Daddy, Papa and Me

In the editorial he says that he felt that policy was needed then:

When I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I supported the current policy because I believed that implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders. I still believe that to have been true. The concern among many in the military was that given the longstanding view that homosexuality was incompatible with service, letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion.

In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.

But, he now says that 14 years of passed, more experience, more understanding and that it is time to allow gays and lesbians to openly serve in the armed forces:

I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces.

He does call for an easing into lifting the ban (i.e. don't do it the same time we are reconsidering our Iraq strategy), but he thinks it should be lifted.

What changed his mind? The times... and..

Last year I held a number of meetings with gay soldiers and marines, including some with combat experience in Iraq, and an openly gay senior sailor who was serving effectively as a member of a nuclear submarine crew. These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.

I'm glad he has come out (pun unintended :D) to say that it's about time to allow LGBT servicemen and women to serve openly and honestly, but I think I could have told him the above in 1993.

I came out to several of my combat engineer platoon the year we were called up for Desert Storm and were waiting for the flight to Iraq.

In the words of one of those soldiers (paraphrased) "I don't care really, I like you and frankly, you're an expert with a M16..."

A couple years later in my Civil Affairs reserve unit, I told my commanding officer. I can't remember how it came up exactly. It might have been when I was put on call for Bosnia and had starting dating too... it was getting to be a bit much serving in the military closeted but being open to family, friends, school, church... but closeted there. I think he kind of brought up the subject and I just blurted it out (well, mumbled it). His response? (paraphrased again)

"You weren't supposed to tell me" (he said that with a grin) "but if I kicked out ever gay officer I had in this company, we'd be out a quarter of our men and women and some of the better ones"

I think by the end of my service in that unit (and the army) in December 1996, most of my unit probably knew.

Of course there were those in the army I'd never have told and didn't, but for the most part, when I did and my commanding officer and my peers knew...

it was a non-issue.

So, a mostly Mormon (from Utah) Combat Engineer unit had no problem and a upstate NY Civil Affairs unit had no problem. I also think that openly serving gay men and women do and will gravitate to those specialities (like they do/did in civilian professions) that are most open them. In the army that will be things like intelligence, civil affairs, signal corps, etc. and less likely infantry and combat engineers. But even those will change over time.

General Shalikashvili did say one thing that I wish he hadn't.

Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

If I were cynical and rephrased this I'd read this as:

We need more bodies and you gay people will have to do

Reading the rest of it, I get the impression that is not the way he means it. Doesn't sound good though.

Anyway, I'm glad at least one general has come around.