Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ‘unit cohesion’ argument crumblin’ & a’ tumblin’ like the walls of Jericho

A few days ago I posted about a former Air Force Reserve officer who was dismissed after her sexual orientation was anonymously outed.

In the post I talked about how the unit cohesion argument set forth to uphold the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy by the United States Military definitely didn’t hold up in her case because many of her colleagues are supporting her and eagerly want her to return to serving her country.

The Military often says that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is needed in order to preserve unity and cohesion between servicemembers in military units. If this argument were true, the Air Force Reserve officer’s colleagues wouldn’t have wanted her back at her job.

Now… I’ve caught wind of some more damage to the Military’s unit cohesion argument, via Pam’s House Blend.

According to an article by The Fayetteville Observer (North Carolina), soldiers at Fort Bragg say that a fellow servicemember’s private life and sexual orientation have absolutely nothing to do with whether that person can perform their duty to their unit, their military and their country.

One servicemember, a drill sergeant, said “If you are doing your job, you fall into the same category as everyone else.”

As more of these types of statements and positions are made and taken by United States Military personnel, I think it is becoming more clear that the unit cohesion argument in support of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is just not true.

Soldiers do not care about who you are sleeping with or attracted to. If I were a soldier I wouldn’t care either. I’d be more worried about doing my job and, if in the battlefield, staying alive. If a soldier’s mind is on sex, instead of on his or her job and staying alive, then that soldier definitely fell asleep during training and needs to go back.

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is ridiculous. It is costly, inefficient, irresponsible and an act of government sanctioned and endorsed discrimination. The arguments supporting the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy don’t hold up when you talk to servicemembers and the servicemembers themselves admit they don’t care about the sexual orientations of their colleagues.

So, who wants to join me in song? Here goes…

“Justice fit’ the battle of bigotry, bigotry, bigotry…

Justice fit’ the battle of bigotry…

And the walls came a’ tumblin’ down…”

PS - If you live in Greensboro or anywhere in North Carolina and you are interested in finding out how you can get involved in an effort to bring focus to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy this fall, check out the Right to Serve Campaign at MattHillNC.com’s Soulforce Youth page as well as the official website, www.righttoserve.org (you can also make a donation to the Greensboro Campaign event via the Right to Serve Greensboro site)

Posted in Anti-LGBT, Civil Rights, Dont Ask Dont Tell, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Politics, Soulforce/Right to Serve, United States |