The Cost of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

President Barack Obama has promised to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy relating to homosexual service members, but gays and lesbians are still being forced out of the military.

As CBS News correspondent Ross Palombo reports, even seasoned soldiers are losing their careers.

Amy Brian served in the Kansas National Guard for nine years. She fought in Iraq … and survived an IED attack.

Instead of being treated as a war hero, this second-generation soldier has been booted out - a victim of the government's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

"All of a sudden you wake up real quick and think, 'Oh, this is reality,'" she said.

She ran into trouble when a coworker saw her off-duty and out of uniform at Wal-Mart. That woman told the military: Brian was kissing her girlfriend.

Brian said she was later told, "You're being investigated for homosexual misconduct."

She insists everyone knew she was a lesbian, but nobody cared during combat. "I figured if no one asked me, that there wasn't a problem."

More than 12,500 gay and lesbian soldiers have been discharged since "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" began in 1993.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based nonprofit advocating an end to the military's policy, says that while discharges due to the policy have declined since the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq, women have been discharged in numbers that are disproportionate to their numbers in the military.

In a report published in 2003, SLDN stated that more than a third of the Army's discharges under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (36%) were women, who make up only 15% of the Army's total forces. Similarly, 34% of Coast Guard discharges were women, who make up only 7% of the Coast Guard.

The Kansas National Guard's top commander says it's his duty to investigate every accusation.

"When it is brought to our attention, we have to look into it," said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting.

A 2006 University of California Blue Ribbon Commission report determined that the total cost of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" between Fiscal Years 1994 and 2003, from training personnel who are subsequently discharged, was at least $363.8 million.

President Obama has promised to repeal the policy, but that would require Congressional approval, and it remains unclear exactly how he'll change the rules about gays in the military.

Change didn't come quickly enough for Brian, who had wanted to join the National Guard since she polished her father's boots as a young girl.

"I'm really hoping he sticks with that and comes through for us," Brian said. "For me, for a lot of other people out there."