PROCEEDINGS MAGAZINE
Nobody Asked Me But...
By Lieutenant C. Randolph Whipps, U.S. Navy
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It's time to Scrap Don't Ask Don't tell

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Diversity is a strategic priority in the Navy. Sailors are to embrace "individual uniqueness, race, gender, ethnicity, cultural heritage, geographical background, religion, education, talent, skills, ideas, creativity and experience." The Navy rushed to trumpet that the Naval Academy class of 2013 is the most racially diverse in the school's history, but one minority group is conspicuously absent from the party: homosexuals.
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Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT, Section 654, Title 10, U.S.C.) represents legal cognitive dissonance between congressionally mandated discrimination and our professed values. DADT has come under fire with growing frequency. Since its enactment in 1994, organizations such as the Servicemember's Legal Defense Network and policy analysts like Dr. Aaron Belkin have been vocal critics. A 2009 study by Laura Miller of the RAND Corporation and Bonnie Moradi of the University of Florida found that support for the ban continues to decline.
U.S. Navy (Bryan Ilyankoff)

Just as women were integrated into the service in steps, open service could involve at first a specific region or fleet. Today's diverse Navy (here, Captain Joseph Kuzmick and crew on the USS John C. Stennis [CVN-74]) is a result of such phase-ins.
Admirals and master chiefs may have reservations about serving with open homosexuals, but junior officers and petty officers do not. Some detractors worry that parents and other "influencers" will hesitate to send young adults into a perceived den of iniquity. This a valid concern, given the de facto guardian role that Navy leadership plays with respect to junior enlisted.

But parents should not fear. If open service were allowed, the military would still prohibit relationships prejudicial to good order and discipline. Nonconsensual activities could still be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Navy can continue to discriminate on the basis of sexual preference—thereby sharing the same admission criteria as a Whabbist madrasa. Or we can adopt an Ivy League mindset, basing acceptance on performance and potential .

Some worry that heterosexuals would react to the policy change by quitting in droves, taking with them years of hard-won expertise and institutional knowledge. This fear also is unfounded. Frankly, the older service members who may be less tolerant of homosexuals have the most financial interest in staying for at least 20 years.

Anecdotal reports from the past eight years suggest that the tired logic of the "unit cohesion" argument died on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Medically retired Marine Staff Sergeant Eric Alva testified before Congress: "Even under the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, I was out to a lot of my fellow Marines. The typical reaction from my straight, often married friends was, 'so what?' I was the same person, I did my job well, and that's all they cared about."

Indeed, the policy has become a laughing stock among mainstream Americans. On 14 June 2007, a skit on Comedy Central's Colbert Report featured a gay Arab linguist discharged from the Army under DADT. That show's audience includes young people we are trying to recruit, influencers to whom we're trying to sell military service, and taxpayers who fund our fleets and pay our salaries.

The Navy should take the initiative and request exemption from DADT. We should implement a gradual phase-in of open service over the next year. A specific region or fleet could be designated for open service. Perhaps some communities could be temporarily firewalled off, as submarines are for women. Lessons learned could be shared internally and with other services. This test-bed concept worked when women were introduced on warships, and it serves as a viable model for open service. Indeed, homosexuals are already integrated in the Fleet. We have only to stop persecuting them, while at the same time not implementing "targets" or quotas practices.

The Navy will benefit by being an early adopter of an open policy. Most obviously, we will broaden our recruiting pool. We can poach talent that would otherwise join the Army or Air Force and serve secretly. And we can recruit and retain heterosexual Sailors who bristle at institutional bigotry, tired of the Orwellian doublethink required to prioritize diversity—while status-quo policies privilege straight felons over gay Eagle Scouts.

Only our elected officials can repeal DADT. But legislative leaders have indicated their willingness to defer to the judgment of senior military leaders on matters of policy. Let's hear what the CNO has to say.

Lieutenant Whipps is serving in a Global War on Terror Support Assignment billet with CJTF-82 in Afghanistan. His previous assignments include VAW-112 and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He is a graduate of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.
3 Responses to Nobody Asked Me But...

Herman Bouwman says:
My name is Vern Bouwman: As an older navy veteran I feel I have always been a diverse person, especially with persons of different race. I did have a problem with a homosexual in 1955 the navy where I ignorantly let homosexual do his thing on me. Because of this, when others reported him, I was named and advised to admit the encounter or I would most certainly spend time in the brig. I was discharged and I missed out on performing my duties as trained for. Thirty years later I worked on many military bases performing designs for newer communication facilities. I also have a great wife and two wonderful children. KEEP THE HOMOSEXUALS OUT OF THE SERVICE. Even though homosexuals may have good talents, they have needs to have partners and they will continue to seek them out. There are still ignorant kids out there. I also believe there person that qualifies for a job needs to get that job on his or hers qualifications, not to fill a race quota. See my service record and thoughts at: http://www.bouwman.com/vern/Navy-Records/Encounters.html or search the web for my name.
12/3/2009 12:44:20 AM

Anonymous says:
As a retired CPO (97) We need to move forward and let this happan.We have a great generation of men and women who can serve without harm to morale or unit cohision.There concerns with women on ship,at the service academies were all usless aruguments and all have intergrated in to the sea-services.The argument that they need ''partners'' is no more valid then the hetro servicemembers needing wife's and girlfriends or copulatiing on ships now.I served on many ships and I am sure there were homosexuals and I never witnessed behavior unbecoming of the uniform.This is the 21st century,we need to put away these bigoted ideas.Everyone can do thier job and defend their country.''keep the homosexuals out'' too late they have been here ,are there and will contiune to serve,so let them come out and remove that burden and administrartive paperwork from the commands ,not to speak of the money wasted in training ,schooling,and retraining replacements of discharged members.
12/4/2009 6:23:20 PM

Herman Bouwman says:
Vern here, The Chiefs words are admirable but my heart goes out to those 1000’s of persons who moved to homosexual actions because it was easy and fun where the original meaning of gay has been ruined.
12/8/2009 12:04:18 PM
Go To Vern's Navy Page