Letters

 This section gives readers an opportunity to share comments or observations. For the sake of brevity, please keep all letters to no more than 250 words. While robust exchanges are encouraged, character assassination and profanity are not. The editor has the final word on submissions.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

The repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" would have an indelible harm on the ability of the military to accomplish its mission. In order to meet any mission, an organization has to have the necessary manpower. Despite what is commonly asserted, allowing homosexuals to openly serve would reduce, not increase, the number of Americans willing to serve and would result in fewer service members staying in.

Many individuals are not willing to serve with open homosexuals. I myself was an officer in the Marine Corps and I would not have joined if open homosexuals were allowed to serve. Many officers I served with shared my position.

During boot camp or Officer Candidate School there is no privacy. The only showers are group showers and everyone lives side by side in bunk beds in squad bays with only two rooms -- the room where the beds are and the bathroom. There routinely is group nudity while changing and showering.

Service members have the right to go through training without worrying about becoming sexual objects. Allowing homosexuals to openly serve would cause those in training to wonder if they were becoming sexual objects of the homosexuals' fantasies. This would harm the morale of those who did choose to join and would damage efforts at creating unit cohesion. This would also create a situation full of real and perceived same sex sexual harassment.

The military already has its hands full dealing with opposite sex sexual harassment; it doesn't need to further burden its strained legal and equal opportunity recourses with same sex sexual harassment cases.

Also the majority of the military is opposed to allowing homosexuals to openly serve. If only a small percentage of those against repealing DADT left the military it would more than offset the homosexuals who would be allowed to stay in or those who would join. In a time when we are fighting two wars, we cannot afford to change a policy that has clearly allowed the military to accomplish its mission for one which would jeopardize our military's ability to accomplish its mission.

Patrick Callahan, Esq.