Should gays be allowed to serve in the military? Whether they should or should not, frankly, the time to perform an outrageously expensive study at the tax payers expense is certainly not during the time of war. Personally, I believe that homosexuality is wrong. Everything that my God has shown me and taught me, I know that it is wrong and is a sin. Honestly, so are a great multitude of things that many of us partake in on a daily basis. My personal belief of whether or not a person of gay sexual orientation is allowed to serve in the military is irrelevant. I am not in the military for one. Maybe this should be an issue that is on the ballot for the citizens to vote on instead of a handful of power hungry politicians making the decision, or a socialistic leader.
On Tuesday Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he is appointing a task force to use your tax dollars to perform a year long study, during war time and a major recession, on how the military would implement a repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which bars gays from openly serving in the military. Gates said the guiding principle for the group study is, "To minimize disruption in the ranks, with special attention paid to deployed troops. They will study a range of issues, including any changes to benefits, base housing and personnel policies that would be made necessary by repealing the law."
We have many things to look at in the above statement by Gates. First let us address the special attention to deployed troops. I have never been deployed overseas to fight in a war. I do not know first hand what that experience is like. I do however, hear first hand experiences from many people to include, but not limited to, my husband.. The stresses and strains they are under are enormous. One can only imagine the insurmountable things that can cause disruption or stress to the focus that is required by a soldier during a war time situation. In addition to the immediate stresses the soldier faces in their local environment is the added stress of issues that remain back at the home front. For a Commander in Chief to order a study such as this in the middle of war is ludicrous and down right cruel to say the least. Anymore disruptions is cause for more strain. These soldiers do not need to be questioned and interviewed about this right now. They could use more PTSD assistance and more qualified counseling instead of terrorists for counselors.
Secondly, Gates mentions the affects to changes in benefits and base housing. The military benefits should be treated the same as the rest of the country in relation to the Constitution. As of now, it stands that a legal union of marriage consists of one man and one woman. There are only a couple of states I believe that recognize gay couple marriages/unions. I think the same should apply to the military benefits. For the housing benefits we must consider the unstable conditions that are already present for these families. One or both parents are often deployed. One of the things that unites the communities on military bases is the fact that the families have an understanding of what each one is going through. They understand what it is to have a spouse who is gone for long periods of time in a dangerous war zone. The children have a common bond and are united with a strength unknown to any other child. The communities have a resolve and an understood cohesiveness that is on stand-by and ready to help when a situation arises. Many of these families see their neighbors as second families, away from their home towns. Due to the major instability and constant changes these families also rely heavily on faith and church. Recognizing all of this, the military has, for a long time, separated the single soldiers from the families. This is done so as to protect the family unit and the stability. The single soldier lives a completely different life style than that of the married soldier. We have to be realistic and recognize that the life style of a gay soldier is also different. It would cause a lot of disruption within the communities. This will be a serious issue that will require the military and the government to listen to the voices that really matter. That will be the voices of the families who live on the military bases. No other voice should matter. The family unit must be protected.
Lastly, with regard to the personnel policies, this is going to be a beast. I can only imagine how much this is going to cost tax payers. Change in policy often means increases in taxes. I mean, you have to realize, they will be considering adding separate showers and latrines for both gay males and females, in addition to separate barricks. There is the whole sexual harassment policy. How will that change? Will absolutely all body contact result in reprimands, Article 15, dishonorable discharges, and law suits, etc? Fighting in a war zone, how do you handle that? What changes will have to be put in place now that the gays will be "open" about their sexuality? Do you see where I am going with this? Yes, maybe this should be looked into, at a later date, not during the time of war when our soldiers need stability and funding.
What do you think? What is the best solution here? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
May God bless you and may God bless America.
