One year after DADT......No big deal

[rightwinger]

A year after DADT repeal, no harm done - CNN.com

According to a leading senator, it presented "an intolerable risk" to national security.

According to a consortium of retired generals, it would "break" the U.S. military. And according to a leading advocacy group, over "528,000" servicemen and women would be lost.

Something this terrible must be averted. We must take action now!

Except it is too late. The scary danger that these generals, John McCain, and the Family Research Council were warning about wasn't a future terrorist attack or war with China, it was allowing gay and lesbian service men and women to openly serve in the U.S. military. That "grave risk" is now celebrating its one year anniversary, and none of the dire predictions proved correct.

Aaron Belkin"Don't ask, don't tell" was one of the most controversial issues in American politics, with tens of thousands of articles and speeches on the topic. And yet, once it happened, it played out a lot like Y2K. There was a huge amount of hype and hysteria, but the world did not end.

 

[Katzndogz]

If there were complaints or issues, we wouldn't hear about it anyway. We have a state controlled media.

 

[Dissent]

We are afraid and fear things we don't understand or know. I know a lesbian,really nice friend of mine...don't treat her any differently than my other friends...I was against this and I am still against wearing uniforms in homosexuals parades and the such but I don't see WHY its anyone's business if the man or woman serving beside you likes other women or men....as long as they are protecting my back and I am protecting their's that's all that should matter.Personally I think the military brought this on themselves by putting a policy in place in the first place why not just let things be?

 

[rightwinger]

a recent report by a group of U.S. military school professors writing for the Palm Center found, "The repeal of DADT has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions, including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment or morale." The U.S. military today has the same level of readiness as it did in 2011. It didn't have over half a million servicemen exit in protest, as these opponents claimed would happen.

 

[AmyNation]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

 

[g5000]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

Women have been openly gay in the military and no one cared. Gay men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate.

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

 

[Claudette]

DADT was a crappy solution to a non problem in my book.

Gays have served in militaries around the world for thousands of years.

Glad DADT is history.

 

[AmyNation]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

Women have been openly gay in the military and no one cared. Gay men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate.

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

There have been openly gay men in each of my husbands units, before and after DADT. Although I admit there have been homophobes in each of his units as well.

 

[Katzndogz]

Don't tell was probably more important than don't ask. The way gay inclusion has worked out every place other than what is known about the military is that gays are free to harass everyone under threat of being called anti gay. There is no reason to think that it is somehow different in the military.

 

[g5000]

There were only half a dozen men who were definitely gay that I encountered in 20 years in the military. Four of them were caught having sex. As one of them was being processed out, he confessed to me that sleeping and showering with 200 other men and having to hide his sexual attraction had been a living nightmare for him.

A fifth was a senior enlisted man who was caught during a customs inspection of his household goods when he reached retirement and was heading back stateside. The inspectors found several rolls of government film in his personal belongs. Further investigation revealed he had used the film to take nude photos of men and correspondence from other gay men he had written to who all subscribed to the same gay magazine were also found. He had also ordered a computer through the government supply system to be shipped to his retirement address.

So 22 years of service was all shot to shit and he lost everything. All his benefits.

The sixth was even more tragic. One night I was very drunk at a bar off base and was offered a ride back to the barracks by a guy with a motorcycle.

He was even more drunk than I, but I accepted. During the ride back, he kept reaching back and trying to fondle me. Totally freaked me out. The guy is molesting me at 60+ miles per hour on dark roads with a lot of curves!

He lived off base, and when we arrived at the barracks I could see he was completely shitfaced. I knew the right thing to do was to offer him the spare bunk in my room to sleep it off. But since he had groped me, I said nothing.

I was the last person to see him alive. During his drive back off base, he ran into the rear end of an abandoned car on the side of the road. His head was found 50 feet from his body.

.

 

[catzmeow]

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

I think it was different depending on the branch of service. I have heard that it was better in the Navy and Air Force. My husband knew several gay men in his command.

 

[buckeye45_73]

Well if the poopie dicks become officers, I really hope it's a bear and not a twink.

 

[g5000]

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

I think it was different depending on the branch of service. I have heard that it was better in the Navy and Air Force. My husband knew several gay men in his command.

There was this one guy. Liked to wear pink lycra shorts, spoke with a lisp, and had all the characteristics of a real flamer. A lot of the same mannerisms as Richard Simmons.

No one ever challenged him, though. He was a black belt. BWA-HA-HA-HA!

