Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers

by Steven Zeeland (editor)

Among all the literature published on gays in the military, Steven Zeeland’s first book remains one of a kind. Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers is a raw, unsanitized personal record of conversations the author had with young soldiers and airmen stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Zeeland’s intimate involvement with these men enabled him to document in honest, visceral terms the day-to-day reality of gay military men’s lives and how they work, play, and, in many instances, how the military actually helped them come out. Ironically, despite the military’s antigay policies, these men found that military service placed them in environments where they had to come to terms with their erotic feelings for other men, and sent them overseas to places where they found greater freedom to explore their sexuality than they could have back home. While a few of Zeeland’s buddies were targeted for discharge, most portray an atmosphere of sexually tense tolerance and reveal a surprising degree of openness with straight co-workers and roommates.The 16 fascinating interviews in Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers challenge popular assumptions and stereotypes about gay men in the military and provide significant information

Genres: LGBT, Gay, Military Fiction, Queer, Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 1993

Reviews

[Griffin The Big Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I deeply implore every gay person to read this, for the George H.W. Bush lore alone

[Gerry Burnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerry B's Book Reviews - http://gerrycan.wordpress.com

I suppose that nearly every gay male—myself included—has fantasized at one time or another about a uniform bulging with raw masculine virility. Of course, according to the politicians and military brass, homosexuality is not supposed to exist. Gays in the military? Unheard of! Steven Zeeland’s Barrack Buddies and Soldier Lovers [Routledge, 1993] puts a lie to that proposition by introducing us to sixteen very active gays in the military.

Although the timeline is dated some things are timeless, and human sexuality is one of these. So is the myopia of policy makers who, in the face of indisputable proof, continue to pretend that the issue simply does not exist.

The book is a collection of transcribed interviews with sixteen, gay servicemen, who describe their personal experiences while stationed in Germany. Critically speaking, the experiences are not that different or unique from any other group of sexually active men this age, but what is remarkable is the network of social connections that are inadvertently revealed; red light districts, gay bars and bath houses that soon become known and frequented.

Another aspect that comes to the light in these interviews is the lack of danger or fear as a result of their sexual orientation. Some spoke of minor discrimination, and others of frustration at having to hide their orientation, but most claimed that life was not unpleasant, overall. Moreover, the overwhelming majority thought that gays represented no particular problems in military service.

The shortcomings of this study are there as well. The first is the limited scope of the sample. Virtually all the interviewees came from the same branch of the military, located in the same base. Moreover, none of the interviewees were actively engaged in combat at the time. Would their responses have been any different if that were not so? It is hard to say. Nevertheless it is a question that is still open with this reader.

With that caveat, I recommend this study as being both interesting and informative. Four stars.

[Joe Scholes · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first few "interviews," most of these guys' stories started sounding the same. This book was just a transcript of several recorded conversations the author had with gay friends in the military. He asked a lot of questions, none of which were very probative, and simply recorded the answers.

This book was published in the early 1990s and depicts the state of gays in the military pretty well, but much like dozens of similar books of its time.

[Cbernard3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This documentary hit me right in the stomach. I was stationed at a kaserne in Germany 20 years prior to these interviews. I had no idea that there was such an active gay scene in Germany. Perhaps I would have found a better experience in Germany if I had known. I guess I was a late bloomer as I was just past my 20th birthday.

[Gerry Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.