soldiering on

Army Spc. Codey Wilson Spoofed DADT. Guess How He Was Rewarded?

For uploading the video of him and his comrades dancing to Ke$ha’s “Blah Blah Blah,” a take on the ridiculousness of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Army Spc. Codey Wilson, who dreams of being a film director, was investigated, forced to write a letter to his superiors explaining his actions, and put on garbage duty. Hey: Beats getting kicked out of the military like actual homosexuals.

Wilson headed back to Iraq, for the second time, after an eight month leave. He can’t wait to be done, he tells New York.

Nobody in Wilson’s “If the Army Goes Gay” video is actually gay, even though that’s the part that a lot of people got stuck on. He says he’d be shocked (shocked, not upset, he is careful to say) if he found out there were any gay guys in his unit. “They’re all from Virginia, where we have a lot of straight arrows.”

Wilson says there are homophobes on the base, “backcountry rednecks” whom Wilson makes fun of, but mostly makes fun with, because that is how you get across the sand. There were guys in the company who thought Wilson was disrespecting the unit or speaking out in favor of the repeal. “I was also getting gay jokes for a while, but I have kind of a reputation at home—I’ve had like 50 girlfriends—so let people make jokes.”

His gym was just subjected to a mortar attack. Six men were injured. Nobody died.

“The most special thing about the video I made,” says Wilson, “is that for a few days, we kind of became members of society. It was like we actually mattered.”

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