DADT- four of the most contentious words in the military right now and in society at large. What they stand for? Don't ask, don't tell. It is the policy enacted in the early 1990's to address homosexuals serving in the military. Basically, if you could keep your homosexual activities on the DL ("don't tell"), people can't ask you if you were ("don't ask"), and you were free to serve in the military. That is of course a very dumbed-down version of the policy. Repeal of this policy is something I believe presidential candidate Obama campaigned on, and it is definitely something that President Obama is tackling. It has been in the news quite a bit lately, as the President urged Congress to repeal DADT and the Pentagon to review it in his State of the Union address in January. The ball got rolling pretty quick.
On February 2nd, the Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Robert Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, testified before the Senate Armed Forces committee on DADT and made it clear that they were committed to striking the policy off the books (opening remarks by SecDef). On March 3rd, Senator Joe Lieberman introduced a bill to repeal DADT (NY Times article). Yesterday, Secretary Gates announced that certain procedures contained within DADT would be relaxed (another news article). The times are a changin'... It is now almost certain that DADT will be completely reversed within the next year or less.
The implication of repeal? First and foremost, if this policy is taken off the books or new policy put into law, homosexuals will be able to serve openly in the military. There is of course a lot of worry about this. While the SecDef and CJCS are all for this change, the other service chiefs (Chief of Staff of the Army, the Marine Corps Commandant, etc) have voiced their opposition. It is an uncomfortable topic for many leaders at all levels of each service, especially the officer corps which typically espouses traditional Judeo-Christian values. Institutional change is always tricky, especially with such a sensitive topic. I was happy to hear Secretary Gates allude to a long-term study of the best way to repeal DADT and its implications, but I'm now shocked that they have already taken concrete steps toward repeal.
My opinion? There are of course arguments to be made on both sides of the spectrum. But like most things, it doesn't really matter what I think. The Commander in Chief has given orders and we will well and faithfully execute those orders. If DADT is repealed, there is no point in protesting. The personal 'me' would want to protest, but the professional 'me' demands that I stand true to the Oath of Office that I'll take on May 22nd. It will take the Army, Marine Corps, etc. time to adjust to whatever the new policy entails, but life will go on and the military will continue to be the most deadly and effective fighting force the world has witnessed.
For more information, here is a link to a ANS article on the most recent relaxation of DADT.
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I think my concern is different from yours, but I just worry that if this decision is made prematurely, there will be hate crimes within the military directed at those who are open about their sexuality. I am just not sure that is a good distraction right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure there will be "hate crimes" but there will certainly be resistance and difficulties in selling the change. On the other hand, the military isn't a bunch of neanderthals and generally reflect the sentiments of society at large, and I know plenty of people here who fully support repeal of the policy.
ReplyDeleteI think what you're getting at Sarah when you say it's not a good distraction right now, is that maybe we should wait until the military isn't fighting two consecutive wars. But really, the day when that isn't the case isn't on the horizon yet; it may be a long time before it happens.