Saturday, July 10, 2010

DADT....Survey Says?...Epic Fail!

Well....remember that study the Pentagon wanted to do before it could sign off on a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell? Thats underway and boy is it riviting stuff. The survey sent out to soldiers has been leaked and it has some serious built-in bias. Its so bad that gay servicemens organizations are advising gay and lesbian soldiers not to go anywhere near it. So just for some saturday giggles I thought we'd take a look at what was so bad.....pour yourself a tall one and prepare for the smell of failure




About half of the 32 pages are a general queary about the soldier taking the survey and his views of his units combat readiness....very simple stuff. But not long after, come questions about whether or not they have served with a fellow soldier or commanding officer who they believed to be gay. Which seems like a very poor question to ask. Unless the soldier in question admits it...or gets caught in some manner, how is the surveyed  soldier to know if the person they suspect to be gay actually is? It seems that the "independant working group that designed this survey thinks that all soldiers have impeccable gaydar...or that suspicion of homosexuality is the same as fact....neither of these things are true. yet conclusions will be drawn on these suspicions...does anyone else see a problem here? One almost expects the next question to be to identify the person they suspected to be gay.


If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed, how, if at all, would the way your family feels about your military service be affected?

What? I know family is a portion of morale...but really? I dont see that the opinions of a strangers family should have any bearing on the combat efficiency of a gay soldier....or his straight counterparts.

Have you shared a room, berth or field tent with a Service member you believed to be homosexual?

Probably more than you realised....

Now this is where it gets good. The next several questions ask a soldier to speculate about showering and/or bunking with gay people. Like this one:

If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you are assigned to share a room, berth or field tent with someone you believe to be a gay or lesbian Service member, which are you most likely to do? Mark 1.

 
  • Take no action
  • Discuss how we expect each other to behave and conduct ourselves while sharing a room, berth or field tent
  • Talk to a chaplain, mentor, or leader about how to handle the situation
  • Talk to a leader to see if I have other options
  • Something else
  • Don't know
I'd like to add a couple of my own to the list like, write home to momma....purchase a Carbon fiber reinforced chastity belt or...QUITE OBSESSING ABOUT GAY PEOPLE IN THE SHOWER!!!!!


Seriously! Gay men and women have been showering next to you all along...they are showering with you RIGHT NOW and what horrible thing has happened? How insulting is it to the hundreds of honorably serving gay people for anyone to think they need to "discuss how we expect each other to behave"? Like they don't know the rules...or how to conduct themselves in a professional and honorable manner. Here the pentagon betrays its utter, childish paranoia. The operating assumptions are the all gay men are sexual predators(probably becuase straight men are projecting their own wolfishness)...as long as your a male...any given gay guy wants you. both assumptions are wrong. Dead wrong.

If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and a gay or lesbian Service member attended a military social function with a same-sex partner, which are you most likely to do?

  • Continue to attend military social functions
  • Stop bringing my spouse, significant other or other family members with me to military social functions
  • Stop attending military social functions
  • Something else
  • Don't know
 
I love options C and D because it means the party will be minus one, completely petty ass.
 
If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you had on-base housing and a gay or lesbian Service member was living with asame-sex partner on-base, what would you most likely do? Mark 1.

 
  • I would get to know them like any other neighbors.
  • I would make a special effort to get to know them.
  • I would be uncomfortable, but access to the exchange, commissary, and MWR facilities is more important to me than who myneighbors are when deciding where to live.
  • I would be uncomfortable, but the quality of on-base housing is more important to me than who my neighbors are when deciding where to live.
  • I would be uncomfortable, but the cost of moving makes it unlikely I would leave on-base housing.
  • I would probably move off-base. 
  • Something else
If you are so uncomfortable around those different from you that you would actually move off base than one wonders what you are doing in the Army in the first place. After all one of the militaries biggest impacts on a young man is to expose him to other cultures and experiences outside those available to him at home....but then...I guess theres always one in every group.

