“I knew this was not going to be an issue… but I was somewhat amazed about just how much of a non-issue it was. There was virtually no talk about it whatsoever.”
~David Levy, Air Force Academy Professor
Let me summarize the study for you … DADT was implemented on 9/20/2011 and up till now … it’s really not that big of a deal. It has had no material impact on pretty much anything of importance to the military. In other words – gays in the military can still be soldiers first just like the rest of the heterosexual soldiers who train. Contrast this report with John McCain’s response on the day the legislation passed with a heavy Democratic majority:
“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage. Today is a very sad day.”
~John McCain
Mr. Tolerance used to think we should allow the general to decide and then when we did … it was a sad day. You can find the entire study HERE; a few snippets:
Contrary to expectations of a post-repeal decline in readiness, we uncovered considerable evidence in our open-ended interviews about ways in which the new policy has enhanced the military’s ability to pursue its mission. More specifically, both experts and service members told us that repeal had enhanced military readiness in the areas of discipline, command, family readiness and spirituality.
Nor did any of the scholarly experts we interviewed know of any evidence suggesting that repeal has undermined cohesion. Martin Cook, who has served as a professor at the Naval War College, Air Force Academy and Army War College, summarized the apparent position of many of these scholars in noting that arguments stressing possible damage to unit cohesion “were really a smokescreen for other reasons; those were just the only publicly acceptable reasons they could put forward.”
Although we uncovered some evidence supportive of both pessimistic and optimistic predictions, the preponderance of evidence suggests that DADT repeal has had no impact on recruitment or retention.
The Huffington Post gives us the background on the study HERE:
The authors of the study, who included professors at U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Marine Corps War College, arrived at this conclusion after soliciting the views of 553 generals and admirals who predicted that repeal would undermine the military, as well as conducting interviews with expert opponents of DADT repeal, a number of watchdog organizations and more than 60 active-duty heterosexual, lesbian, gay and bisexual troops from every service branch.
They also observed several military units and administered several surveys, analyzed relevant media articles published during the research period and conducted secondary source analysis of surveys independently administered by outside groups.
But what isn’t talked about regarding gays in the military is the impact this will have on gays being able to marry. It will be very difficult for someone to explain how they would block a veteran from having the freedom to marry whomever they wish after they have defended the country from threats domestic and foreign. That’s the next fight in the LGBT culture war.
