US military shooting itself in the foot

[Kralizec]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...itary-Gays.php

What are your opinions about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy?

[Goofball]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...itary-Gays.php

What are your opinions about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy?

Idiotic and harmful.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because they were gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuable language specialists go.

Seizing on the latest discharges, involving three specialists, members of the House of Representatives wrote the House Armed Services Committee chairman that the continued loss of such "capable, highly skilled Arabic linguists continues to compromise our national security during time of war."

One sailor discharged in the latest incident, former Petty Officer 2nd Class Stephen Benjamin, said his supervisor tried to keep him on the job, urging him to sign a statement denying that he was gay.

I think it's about time Pentagon employees signed a statement saying that they think terrorists are a graver threat to America than gays.

How silly, all of this. It's one twisted fundamentalism undermining the struggle against another. I say we subject all Pentagon officials to fifty lashes in retaliation. Or force them to sit out an entire episode of those handbag-toting Teletubbies. Whichever they deem worse.

[InsaneApache]

The Navy eh? That reckons.

'Join the Navy and feel a man.'

'How do you seperate the men from the boys in the Navy?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With a crowbar (jemmy) and a bucket of cold water.

Well if the gays can have an hetero free bar down under, (pun intended), then the USA can have a gay free Navy if it so desires.

[Grey_Fox]

Depends. Some men (many men) would feel intimidated by openly gay men in the military. Unit cohesion and trust between soldiers and morale may be more important.

[Devastatin Dave]

Depends. Some men (many men) would feel intimidated by openly gay men in the military. Unit cohesion and trust between soldiers and morale may be more important.

The only thing is I knew lots of homos when I was in and they did a good job. Granted, I wasn't in a combat unit where there might be too much macho bravado. The thing is, if you go by the letter of the UCMJ, there shouldn't be ANY form of sexuality on disply in the work place. So I say...

You're here, You're queer, translate this Arabic language dear...

[Don Corleone]

Dave brings up a good point. I understand that in principle, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" might rub people the wrong way (pun intended), but in practice, does it ever really come up?

[Del Arroyo]

This is a dilemma. On the one hand, openly gay individuals most definitely do not nor will they ever belong in the military. However this is inconvenient when it comes to individual cases involving high-priority jobs like these linguists-- the "system" will try to coddle and pencil-whip and bend the rules in such cases, but it nearly impossible to simply break the rules in a clear-cut way.

If it's any consolation, fifty-odd linguists is a small number, and most of them were probably pretty crappy at their job. That just goes for military linguists in general, though.

[Devastatin Dave]

The Navy eh? That reckons.

'Join the Navy and feel a man.'

'How do you seperate the men from the boys in the Navy?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With a crowbar (jemmy) and a bucket of cold water.

Well if the gays can have an hetero free bar down under, (pun intended), then the USA can have a gay free Navy if it so desires.

LOL...
Time to send in a Seaman to swab the Rear Admiral's Poop Deck.

This was a dumb decision. I use to have an issue about the whole "gays in the military thing" but its not really an issue. My thing is there are some folks in the service that might hurt those that openly serve. But you have the same issue with having chicks in the service as well. Oh well, you can't have a perfect military force until the only people allowed in the services aren't people at all (cyborgs, clones, robots, Bill Murray in Stripes). Let em serve especially when they can be helpful with more than just window treatments.

[Lemur]

What are your opinions about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy?

Well, it's not as though we need people who speak Arabic, after all. I say throw them all out!