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.
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