Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Guest Post

We asked Mr. Styles to give his take on a recent study-finding that is urging Congress to drop the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with respect to gays in the military that was adopted back in 1993 under Bill Clinton. Our thoughts here.

Mr. Styles, you have the floor:

Why is it that people want to try and fix something that isn't
broke? The Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) Policy seems to be working fine.
Unlike Navy Vice Adm. Jack Shanahan who said that DADT Policy causes a
loss of personal integrity, such that "Everyone was living a big lie -
the homosexuals were trying to hide their sexual orientation and the
commanders were looking the other way because they didn't want to
disrupt operations by trying to enforce the law," wasn't exactly true in
my experience.

Having served onboard a Navy ship for four years, there
were plenty of gay men onboard. I wouldn't say that they were openly
gay, but they were obviously gay, and no one cared in the least, because
it was really no one else's business. They weren't discriminated
against, they never forced their orientation on any one else, and some
of them were great at what they did for the Navy. If fact, some of them
whom I was Friends with, liked the DADT Policy because they felt they
could be more open about who they were without having to fear any
repercussions.

If anything, in my opinion/experience, the biggest thing
that undermines the morale, good order, discipline or cohesion onboard
Navy ships is having females serve with males. That causes way more
problems than openly gay people could ever cause. But that's a
discussion for another time.


We want to thank D. Styles for his take and for rolling that little concluding grenade out onto the table. We encourage comments to the contrary or in consent of what has been expressed here.