Openly Gay Recruits Begin Re-Enlisting

Kris Longaker, 21, Started Re-Enlistment Process At National Guard Amory In El Cajon, CA

-- Across the country and in San Diego County, military recruiters have begun accepting applications from openly gay recruits after a court ruling several days ago and the Pentagon's decision to open up applications.

"It's a great feeling," said 21-year-old Tiffany Longaker, who goes by the name Kris, after experiencing a roller coaster of emotions on Monday.

Longaker, who grew up in a military family, said she was motivated to enlist after seeing scenes of the Sept. 11 terror attacks as a sixth grader.


"I want to go to Afghanistan and Iraq and pretty much fight and take out those that took out the Twin Towers," she said
Longaker did not get her chance. Before she ended up in San Diego, she was outed by a fellow soldier 
and discharged from a military base in Missouri after five months.

“A female didn't like me. She told on me for being stereotypically gay,” Longaker said. "I was very upset that was my entire career thrown away."
We caught up with Longaker at the National Guard Armory in El Cajon around noon Monday, there to re-enlist after learning the Pentagon Friday had instructed the military to stop discharging gay service members and instead begin recruiting them.
At first she was told this: “We cannot begin paperwork yet, till we have everyone sign that piece of paper in the Pentagon.”




Then just 20 minutes after she walked out disappointed, her phone rang with the news she had been waiting for.
“I get a phone call from the recruiter saying hey, I've got an e-mail saying you can come in,” said Longaker.
Longaker says now after four years of waiting and fighting to re-enlist, she'll soon be back to her old job as a motor transport operator, moving everything from tracks to Humvees.
“I'm still in shock,” Longaker said.



Longaker claims to be the first gay woman in the nation to re-enlist after being discharged, like 17,000 others, and now one of thousands expected to return.
Longaker told 10News, “I love that they don't want us at first. Still joined and now it’s more of an honor to serve the country that doesn't really want you to be in it.”
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