An American Lion

When it comes to our military, we really do have great troops. We have a desperate need to reduce their overseas footprint so that we can treat them, rest them, train them, and reorganize them, however. The hollowing out of the military is a very real prospect. In many ways, we are already there. More than ever, we have to accept the fact that it is an institution that cries out for help. We have to modernize it, reshape it, and find a way to sustain it. I think that there are numerous ways to do that, but the steps we could be taking right now are obvious, even to someone like myself who has never served.

The time has come for the President to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy so that the military can begin to deal with that issue now, rather than later. I say that with little enthusiasm since I don’t know what all of the fuss is about. Anyone who has read or studied our military, or any military for that matter, knows that it is a foregone conclusion that gay and lesbian troops have always served and have always been a reality in the ranks. The lack of open acceptance of that is a cultural issue, not a military issue.

Good order and discipline is enforced by professionals, and I have no reservation about allowing professionals to have the authority to boot anyone who thinks they can act up on active duty and swish around in pink digitals. Professionals don’t act that way, period. And those professionals are needed in our military. The culture has to grow up. A maturation of certain ideas is overdue, and no matter if a soldier is gay or straight, they have to mature and deal with the cultural differences between themselves and their fellow soldiers over sex and learn to respect one another, just as they have to do with religion, race, or preference for xBox over PlayStation (which is an even bigger rift, probably).

A cultural shift needs to take place, in other words. Might as well start now. There’s never going to be an end to endless war and permanent deployments.

And while the culture influences much of what happens in the military, common sense has to intercede and allow that institution to lead the way for the rest of society. Let’s put away one fallacy—sex is not the issue. Fear is the issue. If sex really were the only issue, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Nothing that two men or two women do in the privacy of their own lives has the power to do anything to encroach upon my life or anyone else’s life.

You know, the Internet is full of gay and lesbian pornography. Go have a gander at some of it. It’ll make you laugh and then it’ll make you want to go do something else. It might make you uncomfortable, and it might even burn itself into your subconscious and send you reeling through the darkened streets of a bad part of town, looking for something moist in a paper bag coming through the wall of a restroom. I don’t know. All I know is this: nothing frightens me. Nothing.

And, if you serve in the military and allow something like this to frighten you, brother, turn over those stripes to someone who can cowboy up and deal with it. American society is behind the power curve here. The young people in the military are far more accepting than the generals. Let’s get it over with and allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. If they act up, fail to conform to military standards, and do freaky things, punish them for it just like one would punish any other soldier, sailor, marine or airman.

The Obama Administration seems to live in fear of the generals. Why else would they put the brakes on this?

The White House has asked the top Senate Democrat on military affairs to postpone announcing a hearing that would explore repealing the controversial law that bans openly gay people from serving in the military.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was expected to have Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen testify before his committee on recent calls to end the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The hearing was expected at the end of January. Sources tell The Hill that even though it has not been announced publicly, the target date was Jan. 28, one day after the State of the Union address. But that would have required public notice ahead of the hearing.

Now the target date is expected to be Feb. 11, a source said.

Levin was told to hold off on announcing the hearing until after the president’s address Wednesday, according to a Senate aide. Levin was also told that Obama will address the issue of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” in his speech on Wednesday, but Levin does not know what’s in the speech, the aide added. Levin also mentioned this in a huddle with reporters on Monday.

I don’t think the President should weasel out of repealing the rule, nor do I think it would be fair to attack him if he does repeal it. It’s not a question as to whether or not this policy is going to go away; it’s a question of when. Get it over with. Start the transition to a policy that tolerates and codifies a standard of conduct that does not come into conflict with the needs of the military. No one should believe that we have to have a military that is not steeped in discipline. Anyone who can’t conform to military standards of behavior should be thrown out on their ear. I suspect there will be a few growing pains and a lot of angst. Too bad.

We have bigger fish to fry. We have a desperate need to treat hundreds of thousands of troops with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We need professionals in uniform and we need to deal with the wars we are fighting. Living in the past and embracing the fears of uptight prudes is no way to continue on into the 21st Century.