Miriam Ben-ShalomBen-ShalomMiriamWICold WarArmy84th Division; 5091st Reception BattalionStaff SergeantFort McClellan, Alabama; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort McCoy and Milwaukee, WisconsinNoVeteran"Nobody joins the military for a date." (Audio interview, 15:08)Though initially she had joined the military hoping to be assigned duty as a chaplain, Miriam Ben-Shalom found her niche as a drill sergeant. The case of Leonard Matlovich, an Airman who outed himself to the military to fight the ban on LGBT servicemembers, spurred her to speak out against the military’s exclusionary policies, eventually resulting in her discharge in 1976. She fought back in court and won the right to re-enlist. In her interview, conducted in 2004, before the repeal of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, she asks, "I want to know: when do I get to be an American - whole and complete, same as anybody else?"Speaking Out: LGBTQ+ VeteransAVER [American Veterans for Equal Rights] newsletter [Nov. 2004]AVER [American Veterans for Equal Rights] newsletter [Nov. 2004]Integration of the Army; became a drill sergeant; giving orders to male soldiers.Inspired by Leonard Matlovich’s picture on the cover of Time Magazine; deciding not to lie; receiving an honorable discharge.Influence of Jewish faith on her activism.Treatment by fellow soldiers after she was reinstated.Feeling of hope when Clinton became President; disappointment with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.Thoughts on discrimination against gays in the military; anger toward being treated like less than a whole American.Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congresshttps://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.43276/DLC-AFC2022-10-27loc.natlib.afc2001001.43276