Forgive me for saying so, but that sounds suspiciously like the way one would begin an opinion.
Then forgive me for saying so but then you’ve missed the point or have not read what I wrote properly. I personally don’t feel that open gays in military would impact fighting ability of troops overall. However my opinion is not qualified because I am not a soldier or a military officer. It does not count.
It is meaningless. You on the other hand think you’re qualified in some sense. I won’t challenge that but I will challenge what you’ve said here because I don’t think it’s accurate.
You brought up the issue that OTHER Western militaries are gay friendly and have no issues. I then responded that I think that analogy fails because most of the other gay friendly militaries are Western and don’t do much fighting in Iraq/Afghanistan/elsewhere. The Americans fight in the worst places, vs other Western countries which mostly do policing and logistic aid / humanitarian aid in very safe locations - such as the Germans and Dutch and even the Koreans/Japanese. Note that I am not American, but you guys do the vast bulk of the REAL fighting. Most of the NATO allies do very little fighting in comparison and are present in small numbers. I say this as someone who has a cousin who is a NATO officer in Afghanistan and who is not American.
So what? They train, they live in close quarters, etc., etc. If homosexuals in militaries created problems, we’d be able to see it in other militaries, even if they are actually used less than our military.
Problems may arise where they count, not so much in barracks but under stress of fighting. I think most soldiers would have issues with morale under duress or stress then in every day, day to day, behind the lines activities. I don’t think UNICEF or RED CROSS have problems with open gays in their employ but then they don’t do what the Americans do and pretty much do what the Germans do.
What some people are asking us to believe is that the American military is so weak and so…well…sensitive – not to mention immature – that merely knowing that some of their fellow soldiers are different in some way is going to send all of the straight soldiers into a tizzy and “ruin” an otherwise perfectly powerful fighting force.
I can’t comment. But I would think that anything that upsets the morale of soldiers fighting together could be a risk on their lives and effectiveness. If a soldier has psychological issues or has his mind set on problems at home, that could impact his effectiveness especially when split second decisions count. I personally don’t think that gays who behave as straight troops could be problematic, but if two men are engaged in openly sexual relationship or are encouraged to seek relationship by the tacit approval of activists and the military, their bond could jeopardize other soldiers as we know they may prefer to protect each other than protect a teammate they are not involved with. I think I would do that. I would come to my girlfriend’s aid over coming to the aid of a good friend or a stranger. But again this may or may not be an issue and I don’t know. Real soldiers should comment here. If real soldiers raise these concerns, I don’t think you and I are able to refute them, unless you have some credentials I don’t know of.
Further, what about the historical example of the ancient Greek armies, which encouraged sexual relationships between male soldiers in order to strengthen their bonds on the battlefield? Homosexuality certainly didn’t “ruin” the Greek army.
I can’t comment but such an analogy fails I think. There are just too many differences between Ancient Greeks and modern Americans. The nature of fighting has also changed.
I’m reminded of that hysterical line from The Bird Cage: “Then I learned Alexander the Great was a [homosexual]…talk about gays in the military!”
But he was commander in chief. So that analogy fails too. Besides the Bird Cage was an activist film. I wouldn’t count it as anything but one sided propaganda, and we get that on both sides. You wouldn’t want me to quote what Westboro Baptist church says would you? Again FAIL.
I think it’s important to distinguish personal opinion from more qualified opinion. Pretty much of the time, things appear simple to us, but when we study them more and more in depth we realise that these simple things are immensely complex. I think it’s unfair to offer opinion on issues which I have no clue about and where my own life would not be jeopardised either way. I think lives of the people involved are more important than moans of activists who have other priorities.
