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Admiral Mullen Gives Contradictory Statements Regarding Repeal Of DADT While At Ft. Bragg

06/03/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Admiral Mike Mullen speaking today in Fort Bragg, North Carolina wanted to make it absolutely clear that the opinions of the troops regarding lifting the ban on lesbian and gay soldiers serving openly is still wanted and needed. The study into how to lift the ban will be continued, according to Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“One of the reasons the study and review is so important is because there isn’t any subjective data out there, particularly from you and those who will be most effected,” the admiral told the soldiers,” Mullen said. Well the objective data that came out of the other nations indicates that unit cohesion actually went up with the lifting of bans on lesbian and gay soldiers serving openly. Not to mention that subjective data is not what the study is suppose to be giving since subjective data is nothing more than opinions. Just how much one subjective opinion matters to the whole thing is something to be questioned.

Of course, Admiral Mullen made it clear to the civilian press that openly lesbian and gay recruits will be added to the military and that the services will adjust. In large part, Admiral Mullen appears to be saying to his soldiers that on the one hand, their opinion matters and on the other it is going to happen so they might as well adjust to it now.

When asked about the potential for an increase in hate crimes and increased cases of sexual harassment if DADT is repealed, Admiral Mullen did not mention that those already occur in the services already, and that repeal would make them easier to catch. Instead, he pointed out that they are already illegal in the military.

He stated:

Certainly any change in the laws is not an excuse for anything like that to ever happen. . .

We are a disciplined force. We have standards. Maintaining those standards, sustaining that discipline is our job, no matter what happens. . .

I have every expectation that not only we will do this, but we will lead in a way [so] it gets done,” Mullen continued. “[But] that doesn’t mean we won’t have challenges. . .

I want to understand what the possibilities are … what it’s going take to implement this and, in that regard, address the leadership challenges and implementation with expectations that at the small-unit level, not exclusively, it will be led and led well. I have a lot of faith in you that that’s doable.

Much of Admiral Mullen’s statements came in response to a senior non-commissioned officer’s questions regarding those possible illegal activities. He also stated:

The law needs to change. Fundamentally, it’s an issue of our values. It’s very critical for us as an institution, and I’m hard-pressed not to support policy and a law that forces individuals to come in and lie everyday.

It may be a tad confusing for Admiral Mullen to state both that the law needs to change, but that the opinions of the troops matter a lot. The emphasis on the different aspects of what he stated were apparent in the differences between the military press and the civilian press. The military press emphasized the need for the opinions to be heard while the civilian press emphasized the need for the repeal to go through. His statements may end up leaving many soldiers as well as many civilians wondering just how important this review study is to the process of repeal.

Gays figure in talk to soldiers