Loading ...Gaze Upon the Military
I know I usually write about state and local issues here, but one thing I can’t stand is blatant discrimination. The only discrimination I have ever believed in should be based on merit and ability. This is why I take issue with recent statements by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In a recent interview with my hometown paper, The Chicago Tribune, General Peter Pace said homosexuality was immoral and he likened it to adultery. He said he based his views on his upbringing and supported the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Having grown up in a military environment, I have always respected the belief that people should be judged on their merits, not who they are. This is why the General’s comments are disappointing. But what makes matters worse is that while the army has dismissed more than 10,000 troops, including more than 50 specialists in Arabic, because of the policy, it’s granted “moral waivers” to recruits with criminal pasts.
According to the New York Times, the military has increased the number of waivers by 65 percent in the last three years in an effort to expand its diminishing recruitment pool. While some of the waivers have been for minor drug offenses and traffic offenses, but they have also been for more serious crimes such as aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide. The number of waivers for felony convictions has also increased. Also to meet its recruitment goals, the military has offered cash bonuses, allowed applicants with low aptitude scores and loosed age and weight restrictions.
I think it’s sad that the institution that is supposed to defend the American ideals of equality for all, would still engage in a policy that is remnant of our archaic past. And it’s even more sad that some who is gay and speaks fluent Arabic who can help this country win the war on terror is less desirable to serve his country than someone who is an older, overweight, high school dropout with a criminal background.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Thank you! Well said …
March 13th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Here’s my beef: I assume that Gen. Pace also finds pre-marital sex to be immoral. If so, does he support a policy that forbids anyone who has had pre-marital sex from entering the military, even under a “don’t ask” rule? It would be kind of difficult to ignore the great number of men and women in the military who have children conceived prior to marriage, which would obviously be prima facie evidence of the immoral act. I just don’t think that the General can pick and choose the parts of the Bible that he wants to be made part of military standards.
March 13th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Abdul,
The military IS NOT a social expierment. Ask any sailor about the problems of putting women at sea with men. More problems that anyone can imagine.
There are approximately 5000 sailors on a carrier.
5% women. The military is about life and death.
Again not a social expierment. being around it is not the same as living it. I have. you have got this one wrong.
March 13th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Isn’t that what they said about “blacks” in the 1940s?
March 14th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Mr. Ashby, the 50s called, and Ozzie & Harriett want their decade back.
And their closed minds.
So, the military “experiment” evidently doesn’t work in the Armies of the world? Like Isreal, the world’s most-besieged (and many say, best) Army?
Gen, Pace has room for you at his war council.