Posted on 12/02/2007 4:35:26 AM PST by Daffynition
Twenty-eight retired generals and admirals released a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law, according to a report in Friday’s New York Times. The letter’s release marked the the 14th anniversary of the policy that allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they keep their orientation secret.
“We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” says the letter, a copy of which Stars and Stripes also received.
The officers said in the letter that “scholarly data show” that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than 1 million gay veterans.
“They have served our nation honorably,” the letter states.
Although the signers of the letter are high-ranking, none is of the stature of Gen. John Shalikashvili, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the policy was adopted and who now argues for its repeal, the Times noted. Shalikashvili refocused attention on the issue earlier this year when he wrote in a New York Times op-ed that conversations with military personnel had prompted him to change his position.
Through 2006, more than 10,000 people were removed from the military under the policy, according to government statistics cited by the Times.
But the number of servicemembers discharged under the policy has declined noticeably since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dropping to 612 in fiscal 2006 from 1,227 in fiscal 2001, the paper reported.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Times on Thursday that there were no efforts at the Pentagon or across the military to alter the policy.
We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Those of us signing this letter have dedicated our lives to defending the rights of our citizens to believe whatever they wish. As General Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said when the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was enacted, it is not the place of the military or those in senior leadership to make moral judgments.
Scholarly data show that there are approximately one million gay and lesbian veterans in the United States today, as well as 65,000 gays and lesbians currently serving in our armed forces. They have served our nation honorably.
We support the recent comments of another former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General John Shalikashvili, who has concluded that repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy would not harm, and would indeed help, our armed forces. As is the case in Britain, Israel, and other nations which allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, our service members are professionals who are able to work together effectively despite differences in race, gender, religion, and sexuality. Such collaboration reflects the strength and the best traditions of our democracy.
Lieutenant General Jerry Hilmes; Branch: Army
Vice Admiral Harold Koenig; Branch: Navy; Field: Medical
Vice Admiral James Zimble, Midlothian, VA; Branch: Navy; Field: Medical
Major General Leslie Burger, Vancouver, WA; Branch: Army; Field: Medical
Major General Alexander Burgin, Salem, OR; Branch: Army NG; Field: Artillery
Major General Michael Conrad, McLean, VA; Field: Infantry
Major General James Delk, Fair Oaks, CA; Branch: Army; Field: Medical
Major General Jack Farris, New Jersey; Branch: Air Force; Field: Aviation (pilot)
Major General Fred Forster, Tennessee; Field: Aviation
Major General David Hale, Hampton Bays, NY; Field: Combat
Major General Randy Jayne, McClean, VA; Branch: Air NG; Field: Aviation (pilot)
Major General Dennis Laich, Dublin, OH; Branch: Army; Field: Military Police
Major General Dennis Malcor, Vine Grove, KY; Branch: Army; Field: Combat
Major General Michael Scotti*, Arlington, VA; Branch: Army; Field: Medical
Major General Harry Sieben, Minnesota; Branch: Army and Air NG
Rear Admiral William Retz; Branch: Navy
Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender, Woodbridge, VA; Branch: Army; Field: Medical
Brigadier General Dale Barber, Waverly, NY; Branch: Army; Field: Infantry Engineer
Brigadier General Harold Bowman, Pleasant Hill, IA; Branch: Army NG; Field; Medical
Brigadier General Douglas Bradley, Diablo, CA; Branch: Army; Field: Medical
Brigadier General William Colvin; Branch: Army NG
Brigadier General Bob Hardy; Branch: Army
Brigadier General JD Johnson, Salt Lake City, UT; Branch: Army
Brigadier General Phil Peay, Utah; Field: Engineering
Brigadier General Robert Poirot, Evergreen, CO; Branch: Army; Field: Artillery
Brigadier General Philip Pushkin, Randallstown, MD; Branch: Army NG
Brigadier General Donald Schenk, Troy, MI; Branch: Army; Field: Combat Systems
Brigadier General Daniel Wardrop, Williamsburg, VA; Field: Artillery
*General Scotti passed away in September, 2007 after agreeing to sign onto this statement. His widow has requested that he remain on the statement.
Not only that, but doctors aren’t really soldiers or marines. They wear the uniform and get the pay according to their grade, but they are a different breed of cat.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
A gay life style has medical consequences for everyone! Heterosexual and homosexual alike! Sadly, the medical consequences for the normal soldier of his gay colleague is NOT private.
Please read post #17.
We know that Political Correctness is damaging to society as a whole. It’s surely even more harmful in the military. No normal man wants to bunk down or shower with homosexuals, or have to deal with “gay” lovers’ spats in the barracks.
