The Military Times poll is not scientific; the newspaper e-mailed invitations to 45,000 subscribers and randomly inserted fliers in about 40,000 newsstand copies of the paper asking for readers to respond. About 8,200 readers, including National Guard, Reserve, and other readers, responded to the survey. Of those, the paper gleaned responses from about 3,000 active-duty military readers.
Conducting a poll in this manner gives you any result you want, but none the less the media picked it up and ran with it as positive proof the Obama Administration was on the right track. But are they really? If everyone was so sure this is the mood of the country, politicians on both sides of the isle would be clamoring for it's immediate repeal. If it's so popular with the public and the military there should be no problem with bringing it to the floor of either house in Congress for open debate. Why do we need to let the Pentagon study the matter any further? The answer is simple...no one in Washington wants to risk their job, especially during an election year. I doubt that even Barney Frank is willing to go all out on the issue. More than likely Obama has passed this campaign promise, made to his gay supporters, off on Gates and from there he hopes somewhere along the way it gets stuffed back into the closet. I know that's not likely but I'm sure that there are plenty in Congress that hope it stays locked away at least until mid-terms are over.
There was, what I considered a very good response to my last post on DADT, from a former service member, (http://www.edistojoe.com/2010/02/obamas-big-blunder-repealing-dadt.html), and he relates some of his personal experience and reasoning on the DADT policy. The writer is a fellow blogger and author of the BoBo Files, a blog he proudly states is "Driving The Loony Left Loonier!" The following clearly states his opinion on the matter.
On this subject progressives and others like them who have never served in the military - just don't get it.
It was bad enough when Clinton instituted the DADT - the UCMJ , (Uniform Code of Military Justice), is very clear regarding sodomy. This has been part of the code since the UCMJ was written. If gays are allowed to openly serve - then it puts the UCMJ open to interpretation and change.
Next - they don't understand esprit de corps. This will absolutely hurt morale and will also bring down recruiting and will weaken our military. It has nothing to do with being homophobic - it has everything to do with not wanting homosexuals sharing bunks and showers with non-homosexuals. There will be no straight soldiers who will want to share with openly gay soldiers. When that happens - then there will be segregation. The military can't afford segregation in its ranks and you can't force an individual to accept homosexuality - especially if those who are religious as I am - that believe it is immoral. The First Amendment protects our belief and our right to uphold our religious views of homosexuality.
The military cannot dictate that straight soldiers share bunks and showers with gay soldiers. Apparently, the term "blanket party" never occurred to those who support the repeal of DADT. There will be a helluva lot of blanket parties if they start allowing gays to openly serve.
As for the assertion regarding gays in the military not having the ability to speak openly - I knew quite a few while I was in and they had no qualms about being flamboyant and open about it. I was a lowly Airman so - there wasn't much I could do about it. The DADT mostly applies to those in command. If I reported those individuals whom I knew were gay - the brass wasn't allowed to ask. It was my word against theirs. It's the DT part that gets soldiers thrown out...when they openly admit to their commanders and superiors or if one of the superiors witnesses or hears them openly speak about it - that's when they are out.
Those individuals I knew were ostracized - as they should have been - none of us wanted to be associated with them knowing that ultimately they would be caught and we did not want to go down with them.
Repealing DADT and allowing gays to openly serve will be an absolute huge mistake and will only serve to really weaken our country and will be a detriment to our national security
Well said. I could not agree more!
Edisto Joe
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