LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska couple has marked the end of the U.S. military’s ban on gay service by tying the knot. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that 48-year-old Gregory Smith, a full-time member of the Nebraska Army National Guard, married 39-year-old John Burns on Tuesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The wedding occurred just hours after the military ended its so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The couple had originally planned to marry next spring, but Smith told family members he wanted to marry on the first day he could serve openly as a gay man in the military. Burns told the newspaper that if the ban had not been lifted, he and Smith probably would not have married until Smith finished his military service.