Discharge is the comic story of four gay sailors being released from the Navy in 1995.
While stationed in Western Australia, Hospital Corpsman Mickey Matlin, the married father of two young children, is discovered in an intimate situation with 19-year-old Seaman Apprentice Eddie Vasquez.
Journalist Jon Gates is dumped by the base dentist at the same time, and in a somewhat dramatic fashion, he informs the Legal Officer he is gay and requests a release from the Navy - ASAP. No hard feelings. He simply wants to be free of the military in the same way Elizabeth Taylor wanted to be rid of Eddie Fisher after she met Richard Burton.
Arrangements are made for the sailors to journey to Treasure Island, off the coast of San Francisco. In Perth, they meet up with Machinist's Mate Lawrence Watts who is also en route to the states for a medical discharge.
Their travels take them through New Zealand, Sidney, and Honolulu.
They consider the trip a "last fling" of sorts - that is, until they reach Treasure Island where they are tossed into a "daytime jail" disciplinary barracks, which allows them evening liberty in San Francisco.
There is screaming and some sex, as each man struggles to construct a new life outside of the military. Young Vasquez deals with coming out issues. Watts learns to accept his HIV status, and Mickey Matlin must confront his wife, who joins them in San Francisco from their rural Illinois home.
Their stories are related through letters, journal entries, and other fairy tales that document their military discharges.
