What does the Don't Ask Don't Tell report
really say? Depends on whether you ask people who have seen combat since 9/11 or not.
the Pentagon study group asked the following question of respondents "who have never been deployed or haven't been in combat environment since September 11, 2001":
If Don't Ask, Don't tell is repealed and you are working with a service member in your immediate unit who has said he or she is gay or lesbian, how, if at all, would it affect your immediate unit's effectiveness at completing its mission on a day-to-day basis?
The answers are a mixed bag but suggest that there would be support for repeal of the current policy. Seventeen percent of all service members say repeal would have a positive effect, while 21 percent say it would have a negative effect; 33 percent say it would have equally positive and negative effects, and 29 percent say it would have no effect.
But ask men in combat and you get a different answer:
Then the Pentagon team asked service members "who have been deployed at some point and been in combat environment since September 11, 2001":
If Don't Ask, Don't tell is repealed and you are working with a service member in your immediate unit who has said he or she is gay or lesbian, how, if at all, would it affect your immediate unit's effectiveness at completing its mission in a field environment or out to sea?
The differences are striking. Just 11 percent say repeal would have a positive effect, while 44 percent say it would have a negative effect. Twenty six percent of those surveyed say it would have equally positive and negative effects, and 19 percent say it would have no effect.
It also matters if you're asking a Marine or a member of the Air Force:
Fifty-nine percent of Marines who have been in combat say repeal would have a negative effect, and just 11 percent say it would have no effect. Forty-five percent of Army respondents say it would have a negative effect. The opposition is less intense in the Navy and Air Force, where 35 percent and 41 percent say repeal would have a negative effect, but those are still significant minorities.
Moreover, the majority of respondents have been deployed.
According to the study, 70 percent of respondents are now or have been deployed, and 83 percent of them have been in a combat zone or an area where they received hostile fire pay.
Civilian control of the military is an important principle and the President and Congress want this. But let's not pretend for a second they are doing it with troop support or for any reason that is to the benefit of military readiness.
