USNA Out

Hubert G Dorsett ‘66

USNA ‘66

I should never have made it, according to the doctors who treated me so many years ago for third degree burns on my back and buttocks after I was run over by a car at the age of 5. They said I could never be athletic nor do any strenuous type of work, that my back would never be strong enough. But I showed them, my family and myself that I could do anything I set my mind to do, that I didn`t recognize any barriers. I have dived under the sea in submarines, parachuted from planes, landed and taken off aircraft carriers (as a passenger only), soloed in the T-34 aircraft, and survived plebe year as well as combat duty in South Vietnam. All of this from a GAY MAN who didn't really acknowledge until his junior year at the Academy that he was GAY.

I enlisted in the Navy in 1960, with the desire to attend the Naval Academy. I achieved that desire through a SecNav appointment after attending Naval Academy Prep School at Bainbridge, Maryland. I had been enroute to duty on board the USS SEAFOX in San Diego when I got the change in orders to report to Bainbridge (I was home on leave at the time).

After graduating in June 1966, I went to flight training but left of my own volition after determining that I could never be a Phantom (F-4) Jock (which was the pipeline I was in). Following that, I joined the Black Shoe Navy - in Minesweepers and saw duty off the coast of Vietnam in Coastal Interdiction and then in-country as a member of COMNAVFORV Staff.

However, prior to the COMNAVFORV Staff duty, I was sent to Destroyer School at Newport RI. While in Destroyer School at Newport, I met the first man I would love and have a relationship with - a playwright from New York City (living near Provincetown MA) and because of my feelings for him and because I had been the subject of several investigations by Naval Investigative Service - I decided to end my Navy career and resign my commission. In doing so I lost the first man I loved and I gave up a career that I loved - because I really did (and still do) love the Navy and all that it stood for (except of course for the policy on homosexuals).

Do I have regrets? No, not really because, you see, the Navy and the Naval Academy, provided me the opportunity to grow and be THAT NORMAL GUY I had always wanted to be and to show the world that I was good enough physically, emotionally and mentally to achieve things that I doubt I would have accomplished had I not served and to recognize that I was more capable than I thought in all aspects.

I am proud to say that I am a GAY MAN and I did serve my country well. I wish I could have served longer but LIFE IS WHAT IT IS.

I am now retired and living in southeastern Florida.

Please feel free to contact Hubert here at USNA Out.