If Congress goes ahead and repeals DADT, even under the compromise that would give Defense Sec. Gates the ultimate level pull on actually shutting down the policy, American soldiers are going to be confused. Yes, really.
Chiefs of staff G. Roughead (chief of Naval ops), James Conway (Marine chief), Norton Schwartz (Air Force head), and George Casey (Army head) all wrote similar letters to Congress insisting they don’t act on DADT until the Pentagon finishes its review. Otherwise, as Roughead declares:
Don’t get soldiers’ brains all mixed up you guys! These trained professionals just won’t be able to handle it.
j
Completely insulting to american soldiers. … Oh wait, did I say american? Nevermind then. Legislative changes at this point probably would cause confusion.
Mike in Asheville, nee "in Brooklyn"
I thought that the $665,000,000,000 per year we are spending on our military budget included sufficient funds for a “professional” military. And yet, according to those opposed to gay/lesbian service members, openly serving gays and lesbians, 3-5% of the military ranks, will overwhelm the 95-97% heterosexuals with rape and intimidation.
Now, we learn that these so-called “professional” service members lack to knowledge, intelligence, and the common sense to distinguish between the military’s code of conduct and federal laws.
It appears that all that money is buying us a bunch of stupid ass sissies.
What an insult to the brave men and women serving our Country that wing-nuts, politicians, and apparently most of the military chiefs think so little about their character as service members and commitment to their service. That is appalling.
Michael
Since when did the military start worrying about a soldier’s input on policy matters??? Isn’t a military suppose to give orders and the soldier is then suppose to follow them???
There are so many red flags with the “soldier’s input” it’s unreal. America is completely screwing the LGBT community.
Rich
Very interesting that the number one priority listed on ADM Gary Roughead’s website as CNO is labeled “Diversity.” Apparently, that’s just a political slogan and not a policy of real moral concern for the Admiral. Either you fundamentally understand what it means to respect diversity and inclusions persons from all backgrounds, or you just give it lip service. I guess we know where ADM Roughead really stands on diversity issues now. The CNO and the rest of the service chiefs are all frauds.
AndrewW
This “plea” from the Joint Chiefs = filibuster. the non-compromise, non-repeal Amendment will not get 60 votes. It’s over – just like the Plan that was agreed to in February.
DADT Repeal will be revisited after the mid-terms.
Dennis
All of this is Obama’s fault as well, right? I mean, the man DID invent homophobia, accouring to Queerty…EVERYBODY just loves the gays, except for our mean old gay-hating President, right?
Hillary would have rescinded DADT even before she was sworn in as President, if she had won…blah, blah, delusional blah.
If anything, this is only a reminder of the pervasive and powerful gay hatred that exists in our military, and Obama, while being far from perfect on the issue, at least has said publicy NUMEROUS times that he wanted the policy ended…without Obama’s support, FUCKING NOTHING would be happening with the DADT repeal. But of course, he deserves no credit for that, according to other posts on this delusional site.
Post some more “Davey Wavey” shit on the site, it’s apparently all you people can handle.
(I’m half-sorry for this rant, as this article is actually reality-based, I just needed to vent on the ridiculous editorial inconsistency @ Queerty)
Patrick Garies
The only way that this would lead “Sailors to question whether their input matters” is if there’s any question as to whether DADT will be allowed to stand. There shouldn’t be any question if they’re /only/ asking how gays and lesbians should be accommodated; that’s all that they should be doing based upon Secretary Gates’ Congressional testimony that DADT will, in fact, be repealed and it’s just a matter of “how”. The letters seem to indicate that that’s not exactly what’s happening though.
Michael
@Patrick Garies: It’s definitely a prelude to the military, somehow, coming up with statistics which say people don’t want gays to serve openly. I hear they’re polling in the most conservative, anti-gay areas. Odd thing is, IMHO, if 70% of the military is OK with the idea and 80% of the population is on the same track then the stats they’re about to come out with are totally slanted on purpose. The audacity of the military suddenly turning itself into a Club Med in order to make everything nice and comfy for it’s soldiers is an alarm, IMHO, there’s an entity, ie The Family, behind the scene much more powerful than we realize. Maybe I’m off base but if The Family, or whoever, can make the military poll it’s members on a policy for the first time in our history then them bringing the “kill the gays bill” over here isn’t much of a stretch.
We’ll just have to wait to see how things turn out but I don’t see DADT being repealed at all.
Lanjier
Here is what you tell soldiers with stupid questions: “Watch every one of your soldiers back like it were your own, numnuts. Now drop and give me twenty or you are going to be sucking a toilet brush in the lav all night!”
Some Army Guy In Iraq
Let me give you all a little perspective from within the ranks. We (meaning soldiers in my unit) have been discussing the DADT issue quite a lot recently. My own observation is that about 25% are vehemently against it, about 25% are vehemently for it, and about 50% don’t care either way. I’m in that 50% camp. Trust me, the troops have seen the writing on the wall and we know that it will not be long before DADT is lifted. Since the repeal is winding its way through Congress, I decided I’d check and see what the gay community was saying through the blogosphere. I keep seeing a theme being repeated: that the military will do whatever it can to squash the repeal. While I am certain that there are those in the Pentagon that will attempt to do just that, there is no doubt in my mind they will be unsuccessful.
Here’s what you have to remember about the military: it is a government entity, and thus a giant bureaucracy. Additionally, you have to keep in mind that the military does not like to do ANYTHING without much more study, paperwork, and training than is comprehensible to the normal human mind. Hell, I’ve been trying for four months to get a replacement for the 6 year old laptop in my office that I’m forced to use. And to get it connected to the network. What I’m driving at here is that while I read all of these commentaries castigating ADM Mullen the commentators are actually jumping to an incorrect conclusion.
The reason, as best I can conclude from 13 years of service (and thus observing the military bureaucratic beast in operation), for ADM Mullen and the Chiefs wanting to wait to pull the trigger on the DADT repeal is based on practical implementation. For instance, military regulations have to overhauled. Sexual Harassment, Equal Opportunity, and Diversity training and programs have to be redesigned and implemented. New personnel policies have to be designed and implemented, with domestic partnership being a huge one. Also, how to house openly gay service members has to be figured out. If we don’t allow males and females to share quarters, what do we do about gays? And once we figure that out, what do we do to quarter bisexuals? The only real solution is to give everyone a private room. Which brings on the one that will make the left really howl, the need for an increased military budget to build or rearrange said housing in order to maintain good order and discipline. That’s where the input from within the ranks comes in. I’ve seen and filled out enough military questionnaires to know that I will be required to type out an online form in the near future asking if I support the repeal, and then to rate on a scale courses of action to address the concerns I just listed, then there will be comment blocks at the end for me to fill in with any suggestions or solutions that I might have to assist in resolving those issues. Then, of course, after the 2-3 month window for filling out the survey closes, you can count on at least 6 months for the information to be parsed, analyzed, and reviewed. Then a board will convene to work out the issues and formulate a plan of action. Once that’s all done, probably a year later, they’ll implement the plan and lift the policy. It’s not that the brass doesn’t want to allow openly gay service members, it’s that they don’t want to screw up the process.
Look, I know the gay community has wanted this for a long time. What you are all going to have to keep in mind is that even though there is a light at the end of the tunnel for you, the tracks still have to be constructed for you to get there.