republicans are scared of gays in the military (but apparently not in their own ranks)
i'll start this as i have been for a while lately.. wow, it's been a long time. no excuses, just laziness. but i need to do better. i can't believe it's been over a year since i was in jordan and i still haven't posted those awesome pix and stories. i'm getting to it. really.
what inspired this return was an article i read about the republicans blasting the pentagon for it's findings in a "don't ask, don't tell" study. as i read the article, i became incensed at the complete short-sightedness and bigotry by these scared, old white men. we should've left mccain in that damn prison camp. the problem is, as i read the article, all my counterpoints were made by the article, so if you read this, it's like reading the article, and vice versa. sorry. the study showed that 70% of those military personnel polled said that allowing gays would AT WORST make absolutely no difference in their feelings and at best have a positive effect. granted, it also showed that 40-60% of direct combat troops felt it would have a negative effect, but those guys are usually more the macho quarterback type who probably don't realize that they could be fighting next to a gay solder right now who has to hhide it to fight for his country. the republicans said it was a waste of money because the survey didn't ask if they should repeal DADT. immediately, i thought "why the hell would you survey military personnel on THIS policy but not any others, like extended deployments, etc?" (several sentences later, the article brought up the same point). surverying them on their thoughts and feelings on the issue makes sense, but on specific policy... if they had a say in any policy, i'm guessing most of them wouldn't be in iraq and afghanistan. ask them about that one first. i'm guessing they'll say let the gays in if i can get out of here.
the other thing the republicans were worried about was replacing the 12% (~264,000 troops) who said they would not want to stay in the military if DADT was repealed. FIRST, they don't just get to up and leave. that's AWOL or dishonorable discharge, and the job market isn't so strong right now, let alone how badly the government can treat regular discharges. SECOND, it isn't a one way door. if they want to leave when their enlistment is up, they can, but with DADT repealed, gays who might've been afraid of hostile personal attacks might be more willing to fight and serve. you never know how many might be out there who want to fight, but DADT gives them a strong reason not to. this is our modern day desegregation of black and white troops. get on the fucking bus, you scared old men.
what inspired this return was an article i read about the republicans blasting the pentagon for it's findings in a "don't ask, don't tell" study. as i read the article, i became incensed at the complete short-sightedness and bigotry by these scared, old white men. we should've left mccain in that damn prison camp. the problem is, as i read the article, all my counterpoints were made by the article, so if you read this, it's like reading the article, and vice versa. sorry. the study showed that 70% of those military personnel polled said that allowing gays would AT WORST make absolutely no difference in their feelings and at best have a positive effect. granted, it also showed that 40-60% of direct combat troops felt it would have a negative effect, but those guys are usually more the macho quarterback type who probably don't realize that they could be fighting next to a gay solder right now who has to hhide it to fight for his country. the republicans said it was a waste of money because the survey didn't ask if they should repeal DADT. immediately, i thought "why the hell would you survey military personnel on THIS policy but not any others, like extended deployments, etc?" (several sentences later, the article brought up the same point). surverying them on their thoughts and feelings on the issue makes sense, but on specific policy... if they had a say in any policy, i'm guessing most of them wouldn't be in iraq and afghanistan. ask them about that one first. i'm guessing they'll say let the gays in if i can get out of here.
the other thing the republicans were worried about was replacing the 12% (~264,000 troops) who said they would not want to stay in the military if DADT was repealed. FIRST, they don't just get to up and leave. that's AWOL or dishonorable discharge, and the job market isn't so strong right now, let alone how badly the government can treat regular discharges. SECOND, it isn't a one way door. if they want to leave when their enlistment is up, they can, but with DADT repealed, gays who might've been afraid of hostile personal attacks might be more willing to fight and serve. you never know how many might be out there who want to fight, but DADT gives them a strong reason not to. this is our modern day desegregation of black and white troops. get on the fucking bus, you scared old men.
posted by slyght at 12/03/2010 09:38:00 AM
1 Comments:
Fact Military Life IS HARD!!! Why is gay people in the military even an issue NOT letting them in is discrimination period! Lets Poll them On the real issues..... LIKE How much do you love that you are now deployed 6 or more months out of EVERY year.... Ship use to have a 6mo deployment then 18mo at a home port between deployments... NOW..... You are lucky if you have 6mo between 8mo deployments..... and that is only the navy! I know that the army is doing 12-18mo deployments..... The only reason people stay in is because it is a stable job... But it sucks ALL AROUND.... lets ask them if you could get a civilian job making the same money with the same medical benifits would you stay in.... Um.. NO! and the Truth is that at leats for MY husband he can get a civilian job making MORE money.... C-ya! Jane (and current military practices is a sore spot for me.)
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