How the First American Wounded in Iraq Became a Gay Rights Champion

He was trained. He was ready. And before March 21, 2003, had even come to a close, Staff Sgt. Eric Alva of the U.S. Marines had become the first of 32,292 American troops to be wounded in the Iraq War.

“It was only three hours,” Alva, now 53, told AARP Experience Counts. He lost his right leg and fingertip and broke his right arm. That same day, the first of 4,492 American troops to die in Iraq was killed — also a Marine.

"The first thing that went was my hearing; it was like fireworks," he later recalled. "My hearing got this loud ringing. As I fell to the ground, I didn't know the extent of my injuries. People were cutting off my suit to see what happened.”

Alva was born in Texas into a military family. His father served in Vietnam and his grandfather in World War II and his middle name is Fidelis — drawn from the Marine Corps motto of “Semper Fidelis,” meaning Always Faithful.

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He was walking again three months after his injury and in July 2003 received a Heroes and Heritage Award, reserved for Hispanic war veterans.

A Marine Corps general said: “Staff Sgt. Alva is a credit to the Corps. We are grateful for his faithful service and proud to honor him today. He was medically discharged after 13 years of service.”

In 2005, Texas proposed a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Alva remembers thinking, “They are talking about you, Eric” and decided it was time to come out publicly as a gay veteran. His stance was, “I served my country. I should have the same rights … they were making me sound like an evil, abnormal, pedophile, pessimistic, ugly person and I really wasn’t.”

Alva told his mother, “Mom, I’ve already been in a war. And this is another one I’m about to take on.” He went on to campaign publicly against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which was repealed in 2010.