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WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-homosexual group known as Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (CSSMM), a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, claims to have unearthed a current Pentagon document that lists homosexuality as a psychological disorder.According to the CSSMM the Department of Defense Instruction that so categorizes homosexuality was signed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 1996 and re-certified as "current" in 2003.Although homosexuality has traditionally been considered a psychological disorder the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its list of...

WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position. The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders. Critics said the reference underscores the Pentagon's failing policies on gays, and adds to a culture that has created uncertainty and insecurity around the treatment of homosexual service members, leading to anti-gay harassment. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin said the policy document is under review. The Pentagon has a "don't ask,...

Mentally Ill Troops Sent to Combat Newspaper Report Says Military Ignoring GuidelinesHARTFORD, Conn. (May 14) - U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions. A U.S. soldier pauses after searching a home for insurgents and weapons during a raid last month in Kalsu, Iraq. The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed...

HARTFORD, Conn. - U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions. The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq. In 1997, Congress ordered the military to assess the mental health of all deploying troops. The newspaper, citing...

Since Front Line Views....No. 1 was posted at FR on 3/12/06, my son in Afghanistan who also served 8 months in Gulf War I in Saudi Arabia and Iraq has emailed additional observations. Subjects include: real casualty rates (KIA) vs. press reports, "appearance" of soldiers vs. actual military skills/performance, soldiers as civil servants vs. being warriors, and official prohibition against unapproved body armor. Remember, he is in Afgh. so some observations may not fit Iraq, but others do. Some of what he says is harsh, he never was one for pussyfooting. Paragraphs in quotes are HIS words. The rest is...

WASHINGTON Feb 13, 2006 (AP)— Discharging troops under the Pentagon's policy on gays cost $363.8 million over 10 years, almost double what the government concluded a year ago, a private report says. The report, to be released Tuesday by a University of California Blue Ribbon Commission, questioned the methodology the Government Accountability Office used when it estimated that the financial impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was at least $190.5 million. "It builds on the previous findings and paints a more complete picture of the costs," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who has proposed legislation that would repeal...

(2006-02-14) — The sponsor of a House bill to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military said today that he would add a provision removing the bans on overweight and pregnant troops as well. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-MA, released a report today showing that the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy has resulted in 9,501 people leaving the service during a 10-year period due to their alleged homosexuality, wasting roughly $364 million in training investments and other costs. During that same time, 36,513 people separated from the service for failing to meet weight standards, and 26,446 left during pregnancy....

Recently, a research center at the University of California Santa Barbara made the claim that the U.S. military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was hurting military readiness. The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in place with the U.S. Military has caused an inordinate number of medical personnel to be discharged from the military according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military (tax dollars actually go towards supporting such an obviously narrow, special interest, pork barrel scam?). Let me get this straight. Due to a policy of barring openly homosexual people from serving in the military,...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday disputed reports suggesting the American military is stretched thin and close to a snapping point from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, asserting "the force is not broken.'' "This armed force is enormously capable," Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. "In addition, it's battle hardened. It's not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons.'' Rumsfeld spoke a day after The Associated Press reported an unreleased study — conducted for the Pentagon — said the army is being overextended, thanks to the two wars, and may not be able to retain and...

WASHINGTON – When two major studies released this week questioned whether the US Army is being stretched too thin, they raised a much- repeated concern: that America does not have enough troops to win the war in Iraq. At a deeper level, though, they raise the question of whether today's military is prepared for the threats that could lie ahead in the war on terror. The Pentagon's answer is a categorical "yes," insisting that the military is well suited for whatever the future holds. But with the department's four-year plan for spending and strategy to be presented to Congress next...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – Through challenging the status quo and questioning old assumptions, the Defense Department is becoming a more capable force ready to face changing conflicts, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here yesterday. All the military services have made changes in equipment, practice, attitude and culture to make them more relevant to today's battlefield culture, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing. "There's a clear awareness that our military must be ready for unforeseen eventualities while incorporating lessons learned from previous and current conflicts," he said. The Navy is a prime example of the benefits of these...

CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ, District Of Columbia, Nov. 27, 2005 – The Army is instituting significant changes in how it trains and recruits soldiers, aiming to make U.S. troops more battle ready for the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, two of the Army's top noncommissioned officers said during recent visits to Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. The two command sergeants major, John Sparks of the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command, and Lonny Wright with Infantry Branch Command, spoke during separate mid-November meetings with solders from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. "We are enhancing the individual soldiers'...

The Army is abandoning mixed-sex training units because too many female recruits are getting injured trying to keep up with their male counterparts. From next April, women will be placed in their own platoons and although the training regime will remain the same, it will be conducted at a pace 'sustainable and commensurate with their physical profile'. Army chiefs hope the changes will greatly reduce drop-out rates among women after research showed female recruits are up to nine times more likely than men to be discharged through a training-related injury. Dr James Bilzon, the Army Training and Recruitment Agency's senior...

Who Calls the Cavalry? The Pentagon was prepared for Hurricane Katrina. BY DANIEL HENNINGER Friday, September 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT "When you fly over the Gulf, it looks like a WMD exploded," Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale told me this week. "Katrina very nearly approached the operational requirements of a WMD event; this was the first test of the high-end capability envisioned by the strategy." The "strategy" is a three-month-old document called "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support." It describes the Defense Department's plans to defend the U.S. from a WMD attack or deal with the rubble...

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 29, 2005 – The Defense Department has been working with both governmental and nongovernmental organizations to promote environmental conservation, because military readiness and conservation are inextricably linked, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here today. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld addresses the 4th Annual White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation on Aug. 29 in St. Louis. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, USAF (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Speaking at the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation, Rumsfeld said the DoD takes very seriously its responsibility to protect the natural resources on the 30 million...

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- With America at war and in need of a few good men, Jon Schoenherr expected a warm reception when he walked into an Army recruiting office in this Midwestern farm community, intending to enlist. But a sergeant gave the 17-year-old some surprising news. "He told me I'd have to lose a little bit of weight," said Schoenherr, who dropped 50 pounds to qualify. Besides terrorists, germ warfare and nuclear weapons, military officials increasingly worry about a different kind of threat -- troops too fat to fight. Weight issues plague all branches of the military, from elite Marines...

WATERTOWN, Wis. -- With America at war and in need of a few good men and women, Jon Schoenherr expected a warm reception when he walked into an Army recruiting office in this Midwestern farm community, intending to enlist. But a sergeant gave the 17-year-old some surprising news. "He told me I'd have to lose a little bit of weight," said Schoenherr, who dropped 50 pounds to qualify. Besides terrorists, germ warfare and nuclear weapons, military officials increasingly worry about a different kind of threat - troops too fat to fight. Weight issues plague all branches of the military, from...

Within Washington's Army National Guard, they were known as the "Denture Dozen," a group of men released from active duty during the Iraq call-up because their teeth barely held in their mouths. They were the most egregious examples of a trend that military planners said complicated the massive deployment of the state's citizen soldiers last year. About 30 percent of the 4,500 guardsmen called to active duty were discovered to have dental problems so severe they were unfit to go overseas. It took a Herculean effort to get soldiers into dentist chairs before the 81st Brigade Combat Team dispatched to...

ROA Says BRAC Recommendation Raises Serious Concerns on Reserve Component, National Securityposted 5/13/2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington (May 13, 2005)—Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s announcement this morning on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) raises serious concerns on its impact on the Reserve Component in the U.S. Armed Forces. While the announcement shows 33 major bases recommended for closure and 29 others for realignment, it does not provide details on more than 400 National Guard and Reserve installations and facilities included on the list. For example, the information that DoD provided gave no indication on the number of Guardsmen and Reservists...

Imagine a horror movie with the title, “Encroachment Meets Illegal Aliens.” If that title does not stir your imagination, what about a documentary called, “Military Readiness and Illegal Immigration: How lack of border enforcement is hurting combat training.” For Marine warriors training at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) at Yuma, Ariz., they do not need to imagine those things because they are living with the realities of both. To clarify, I use the term “illegal aliens” to describe non-U.S. citizens who cross our borders into our country without proper documentation and without following or adhering to our customs and immigration...