You sound just like the RINOs. That kind of obsequious and servile thinking is what got us where we are.
"Weather this storm, and hope for a change of command in a coupld of years."
The problem is that in the realm of cultural norms, things go beyond the point of return and are not reversible. "The End" for the influence of Christian-based ethics on military and civilian codes of conduct.
There is a rather stark difference between conduct appropriate for private citizens, and conduct appropriate for the Commandant of the Marine Corps. If the Commandant were to whine and complain about this after the order was given, he'd be in the MacArthur situation, where Truman had public backing to sh*tcan MacArthur even though MacArthur may have been right on the merits. Marines have a reputation for being tough, but I can tell you that Marines also pride ourselves on outsmarting the other guys as well.
The problem is that in the realm of cultural norms, things go beyond the point of return and are not reversible. "The End" for the influence of Christian-based ethics on military and civilian codes of conduct.
Well, I'm not as defeatist as you. We went from the moral sewer of Bill Clinton to the essential moral goodness of the George and Laura Bush, though Dubya was too far to the left for my taste.
Maybe you're ready to cut tail and run on trying to fight this, but I'm not. The Marine Corps means too much to me. I think this decision is reversible if we fight not only hard but smart as well. Don't give them any room to claim the brass sabotaged this policy, and let declining enlistement rates and other problems be our evidence arguing for reversal when a new C-in-C gets elected in 2012.