-”don’t ask, don’t tell”: an idea whose time has passed
The CJCS and Secretary of Defense spent time yesterday discussing the future of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
A couple of my favorite miltary bloggers (cdr salamander) and my longtime friend, mentor and shipmate at at “I Like the Cut of His Jib” have been critical of how Admiral Mullen delivered his message. Unless I missed something, their criticism was far less about his position on “DADT” and far more a critique on how Mullen delivered his message.
Let’s set aside the nuanced discussion about the merits of the Chairman’s rhetorical or leadership style (because the farther I get from my active service, the less energy I have to reading the tea leaves of flag and general officer pronouncements) and focus on the real issue: how to treat gay and lesbian members of the armed forces.
Don’t ask don’t tell –and the officially sanctioned rejection of homosexuality that preceded it– are as useless as sails, hardtack and muskets in a modern military force.
The US armed forces under Truman were a decade ahead of the rest of American society in setting the stage for merit-based environment when segregation was still the plan of the day in America. What better way to honor that tradition by creating a new model of inclusion for our gay and lesbian shipmates?
I know all the jokes. I know all the slang. I’ve slung more than my fair share of both around. Like many other callow attitudes and behaviors from my teens and twenties, I’m now over the quaint notion that the the quality of anybody’s service can be diminished –or enhanced– based on which sex they are attracted to. All the discussions about berthing, about unit cohesion, about the demands of stressful working conditions in close quarters, about fomenting an environment of conversion and seduction are red herrings (and if they’re not…then we better revisit the idea of women serving at sea while we’re at it, because it’s surely not the gays and lesbians that get them pregnant while underway).
Gays and lesbians have been serving –and fighting– honorably for as long as there have been men and women under arms. That they can’t serve honorably while openly loving who they choose hasn’t made sense to me for a long time.
Here’s who I want to work and serve with in any professional environment: a trusted colleague, an inspirational leader, a trustworthy subordinate. Which set of human plumbing appeals to any of those groups in their personal life just isn’t germane. Professional performance is the only thing that matters.
-get helpful! – the new york times magazine on amazon’s “most helpful” reviews
New York Times magazine item from 17 January 2010:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/magazine/17FOB-Medium-t.html?ref=magazine
Oh yeah. I got me one of those most helpful reviews:
http://tinyurl.com/ylcv4ct
(links to a customers reviews of Photoshop Elements 8 Missing Manual on Amazon).
-buckeye nation enjoys January again
…and it’s been a while since watching an Ohio State football game in the early hours of a new year didn’t require a triple dose of Tums, or an extra large crying towel.
The five best things about the Buckeyes 2010 Rose Bowl win over the Oregon Ducks:
- For Lee Corso, it wasn’t sufficient to don the duck mascot head as he made his ESPN Gameday pregame prediction: he also had to stick the quacking duck lips in his mouth and quack. I’m sure the denizens of Buckeye nation can offer elegant suggestions to Corso about where to place those lips now…
- Oregon’s endless parade of stupid uniforms. The 2010 Rose Bowl edition –complete with duck feather decals on the shoulder pads– brought this Nike-sponsored silliness to a new low.
- LaGarrette Blount’s sucker punch of Boise State’s Bryon Hout after the Duck’s season opener. While I’m sure God doesn’t care about college football (no matter how many coaches and athletes think otherwise), who can deny a certain karmic balance in when a Blount red zone fumble late in the third quarter becomes the delimiter between Oregon hanging in and Ohio State closing the deal.
- Oregon coach Chip Kelly’s decision to interpret his suspension of Blount “for the season” as NOT including their bowl appearance.
- 21 of 22 starters Oregon starters from states that are not Oregon.
Jim Tressel prepared the Buckeyes well, put in an uncharacteristically aggressive game plan, and Terrell Pryor set the stage for a 2010 season that should prepare OSU for a run at a BSC title a year from now. They did so many things right. That they did so against a very unlikeable opponent made it so much sweeter.
Hang on Sloopy, indeed.
