Colonel Victor Fehrenbach is a decorated Air Force flight officer with 19 years of service to the United States military. He’s also under investigation by the Air Force for allegedly being a homosexual male in his private life, and is on the verge of being discharged from the U.S. military.
That’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for you.
The investigation began over two years ago, and his case is under final review now by Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force. This means he’s one person’s decision away from being tossed out of the military, a year before his twentieth year of service.
The colonel has filed a lawsuit requesting a temporary order blocking his dismissal, on the grounds that the case fails “meet standards established in a 2008 federal court ruling on don’t ask, don’t tell.” This is because the investigation started after a civilian filed a complaint against Fehrenbach, which was later dismissed by local police and the prosecuting attorney as unfounded. (Regulations require DADT investigations to be based on credible sources.)
See below for a piece on Col. Fehrenbach on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC television show last year: