Eric Alva becomes voice for Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In 2003, Eric Alva was the first American injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Seven years later, Alva has taken to the speakers circuit to share his experience and speak out against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“I am not just a marine — I am Hispanic, I am a disabled man, I am a gay man, and I am a veteran,” he said Thursday night in Chapman Hall.

As part of Veterans Day, the retired Marine staff sergeant gave a speech about overcoming obstacles during his military career that went beyond his sexuality.

In addition to being gay, he stood at just more than 5 feet tall and had epilepsy as a child.

On June 15, 1990, Alva said he discovered obstacles he hadn’t considered before, which were pointed out when the government denied him enlistment.

“No, not because I was gay”, he said. “I just didn’t weigh enough at 90 pounds.”

After gaining the required 12 pounds and proving his epilepsy was no longer an issue, Alva was deployed to several different countries with the Marines, such as Somalia and Japan.

Exactly 13 years to the day after he was first denied by recruiters, Alva was deployed to the Middle East.

“At one point we got an order to tear down our tents and get our weapons together,” Alva said. “We were going to Iraq.”

One day he had pulled his Humvee over to prepare lunch, and his life was changed forever.

“As my food was warming up I decided to walk around the Humvee,” he said. “I never remembered what I was going to get because I triggered a land mine and never made it.”

The explosion was severe, and he had to have one of his legs amputated above the knee.

“You don’t know what you have till it’s gone,” Alva said.

When he returned to the United States, he was sent to Bethesda, Md., for more hospitalization.

There, he was greeted by former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, and in another visit, Sheryl Crow visited his room and played him a song.

Although Alva said he didn’t let the accident stop him, he received a medical discharge one year later and went to college, where he became interested in social work.

“In 2005 I contacted the Human Rights Campaign,” Alva said. “I had a lot of notoriety being the first American injured in Iraq and receiving the Purple Heart, so they said I could help them.”

He traveled to Washington D.C. in February 2007 to speak out against the ban on gays serving in the military.

“I went to tell the world that the first injured American in Iraq was a gay marine,” he said. “I wanted to make sure everyone knew who I really was”.

Sophomore Funmi Solar said she was inspired by Alva’s story.

“It was great he was able to deal with all his struggles as a child and do what he did,” she said.

Danny Depuy, assistant director of the LGBTQ Center, which co-sponsored the event, emphasized the fact that Alva has battled discrimination in many different areas in his life.

“We wanted to bring him because the center is dedicated to intersecting identities,” she said.

Alva said he has taken his obstacles and turned them into positivity.

“I thought to myself, ‘You have two arms and one leg. Someone has it worse than you,’” he said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.