On April 28, Jarod Mcintosh went to work on the nuclear submarine the USS Wyoming — where he served as a cook — with one extra disallowed piece of equipment in tow: his G-1 phone from T-Mobile. By the end of the day, the presence of his phone set into motion of a chain of events that will result in Mcintosh’s general discharge from the U.S. Navy under Defense Secretary Gates’ much-vaunted new rules for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell enforcement. Those rules, of course, were supposed to protect service members from being outed by third parties and in the course of other investigations — but, in Mcintosh’s case, they didn’t work that way.On a nuclear submarine, all photographic equipment is prohibited, and cell phones with cameras are included in the prohibition. But sailors caught with phones generally just have them confiscated, according to Mcintosh, and returned at the end of the shift, after which sailors usually face disciplinary action for disobeying orders. So when the ship’s duty officer saw Mcintosh’s cell phone and confiscated it, that’s what they both thought would happen.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=121923