Of course I knew a few gay shipmates when I was in the Nav. Everybody just minded their own damn business and that was that.
This repeal amounts to a license for gay servicemembers to be just as disruptive and obnoxious as they can be. I would imagine most gay soldiers, sailors and airmen join for the same reasons the rest of us do, but, as with the Kara Hultgreen feminazi types in the nineties, there only have to be a handful of flamers to turn a command upside down.
What anecdotes have your friends been telling you?
I spent more than 20 years in the Air Force and my experiences are similar to yours. During my career, I served with two NCOs who were gay; in fact, one died of AIDS after being medically retired. He supposedly contracted the disease after being stuck with a dental instrument used to treat an AIDS-infected patient (he was a dental tech at the time; later cross-trained as a budget analyst). Both of these NCOs were exceptional professionals who did their jobs very well and kept their personal lives to themselves.
Almost 30 years later, both of these NCOs would be pressured to come out of the closet and even share a public kiss with their “partners” after returning from deployment. Of course, neither of these individuals had any interest any agenda, other than serving their country.
The real impact of this decision won’t be felt for several years, when the economy finally improves. At that point, service members who object to gays serving openly on moral grounds will vote with their feet and their skills. And, there’s also the matter of where future recruits will come from. Today’s all-volunteer military is predominantly from the south and far west, from the suburbs and rural areas. You know, the same reasons derisively referred to as “Jesusland” by the liberal elites, the same folks who would never wear the uniform, or support their sons and daughters if they wanted to sign up.
Many of the young Americans from prime recruiting areas also hold traditional values. What happens when they don’t want to enlist and serve in a military that embraces homosexuality? Can they make up the difference in NYC or San Francisco? I don’t think so.