So...yeah. Don't ask.


The chicks loooooved him.


.

 

[Claudette]

There were only half a dozen men who were definitely gay that I encountered in 20 years in the military. Four of them were caught having sex. As one of them was being processed out, he confessed to me that sleeping and showering with 200 other men and having to hide his sexual attraction had been a living nightmare for him.

A fifth was a senior enlisted man who was caught during a customs inspection of his household goods when he reached retirement and was heading back stateside. The inspectors found several rolls of government film in his personal belongs. Further investigation revealed he had used the film to take nude photos of men and correspondence from other gay men he had written to who all subscribed to the same gay magazine were also found. He had also ordered a computer through the government supply system to be shipped to his retirement address.

So 22 years of service was all shot to shit and he lost everything. All his benefits.

The sixth was even more tragic. One night I was very drunk at a bar off base and was offered a ride back to the barracks by a guy with a motorcycle.

He was even more drunk than I, but I accepted. During the ride back, he kept reaching back and trying to fondle me. Totally freaked me out. The guy is molesting me at 60+ miles per hour on dark roads with a lot of curves!

He lived off base, and when we arrived at the barracks I could see he was completely shitfaced. I knew the right thing to do was to offer him the spare bunk in my room to sleep it off. But since he had groped me, I said nothing.

I was the last person to see him alive. During his drive back off base, he ran into the rear end of an abandoned car on the side of the road. His head was found 50 feet from his body.

.

Sorry the dude died. Hells bells if he groped you you should have either decked him or reported him.

I'm sure thats sexual harrassment and he could have been brought up on charges and potentially been booted out of the military for it.

Thats what I would have done.

 

[g5000]

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

I think it was different depending on the branch of service. I have heard that it was better in the Navy and Air Force. My husband knew several gay men in his command.

Well, I have terrible gaydar. I'm sure there were many more than I was aware of, but they were definitely not as open about it as the gay women were.

.

 

[g5000]

Sorry the dude died. Hells bells if he groped you you should have either decked him or reported him.

I'm sure thats sexual harrassment and he could have been brought up on charges and potentially been booted out of the military for it.

Thats what I would have done.

I was very young, and very drunk. And you can't punch a guy wearing a helmet.

He was also well into the "feeling no pain" category.

And "sexual harrassment" was not in the military vocabulary back then. Also, if I made a fuss out of being groped by another guy, the times were such that I would have had to endure a lot of ugly jeering for it.

By the time I sobered up enough to even begin to wonder what to do about it, he was dead.

.



.

 

[NLT]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

Women have been openly gay in the military and no one cared. Gay men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate.

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

We damn sure knew who the BD's were, they had shorter hair than the enlisted men and were built like dumptrucks.

 

[VaYank5150]

A year after DADT repeal, no harm done - CNN.com

According to a leading senator, it presented "an intolerable risk" to national security.

According to a consortium of retired generals, it would "break" the U.S. military. And according to a leading advocacy group, over "528,000" servicemen and women would be lost.

Something this terrible must be averted. We must take action now!

Except it is too late. The scary danger that these generals, John McCain, and the Family Research Council were warning about wasn't a future terrorist attack or war with China, it was allowing gay and lesbian service men and women to openly serve in the U.S. military. That "grave risk" is now celebrating its one year anniversary, and none of the dire predictions proved correct.

Aaron Belkin"Don't ask, don't tell" was one of the most controversial issues in American politics, with tens of thousands of articles and speeches on the topic. And yet, once it happened, it played out a lot like Y2K. There was a huge amount of hype and hysteria, but the world did not end.

So, McCain was wrong.....again??

 

[g5000]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

Women have been openly gay in the military and no one cared. Gay men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate.

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

We damn sure knew who the BD's were, they had shorter hair than the enlisted men and were built like dumptrucks.

Indeed!

.

 

[bodecea]

Little known fact. People have been openly gay in the military for a long time. No one cared. The only thing that changed is the paperwork, now instead of listing a "personal friend" as your benificery, you can just say "my girlfriend".

The only times it was ever an issue before was if someone didn't like you and tried to use it to get you dischanged.

Women have been openly gay in the military and no one cared. Gay men, on the other hand, were not so fortunate.

Everyone knew who the lesbians were in every command I served in. And it wasn't just the ones who would not sleep with me...

No one could name any gay men.

.

We damn sure knew who the BD's were, they had shorter hair than the enlisted men and were built like dumptrucks.

And bested you in everything....