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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal : Let’s Update the Report Card

Posted by: 2nd Class Soldier on August 19, 2010.

With each passing day we get closer to the December 1st deadline for completion of the Pentagon’s Comprehensive Review Working Group’s (CRWG) study on the possible repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), the policy that prohibits open service by gays and lesbians in the military. The five branches of the US Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard) are participating the in the CRWG’s review of the policy and this past weekend we passed a major hurdle. The widely discussed and heavily criticized survey of 400,000 military personnel ended on August 15th. While the results have not, and may not ever be made public, the number of respondents was disclosed. Only 27.5% (109,883 of the 400,000 recipients) responded to the survey. For my thoughts on that, please see my previous article. While the CRWG and its survey process was launched earlier this year, after Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen testified in front of Congress, where exactly that survey fit in wasn’t given to us until late May when both houses of Congress drafted a legislative compromise as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In the NDAA, which has passed a vote in the full House of Representatives but is due to be voted on in September when the Senate returns from its August recess, DADT repeal must meet a minimum of five criteria in order for the repeal to take place. Congress said there must be certification by the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that repeal of DADT is consistent with military standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention. Now, let’s take a look at our scorecard so far:

The DoD defines readiness as, “The ability of US military forces to fight and meet the demands of the national military strategy. Readiness is the synthesis of two distinct but interrelated levels. a. unit readiness–The ability to provide capabilities required by the combatant commanders to execute their assigned missions. This is derived from the ability of each unit to deliver the outputs for which it was designed. b. joint readiness–The combatant commander’s ability to integrate and synchronize ready combat and support forces to execute his or her assigned missions.” Gays and lesbians are currently serving in the military and have been serving since the Revolutionary War. According to Senator John McCain’s tweet (verified account) yesterday, the US was victorious in Iraq, while gays and lesbians were among the uniformed ranks. GRADE: PASS

As noted in a paper by CDR Jeffrey J. Bernasconi (U.S. Navy), “Military effectiveness[emphasis added] is a common goal among military forces. But it is an ill defined concept.” Since others in the military have difficulty in defining effectiveness, I will not upset the apple cart. Using a reasonable man approach, I will say that if we are achieving some level of success in our military operations at home and abroad, with gays and lesbians currently serving, we are being effective. GRADE: PASS

When looking at unit cohesion, we are faced with a similar dilemma as with military effectiveness; unit cohesion is not well defined. What was noted, though, in a paper at the US Army’s Command and General Staff College in 2008 is how, “[T]he latest Army leadership doctrine virtually overlooks the importance of unit cohesion.” The author of that paper, MAJ Geoff Van Epps, went on to say, “The 2006 Army Leadership field manual represents an improvement over its predecessor, particularly in its embrace of the ambiguity and uncertainty that characterize the environment in which the contemporary Army operates. Unfortunately, it also reflects a slow erosion of emphasis on the significance of unit cohesion in US Army doctrine.” If the largest of our Armed Forces existing leadership doctrine places a reduced significance on unit cohesion, how then can the DoD effectively quantify any impact of gays and lesbians on something which they themselves cannot well measure or define? GRADE: PASS by default

Military retention and recruiting is the easiest metric of all; the numbers speak for themselves. Based on a DoD press release on August 18th, ”Three of the four active services met or exceeded their accession goals for July 2010. The Marine Corps intentionally slowed accessions for July because it is exceeding its fiscal year-to-date recruiting goals.” In looking at reserve recruiting, “Three of the six reserve components exceeded their accession goals for July 2010. The Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and the Marine Corps Reserve intentionally slowed accessions for July because they are exceeding their fiscal year-to-date recruiting goals.” Regarding the numbers of personnel staying on active duty, “Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force retention are at or above the fiscal year-to-date goals for the first 10 months of the fiscal year.” In other words, with the possible approach of open service by gays and lesbians in the US Armed Forces, we are meeting or exceeding our recruiting and retention goals. Our servicemembers, as has been said from day one, are the best in the world and can serve alongside gays and lesbians…particularly since they already are! GRADE: PASS with flying colors (for this blog, yes, those are rainbow colors but with a hue of camouflage).

Going back to the official CRWG survey of uniformed members, only 27.5% of the military (based on extrapolation of the survey recipients to the military as a whole) decided to express any opinion whatsoever on possible repeal of DADT. It will be up to the Pentagon to tell us what that minority of the military even said on this matter, if they choose to do so after December 1st. For the majority of the military, their silence spoke for them. They chose not to express any concerns about repeal of DADT affecting readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting or retention. OVERALL GRADE: PASS

To the members of Congress and President Obama, tear down this wall of discrimination and let me and the tens of thousands like me in uniform serve our nation as free men and women. Tonight, and every night until that law is repealed, I go to bed a servant and defender of this nation though I am not free to enjoy the benefits and protections she has to offer the rest of her citizens.