Over the last few weeks the Left has been all about dissing gays in the guise of going after Jeff Gannon. Now, they are all for Gay rights. Go figure.
It has always been known that the military’s policy on gays was illogical at best, and discriminatory at worst. But this new report shows that it has also been extremely costly. But the cost of discharging gays is not just in financial terms. Some of those discharged have held skills sorely needed in today’s military. Over 90 nuclear power engineers, 150 rocket and missile specialists, and 49 nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare specialists have been discharged.
This is in response to Rep. Marty Meehan planning to introduce a Bill to repeal "Don’t Aks, Don’t Tell." The question being, will those who want to join the military or are currently in approve of serving with gays? Will they be comfortable living in close quarters with people who might be "checking them out?" Will repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" harm enlistment and retention?
Of course, despite this being a Clinton policy which GWB never did away with, the author has to take a shot at Bush (what else can we expect from someone writing an article for the DU, who has also published articles for many ultra leftist mediums, as well as for a journal, the Palestine Chronicle, that supports terrorism?)
Since last summer, the Pentagon has called up over 5,600 specially trained members of the IndividualReady Reserve, former soldiers who have completed their military service and do not participate in ongoing training. Requiring these service members to re-enlist has accurately been called a “back-door draft.†The Defense Department said this is necessary because of the shortage of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to some extent, this necessity has been created by the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†policy.
Yada, yada, yada, it’s all Bush’s fault, he’s the boogeyman.
I have to wonder, though: if all that is done is to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, doesn’t that mean that the previous policy of searching to make sure that there are no gays in the military will be back in place? Have to see how the Bill shakes out.
