't shy away from the forceful use of language. When it is appropriate his dialogue is seasoned with salt and pepper (and occasionally with salt peter.) It's all verbal spit and polish. It's also two fisted, funny, and at times very touching. It helps of course, to know the macho/military complex first hand. Without this insider's point of view no gay service novel succeeds. The success of Mitchell's new book, "Marching to an Angry Drum" is due to the fact that Mitchell lived through it and embellishes his well-written adventures with similar experiences from friends and contemporaries. "Angry Drum" is his military coming out story. It's set in the 1950s and in a variety of locals from California to Korea. (His book of short stories, "I Quit - I Promise," contains lead-in reminiscences.) Its lovers are John and David. According to Mitchell, it was not easy to go back in memory and retrieve details that are painful, bittersweet, and sadly pleasant. It took three years to do so, with numerous visits to old locals. Nonetheless, he succeeds admirably. The 50s were a time when the gay scene was undiscovered and forbidding territory for most straights. For those who were gay, the motto (borrowed from World War II) could well have been, "Loose lips sink ships!" In other words: make sure your gay assignations are covered. Actually, a number of gay men survived (and thrived) in the armed services. How this was done is an important reason why "Angry Drum" is both fascinating reading and reliable documentation. (Mitchell was discharged with honors.) Many comrades, however, were ferreted out, particularly a number of his lesbian army buddies. He shares and exposes the military witch-hunt that destroyed their lives. "The real "angry drum"' says Mitchell, "is that aspect of the military that is totally intolerant and hostile to the gay and lesbian community. It is also that part of the military that destroys lives not only through combat but also through the hostility of purges, intolerance, and prejudice." Mitchell has written a fine addition to the turbulent history of gays and lesbians in the military. It's star-spangled summer reading, replete with guts, romance, and gay patriotism and, importantly, the loyalty of straight friends.

Rating:
Summary: Facinating reading and reliable documentation
Review: Marching to an Angry Drum Gays in the Military

BOOK REVIEW Between The Lines July 13 - 19, 2000 Pridesource.com By: Charles Alexander

As a writer C. G. Mitchell's style might best be called "old fashioned butch." This is not a putdown. It's just that Mitchell doesn't feel the need to spell everything out. His writing, especially when it comes to sex or violence, invites the reader to use his imagination (an ingredient too often missing from today's gay market novels and short stories.) As far as the butch part goes, Mitchell doesn't shy away from the forceful use of language. When it is appropriate his dialogue is seasoned with salt and pepper (and occasionally with salt peter.) It's all verbal spit and polish. It's also two fisted, funny, and at times very touching. It helps of course, to know the macho/military complex first hand. Without this insider's point of view no gay service novel succeeds. The success of Mitchell's new book, "Marching to an Angry Drum" is due to the fact that Mitchell lived through it and embellishes his well-written adventures with similar experiences from friends and contemporaries. "Angry Drum" is his military coming out story. It's set in the 1950s and in a variety of locals from California to Korea. (His book of short stories, "I Quit - I Promise," contains lead-in reminiscences.) Its lovers are John and David. According to Mitchell, it was not easy to go back in memory and retrieve details that are painful, bittersweet, and sadly pleasant. It took three years to do so, with numerous visits to old locals. Nonetheless, he succeeds admirably. The 50s were a time when the gay scene was undiscovered and forbidding territory for most straights. For those who were gay, the motto (borrowed from World War II) could well have been, "Loose lips sink ships!" In other words: make sure your gay assignations are covered. Actually, a number of gay men survived (and thrived) in the armed services. How this was done is an important reason why "Angry Drum" is both fascinating reading and reliable documentation. (Mitchell was discharged with honors.) Many comrades, however, were ferreted out, particularly a number of his lesbian army buddies. He shares and exposes the military witch-hunt that destroyed their lives. "The real "angry drum"' says Mitchell, "is that aspect of the military that is totally intolerant and hostile to the gay and lesbian community. It is also that part of the military that destroys lives not only through combat but also through the hostility of purges, intolerance, and prejudice." Mitchell has written a fine addition to the turbulent history of gays and lesbians in the military. It's star-spangled summer reading, replete with guts, romance, and gay patriotism and, importantly, the loyalty of straight friends.