You all should read Col. John Ripley’s 1993 Testimony to the House and Senate on Homosexuals in the military. I can’t remember at the time what website it is on. His testimony was what made the government decide on the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. The government was trying to allow Gays to be openly gay in the military and he stood up for what he believed to be right.
There is another point that I would like to make. Just about everybody here hails those that have had experience. I wish that congress would do the same. After Obama made it clear that he was going to push letting gays in the military 1150 officers signed a petition to him asking him not to do that. There were over 50 4star generals that signed it. I just wish that the government would let others do the jobs that they are supposed to do and congress stick to enforcing the law and not writing new ones.
1993 was nearly 20 years ago. A lot has changed both in attitude and understanding. Further, we have been through a number of conflicts with “don’t ask, don’t tell”, and the sky did not fall in. Fighting efficiency and morale were not affected significantly.
My experience in the military has been in several capacities. The last time I was in combat in the USMC, our medic was openly gay. Frankly, he didn’t care who knew. He did not flaunt it, and he did not hide it. There were once some guys making insulting remarks and jokes about gays. He did ask them to stop making such remarks and jokes, because he found them personally offensive. The man did his job extremely well. He was respected for that, and people kept their opinions about his sexuality to themselves, as one would with any coworker who happens to do his job well. When I discussed it with a friend, we both agreed that (1) it did not matter, and that (2) if he were to be harassed or replaced in our unit, that we all might be much worse off with a less competent but heterosexual corpsman. So, professionalism won the day.
Now I am in the US Navy medical corps. I already knew that there is a high percentage of gay physicians and corpsmen. This is a non issue to providing the best medical care that we can. I have not heard of a single incident of any soldier, Marine, sailor or airman complaining about any issues with any staff with respect to this issue. There may be such issues at some time and place. But I am unaware of them. Once again, professionalism is more important than personal sex lives of individuals.
There is a generational issue, and a service branch issue. The older officers and enlisted are more likely to be opposed to full integration, than the younger officers and enlisted, in my experience. It is a non issue more often with younger men.
Peter Pace, then head of the Joint Chiefs decided to show the US Congress that integration was a bad idea. One way he tried to do so was to commission a survey across all branches. The results were that the majority Army, Navy and Air Force service members did not care. There was a slight majority of Marine Corps service members who did. The results were the opposite of what Gn. Pace was hoping for.
My take on it is, that as with any change, there is resistance. Most of what we are seeing is that, as far as negative reactions go. None of it appears to be borne out of any negative experiences in real conditions.
I have heard it said more than once in discussions on the issue, that all an individual cares about in combat is if the man next to him is doing his job well. I will take a good shooter who is gay, over a bad one who is straight any day.