They keep their sex lives to themselves because of “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Repeal it, and soon a whole smorgasbord of PC sensibilities will be introduced.
If the generals had listened to the medical officers during the 1917-18 flu epidemic, far, far fewer soldiers would have died.
The following is a repeat of post #17:
Medical officers are more knowledgeable of the medical consequences not only for the gays but for the heterosexual soldier as well.
Gays live a life that puts them in very close physical contact with a very large number of other gays who are often sick with highly communicable diseases that non-gay soldiers can a DO get: tuberculosis, body lice, staph and strep skin infections, flu, pneumonia, meningitis, are merely a few of likely several hundred examples.
To make matters worse, once a gay becomes HIV positive ( which might not be known for quite a long time) his immune system gradually deteriorates. This makes him even more likely to contract one of the above diseases and then carry it back to infect the heterosexual soldiers in his unit.
Remember: HIV people living a highly active homosexual live style are walking petri dishes of diseases that the rest of us can and DO get!
IDIOTS who want to DESTROY our fine Military for their GAY AGENDA!!!
Where’s the FAKE Brig. General KERR???
Yeah, they could, but it doesn’t happen. There are plenty of pure REMF jobs, and many a career has been made sitting at a desk.
Hillary is TRIANGULATING!! She wants all the GAY community to know her position but she's going to choose Wesley Clark as her VP so she doesn;t want to TOTAALY OUT him.
I actually thought dadt was one of the best compromises of modern times. It gave homosexuals who wanted to serve a chance to do so and th live their lives. We all knew in the end it was not about allowing service it was about forwarding an agenda in digestible bites..
The sailors who most adversely impact good order and discipline are the ones who get so drunk in port that they puke in the scuttlebutts (drinking fountains), urinate in the berthing and take a crap in the shower stalls. I've witnessed all three events. Then we have the "skaters" --sailors who are tasked with a ten minute job only to disappear for the next three hours. We have the malingerers who need to go to medical for every hangnail and runny nose. Finally, we have my favorite, the thieves who will steal anything from their shipmates that isn't locked down. I'll take a hard-working gay shipmate who kept his sex life to himself over any of the above.
Or do we create ANOTHER separate setup like we had to do for women??
And that's worked so well. At least on carriers where we have no less than two dozen females per deployment who are either medevaced off the ship or return to home port pregnant. Don't even get me started on the male/female lovers' quarrels and jealousy that takes place aboard ship during deployment.
Can also see many lost at sea incidents. Awful dark out there.
Lost at sea incidents are rare in today's navy. Many of them are suicides and happen towards the end of deployment when the sailor realizes he is returning home to the same problems he put on hold when he went underway. Others are accidents. Everyone already knows who the gay sailors are. Nobody's throwing them over the sides.
Along with his brother Dick and his sister Eileen.
The big question in my mind is how to maintain good order and discipline if openly gay sailors are on board Navy ships. Open berthing, very tight quarters, shared heads and showers.
I’ll take a hard-working gay shipmate who kept his sex life to himself over any of the above.
Not disagreeing, notice I said openly gay.
And I’m OLD Navy, work hard play hard. Not too much time off, 6 and 6, port and starboard most of the time away from home port. As to thieves, if I remember correctly, things have a way of working out when no one sees.
Jack
Not by me. And that's with almost 30 years service.
Looks like we got a bigot in the debate.
Any comments about blacks and wops and Mormons and Jews to add to your screed? And do you have a clue as to what you are even talking about?
Source?
I often hear senior chiefs reminisce about the "old" navy. I don't know when things changed but apparently they did and quite abruptly. I enlisted a little later in age in 2003 and after I had a lot of experience working in the private sector. I can attest that today's navy is run like a corporation. Today's sailor isn't a warrior. He is a technician. Diversity training is common-place. Any sort of hazing or physical punishment will be dealt with severely. When we became Shellbacks last cruise, the old salty chiefs laughed at how restrained the ceremony had become.
When I was in the Navy in the Seventies...people would get “Greased” as an initiation. Everyone. Except of course, that 5’3” korean guy who was a black belt in Tai Kwon Do known as “Bruce Lee”...:)
:-)
This could bring a whole new meaning to Neptune’s Bride.
Got an “Old Salt” as a friend. He told me of his experience from around 1972.
75-95, 15 sea, 5 shore and yep, greasing, initiations, crossing the line are all fine memories. Brass plaque above my fireroom’s wtd on the Midway “Mad Jack’s house, beware of animals” Posted by my troops. Still have it.
Jack
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