This book received outstanding reviews from the New York Times, USA Today and other mainstream reviewers. The bulk of the book covers 1954 forward. In the book's prologue the author states that because the services never really wanted women, successful women are often accused of being gay, or not womanly enough. If women fail they are harrassed for not being manly enough - the idea being that women can't "make it" in the service because they are too womanly. The way women can prove themselves nonlesbians is to have sex with men. The Navy releases twice as many women as men for homosexuality - in the Marine Corps the number is seven times higher! Page 135 - states that during the 1940s and 1950s the WACs and WAVES were "overwhelmingly lesbian." There appears to be no documentation for this statement. Page 140 - The highest ranking women officers in the military services well into the 1980s were largely lesbian. The author appears to make these statements because the gay women veterans he interviewed claimed this was the case. He connects the lesbian hunts in the Air Force in the early 1970s to the backlash against the growing feminist movement. Page 144 - an outrageous story about an ANC Lt. Colonel circa 1970 who before she had a nervous breakdown became obcessed with the idea that the ANC was permeated with lesbians. She supposedly drew up a list and gave it to military intelligence before she was "straight-jacketed and shipped off to a psychiatric ward." His final sentence is "Afterward women who saw the list she had drawn up admitted it was remarkably accurate." The name of a female general appeared on this list. - There was only one female general in the ANC in 1971 - the Corps Director. In mid 1971 Anna Mae Hays retired and Lillian Dunlap became Director. No documentation for this story except the word of one interviewee, a Captain Mary Hall. Page 318 - a "large proportion" of new female military recruits circa 1980 were lesbian.

See also "Coming Out Under Fire." ( )

CONDUCT UNBECOMING: GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THE U.S. MILITARY by Randy Shilts - Finished 3-8-13 ????? - ?

Shilts' book "And the Band Played On" was unquestionably my favorite book of 2012. I fully expect "Conduct Unbecoming" will remain my favorite book of 2013. This book centers on the treatment of gays in all branches of the military from the late 1950s through 1990. Through the stories of countless men and women serving in the military, as well as materials obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, he tells the story of the endless persecution of homosexuals, some of whom have superior service records, medals and honors, and have made the service their lifetime careers. While I've always known that you give up many personal freedoms when you entered the military, I didn't realize how completely that freedom was lost. The interrogation techniques used to ferret out information from American citizens frankly scared me to death. The billions of dollars spent to spy on, discharge, and sometimes jail service members is outrageous. I do not want to believe it could happen here, but it did. Reading Shilts' stories of ruined lives and careers of dedicated people rekindles my desire to leave judgment to God.

While dense with information, Shilts' style is very personal and it pulls you along almost like a mystery, needing to know what happens next to people you genuinely come to care for. I highly recommend this to anyone. ( )