No point delaying ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal - Air Force Community - Air Force Times

No point delaying ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal

Most Americans, polls show, want the military to end its ban on gay troops serving openly. They want “don’t ask, don’t tell” ditched.

Many airmen — if not most airmen — can’t figure out what the holdup is either. Neither can lots of soldiers, sailors and Marines.

It was nearly five months ago that President Obama signed the legislation doing away with the 1993 law; lawmakers on Capitol Hill, though, cleverly crafted the bill to encourage foot-dragging: “Don’t ask” only comes off the books 60 days after the commander in chief, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs certify the military is ready for repeal.

The congressional caveat doesn’t define what ready for repeal means. Consequently, all the services are training their members on how to conduct themselves after repeal, including the correct response to public displays of affection by gay troops.

Perhaps the reason for putting off the repeal really is to prepare straight airmen for serving alongside openly gay airmen. But “don’t ask” supporters clearly see the training period and two-month delay as an opportunity to still turn back the clock.

“You can stop this still,” Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., told Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and three of his colleagues at an April 7 hearing.

The brass didn’t offer up much ammunition to the repeal opponents who had asked them to testify.

Even Schwartz, who at times has come across as the most cautious of the service chiefs, told the panel the Air Force will wrap up its training by the end of June.

Here’s what should have been said by Schwartz, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos:

The services don’t need time to prepare for the end of “don’t ask” because their members already know how to act appropriately. Rules are already in place for appropriate conduct. It’s called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sections are devoted to fraternization and misconduct, crimes that straight service members commit, too.

Training, certification, a 60-day window — all are just phony arguments for an ever-dwindling number of Americans who don’t want equal rights for another group in society. They believe they can keep “don’t ask” in place if they can defeat Obama and put a Republican majority in the Senate.

That will of the few is unfair to the will of the many, including hundreds of thousands in the military who simply don’t care any longer about what goes on in someone else’s bedroom.

And for those airmen who are genuinely opposed to serving with openly gay counterparts, they have a hard choice to make: They can deal with their feelings and keep serving their country — or they can refuse to adapt and separate the first chance they get.

Let’s hope they don’t take the easy way out and leave. They are too valuable to the Air Force. Besides, they will soon learn that tolerating all kinds of people is a fact of life both inside and outside the military.

Robert F. Dorr is an Air Force veteran who writes books as well as columns. His latest, “Mission to Berlin,” about bomber crews in World War II, is available now. To buy a copy, email robert.f.dorr@cox.net.