Senator Robb discusses Marine Corps culture and Don't Ask Don't Tell
Yesterday our parent organization, the Center for American Progress, released a report detailing a strategy for removing the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy in the United States military. To coincide with its release, CAP held a panel discussion to help those of us who may not be literate in wonky policy language.
We are fighting two wars and we can’t afford to keep losing integral service members just because they’re gay or lesbian. Incidentally this is the same argument that the conservatives are using for why we should not act now; “we’re fighting two wars” so we’re too wrapped up in fighting to consider letting crucial players back into the game.
Former Senator and Governor Charles Robb of Virginia, Admiral John Hutson, a former JAG, and Louis Caldera, a senior fellow at CAP and former Secretary of the Army, were seated on the panel to express their views on the topic and answer questions from the press. Each gave very convincing statements and anecdotes on the level of acceptance present in the armed forces, which seems to be much higher than the white-haired generation in Congress wants to believe, except for maybe the Marines. Senator Robb is a Marine and noted that their macho culture, while convenient for fighting, can hinder their attitude toward gay and lesbian soldiers. He stated that we need to get started with the repeal of DADT immediately so that those who are already top ranking officers will take their prejudiced beliefs with them when they die and future Corps members can look back and wonder why they ever felt any hesitancy.
“The cost of not acting now is greater to our souls and to this country [than the cost of waiting],” were Robb’s most potent words.
The Wonk Room outlined the points of the report briefly here. If the Armed Services Committee is looking to decide on both their moratorium and how long they plan to drag this repeal out, they could consider this report. As stated during the event yesterday, the United States is the only western nation to still abide by a law banning openly homosexual service members. We are behind the times, and behind the rest of our own country.