.Amanda Terkel just posted a piece over on the Huffington Post that pretty much says what I've been thinking about the poor, beleaguered homophobic members of our military (not to mention a few high-strung Senators) who are shrieking to any and all who can hear, that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell could be the end to life, the universe, and everything.
Guess what? If you don't like it, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
A senior aide to General Petraeus, Command Sergeant Major Marvin Hill, is being quoted as saying that those members of the military who just can't cope with the idea of serving with openly gay soldiers should maybe re-think their career with the U.S. Military.
A senior aide to David Petraeus, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, is out with a strong statement in support of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), saying that servicemembers who can't adjust to the change should think about leaving the military.
"If there are people who cannot deal with the change, then they're going to have to do what's best for their troops and best for the organization and best for the military service and exit the military service, so that we can move forward -- if that's the way that we have to go," said Command Sergeant Major Marvin Hill in an interview with Roland Martin on Washington Watch, set to air on Sunday.
In his recent testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen had addressed this as well:
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen addressed this concern during his recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, stating, "Should repeal occur, some soldiers and Marines may want separate shower facilities. Some may ask for different berthing. Some may even quit the service. We'll deal with that."
But, practically speaking, for those who are having a case of the vapors over the idea of openly gay soldiers causing others to leave the service like lemmings off a cliff, there's really not much to that theory. Secretary Gates spoke to that as well:
Well, first of all, I didn't say it was not important. But first of all, as I said in response to an earlier question, very few people can leave immediately, and so people would be around for the rest of their enlistment, for the rest of their contract if they were officers. And our expectation is that, as you've heard from the authors of the report and from Admiral Mullen, that experience, based on the survey itself, experience would dramatically lower those numbers.
The idea that a United States soldier of any branch is so overwhelmed by....well, GAY COOTIES, that he or she couldn't possibly go on (insert image of soldier retiring to a camo-covered fainting couch....er, cot) and function with the level of professionalism that is expected from any member of our military is appalling. If someone is that unprofessional, then we don't need them to serve, we don't WANT them to serve.
ETA: Rec list, FTW! :)
ETA2: Based on some of the comments, I thought it worth emphacizing that as the Command Sergeant Major, Marvin Hill is nearly the highest ranked NCO (non-commissioned officer) in the Army. Having this kind of a quote coming from him is very much targeted to speak directly to the troops on the ground. Rather than coming from up on high, words from an NCO like Hill are said to be taken a bit more to heart than those perhaps coming from the brass.
It seems the military is certainly rolling out some strategies of their own when it comes to getting DADT repealed, and perhaps laying the groundwork for how they could start to implement the repeal. (Thx to AndrewMC for the comments!)