Watch: Maddow: Gay Purple Heart Vet Calls Amos “Conduct Unbecoming”

Eric Alva is the first Marine injured in the Iraq War, the first American for that matter, and he’s gay. Alva won a purple heart but lost his leg. He calls General Amos’ comments, that gays in the military are a distraction to straight soldiers and could cost lives, or limbs, “conduct unbecoming.”

Alva continues,

“I was just really taken aback on how disrespectful someone who is the leader of the United States Marine Corps can talk about, you know, members in the armed forces who is aware of that there are gay service members serving in the Marine Corps, and all branches of service. But what he did was totally, what we call in the military, conduct unbecoming. I mean, he literally took my Purple Heart and threw it in my face. I mean, to say that there are distractions and could cause deaths or even loss of limbs for people because of knowing that there are openly gay men and women serving in the military, I mean, this is just unbelievable, how someone can really act in a leadership role.”

“I mean, this is someone who I’m waiting for to get that call from the Commander in Chief himself, like General McCrystal, and maybe taken into that Oval Office and walk out not in charge of the Marines anymore.”