11/22/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
While Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen is showing his desire to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is making it clear that the study will be released to Congress a touch early- on 30 November. Furthermore, retention and recruitment rates for the military show not a tiny bit of slumping despite the imminent repeal of DADT. Over all, it looks like the nation and the military is ready for DADT to be repealed.

According to Accession Policy Director Curtis Gilroy “In the past, the services have, on occasion, intentionally ‘missed’ their monthly recruiting goals, to ensure they don’t come in over end strength. This gives the false impression that recruiting goals are not being met, when in fact, for the year, the services are meeting or exceeding their goals. By reporting against year-to-date goals, the public is provided a more comprehensive picture of military recruiting.”

The year-to-date numbers are

Active Duty

* Army – 6,643 accessions, with a goal of 6,425; 103 percent
* Navy – 2,291 accessions, with a goal of 2,291; 100 percent
* Marine Corps – 2,457 accessions, with a goal of 2,448; 100 percent
* Air Force – 1,511 accessions, with a goal of 1,511; 100 percent

National Guard and Reserve

* Army National Guard –4,973 accessions, with a goal of 4,504; 110 percent
* Army Reserve –2,774 accessions, with a goal of 2,557; 108 percent
* Navy Reserve –665 accessions, with a goal of 665; 100 percent
* Marine Corps Reserve –1,154 accessions, with a goal of 889; 130 percent
* Air National Guard –729 accessions, with a goal of 541; 135 percent
* Air Force Reserve – 769 accessions, with a goal of 760; 101 percent

Attrition was say to be at acceptable levels. These numbers go through October, the period whereby DADT was rendered inactive due to the ruling by Judge Virginia Phillips. Against this, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen stated to ABC’s Christiane Amanpour “The other piece that is out there that is very real is the courts are very active on this, and my concern is that at some point in time the courts could change this law and in that not give us the right amount of time to implement it. I think it’s much better done if it’s going to get done, it’s much better done through legislature than it is out of the courts.”

Mullen has, so far, refused to discuss the issue of the leaked results of the military’s report on repealing DADT. He did say that “I think it belies us as an institution. We value integrity as an institution. Asking individuals to come in and lie about who they are every day goes counter to who we are as an institution.” Despite the fact that Mullen reiterated that the report would be available by 1 December, a statement from Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morell indicates that Secretary Gates “has instructed his staff, without cutting any corners, to have everything ready a day sooner because he wants to ensure members of the Armed Services Committee are able to read and consider the complex, lengthy report before holding hearings with its authors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

When asked about statements made by General James Amos, Mullen had a lot to say. General Amos, the current Commandant of the Marine Corps, stated earlier this month “There’s risk involved; I’m trying to determine how to measure that risk. This is not a social thing. This is combat effectiveness. That’s what the country pays its Marines to do.”

Mullen stated “What concerned me about his most recent comments, it came at a time where we actually had the draft report in hand, and we had all agreed that we would speak to this privately until we completed the report and made our recommendations up the chain.”

Mullen feels that the Marines will be on board repeal, and told CNN’s Candy Crowley that he is confident that Amos can lead the Marines out of DADT. Mullen stated “He basically said that if this law changes, we are going to implement it, and we are going to implement it better than anybody .”

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