All in all this survey seems to take the temperature of intollerance within the military than to queary soldiers in an impartial manner. 32 pages of "will you come unglued if you suddenly find gay people exist" seems a bit wordy to me. Isnt it much simpler to spend some time in units with gay soldiers in them and observe whats already happening? But ...its the pentagon in the guise of an "independant working group". Simple is not in their vocabulary. Especially when what they really want to do is torpedo this thing in the fasted way possible. If they were serious in their commitment to learning how best to implement a repeal I'm sure there would be a lot less "asking" how people feel and a lot more "telling" them exactly what they were going to do.

Until next time everyone...

7 comments:

  1. I'd say Gates leaked the actual intent of the military's handling of the repeal DADT in a speech the other day:

    "When, and IF, Don't Ask Don't Tell is repealed . . ."

    Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is, if the legislation for the repeal of DADT passes, all it will mean is the military has permission to cancel the policy but are by no means required to do so.

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  2. This reminds me of the struggles the Army had with segregation after WWII. If it can survive that, then it can easily survive this little "crisis."

    ...and since when did the Army start catering to recruit's personal whims? What they really should be worried about is people taking advantage of the system: "Sir, I don't think I should have to run all that way with the gay guy over there. He... looks at me funny..."

    What the Army should be distributing is a mandate (...aaah yes, I'm relishing that pun...):

    "If you have a problem with the gay soldiers, well TOO BAD! SUCK IT UP, you're in the Army now!"

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  3. How badly will this affect the decision to repeal DADT?

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  4. Ridiculous! What about the GAY MEMBERS of the service that are serving RIGHT NOW? How demeaning to those that have chosen our military - to “protect and defend” the freedoms of ALL of us, and being handed such a biased document!
    I have a few suggestions that need to be added to the survey!
    "Have you shared a room, berth or field tent with a Service member you believed to be homosexual?"
    *Have you heard the term “It takes one to know one?”
    *Did you two go at it like wild men in heat?
    *Did you take any pictures?

    "If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed, how, if at all, would the way your family feels about your military service be affected?"
    *Girlfriend, what momma doesn’t KNOW won't HURT HER!
    *My “gay” Uncle Mark, ”lesbian” sister Rita, my “BI” half-brother Jim, and my “transgendered” father / mother George/ Georgette WILL be visiting every damn WEEKEND!

    "If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you are assigned to share a room, berth or field tent with someone you believe to be a gay or lesbian Service member, which are you most likely to do?"
    *GET DOWN TO BUSINESS and get it on!!! I always wanted to make it with a hunky military stud!

    If Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is repealed and you had on-base housing and a gay or lesbian Service member was living with a same-sex partner on-base, what would you most likely do?
    *Ask for some organization and design tips for our place. Theirs is Fabulous!!!
    *Begin to organize the “on-base” PRIDE PARADE!!!!

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  5. I guess us gays [who actually come from another planet, in another galaxy, but still look human] will have to educate these imbaciles about being gay. First, we'll sit them down and say "We're attracted to the same gender, while you're attracted [we assume] to the opposite gender." Second, we'll get back to work. 当人们害怕其他人,谁是一样的,因为它们在所有的方法只有一个...在昨天我们已经与敌人永远离开了。团结是知识,尊重,信任我们的共同人性。

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  6. This is ridculous! The United States is supposed to be the "country of the free and the brave". Well, this survey sure isn't living up to that creed. If some petty Pentagon officials and supremacist servicemen can stop DADT from being repealed, then that is one more step to making the gay community less free and hindering the brave in it from using it for their country's good. For three hundred year the United States has had this distorted image of itself as the saviour of the world, the country to at last spread freedom, and still it discriminates against its own inhabitants.
    (I didn't mean to offend any US citizens! Sorry if I did. The whole "America is so great and we need to import anything they invent"-attitude just annoys me so much. I live in Europe.)

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