THE MILITARY'S WAR ON HIV-POSITIVE SOLIDERS

Don’t ask, don’t tell is dead. But America’s armed services still bar Poz recruits from enlisting and can kick out those who contract the disease while serving

- Erik Larson

Kevin Deese joined the U.S. Naval Academy in 2010 with dreams of becoming a distinguished military officer and giving back to the country he loves—just like his Navy pilot brother did. “I wanted to follow in his footsteps and serve our country,” he says. “He was my role model, and I was inspired by his choice to be of service to others. I wanted that for my life, too.”

Deese thrived at the storied academy, excelling in math, physics, and calculus while receiving medals for rifle and pistol marksmanship. As graduation neared he was selected for an elite training program for officers on nuclear-powered submarines, a track that would require additional training after graduation at the Navy’s Nuclear Power School in Goose Creek, S.C. The plan, he says, was to learn how to command specialized crews and operate some of the most technologically advanced equipment in the world.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Deese says. “I had the grades, brains, and the mathematical abilities to do it.” He even took steps to try to get certified as a Navy diver once he left the academy, one more way to stand out on a sub. Everything was going as planned.

But on April 1, 2014, about six weeks before graduation, a top academy official called Deese into his office to inform him that after getting his diploma he would be discharged instead of offered a commission as an officer. The reason? He tested HIV-positive. The result came from a voluntary blood test he took in his bid to join the diving program, he was told. Deese says the diagnosis left him too stunned to challenge the decision, which he was told was “black and white” and couldn’t be appealed.