Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Think

Admiral Mike Mullen, Joint Chiefs head, today voiced his opinion on DADT.

Mullen said that the Joint Chiefs of Staff "have reviewed the fundamental premises behind 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and "understand perfectly the president's desire to see the law repealed."

He also said it was his "personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."

"No matter how I look at this issue," Mullen said, "I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."

Late Update: Mullen just tweeted: "Stand by what I said: Allowing homosexuals to serve openly is the right thing to do. Comes down to integrity."

Good for him.  The response from our top military brass?  "Comes down to integrity."

The conservative response?  I pick Max Boot for this little kickball team.

One of the adaptations the military has made is to allow women into most billets but not into tight-knit combat formations — nuclear submarine crews or infantry squads. They live in close quarters and often-unpleasant conditions where privacy is nonexistent and trust and esprit de corps are all-important. I remember discussing the issue last year with a Special Forces team deployed in the field and was struck by the unanimity of opinion against lifting the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The special operators were horrified at the thought of gays in their ranks. This may be rank prejudice, and perhaps the result of ignorance, since there are already probably some gays in their midst. But the attitude still exists and higher authority can tamper with the policy only at the risk of causing a drop in morale.

Special Forces is one of the areas in which women are still not allowed to serve even though most jobs in the military have been opened to them. Why not simply extend to gays the same policy applied to women? That is, let gays serve openly in most billets but not in a few combat designations. It seems like a reasonable compromise.

The response from the kickball team? "Special Forces, our most deadly and most well-trained troops in the field, are homophobic misogynist assholes who are vulnerable to cooties from women and gays, so we need to protect them."

Right then.  Soldier on.