Tags: military service articles
Published : 4 months ago (Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:09:35 PDT)
Searched:
http://nelliefar.livejournal.com/56077.html 0 links
Related posts
As I am contemplating re-entering the military, I have been trying to get as much information as possible on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. I came across this article while doing so:
Revisiting 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2008
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"Don't ask, don't tell" was itself a misnomer, a media-friendly term that did not accurately describe the 1993 law passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by President Clinton. The law did not actually prevent the Pentagon from "asking" any service member or potential service member whether he or she is gay. The Pentagon did agree to stop asking about sexuality in recruitment forms and interviews, but it never agreed to stop investigating whether those serving in the military are gay.during the first period, which was prior to "Don't ask, don't tell," the Pentagon discharged 5,951 service members for being gay. During the second period, Defense Department figures show that 5,327 gays were discharged — a modest decline of 10%.Military commanders had only to read the law to see that Congress wasn't serious about protecting gay service members.In practice, many gays serve openly, or nearly so. I have a friend who enlisted in the Army after the Iraq war began and who currently serves in Korea. I'll call him Stephen. When I reached him in Korea the other night, Stephen told me that "no one cares" that he's gay, even though he goes to gay bars (where he sees roughly 30 other American service members)
|
