SHHHHH.....You Better NOT Tell!!!

Shhhhhhhh……if anyone finds out about this, you’ll be kicked out.

I’ve been asked on many occasions, how I feel about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Truthfully, I’ve never really concerned myself with it. I’ve held every leadership position one could hold in the military and I would think each position held, I always did the right thing. I’ve made those decisions that weren’t popular at all but someone had to be the enemy. As far s using this policy to kick a Soldier out the military, I’ve only used it when the Soldier wanted to leave the military. I’ve never had an investigation launched to pursue kicking a Soldier out under this policy. I’ve always been one to not look at a person for who they are but for what they bring to the table. I’ve always been the type of leader that your personal life is your personal business and not mine to intervene in unless circumstances dictated otherwise. A case of domestic abuse is one of those reasons but there are quite a few other issues that may arise which will cause that. All of them involve the military or local police.

So let us break down the policy. In a nutshell, if you’re gay, you cannot serve. Most Americans will look at this and throw the bullshit flag every single time. So will quite a few leaders in the military. It is sometimes obvious and in your face a Soldier’s sexuality but it was not mine to question. Does it interfere with the good order and discipline of the unit is what I look at. Are Soldiers coming to me and complaining about this Soldier’s behavior? Is the Soldier in imminent danger regarding their behavior? Does it look like Soldier’s really care? If there are no red flags, why will I dig deeper? Those that do dig will find something and violate the entire meaning behind DADT. That’s just my interpretation behind the policy because every policy is how you read it. Sometimes leader take the route to find a way to kick the Soldier out of the military. I never liked that style and always called them on it. I’ve been told not my unit and not your concern on many occasions regarding a myriad of issues and not just what I consider obvious biased towards a Soldier. So now America has grown into such a country of understanding that all corporations need to adapt. Yes I said corporation because the military organizations for all purposes are corporations now. It is a big business that can be seen from all the advertisements you see. We go after recruits the same way as big corporations do. We are competitive and will do what it takes to get people to sign up. With that, we have to adapt as those businesses do. Now the DADT needs to adapt. Here’s only my perspective as to why it hasn’t been completely abolished to open a few eyes.

As I’ve stated, the military is a corporation. Money moves things. The only difference between us and those civilian corporations, we have to have a budget that is approved by the House and Senate to ensure proper spending. When you look at the dollar value of a company, we surpass all by billions. With that in mind, what will have to be added to the spending bill and how we’ll have to arrange regulations that govern the military to read? This may seem trivial to you but every document that a Soldier signs now have to have the following statement or something similar, Are you gay or lesbian? I know a few of you are saying, you’re kidding me? Well unfortunately no. This will tie into a lot at the end and hopefully I won’t leave any uncovered. All enlistment documents will now change. The reason for this statement leads to housing. Basic training is the first step in the line. Here’s the question. As a “straight” Soldier, are you going to make me live with a “gay” Soldier? Well unfortunately we can’t because now the regulation has to change and admit a clause regarding living situations. In basic training, these Soldiers are not always housed in dorms; they are sometimes housed in open bays; anywhere up to 40 Soldiers are housed in these bays. Now I have concern for the Soldier or Soldiers who answered yes to the question. We cannot deprogram stupidity in a day. This will not only be an apparent issue just in basic but will continue through initial entry training for their job skill all the way to permanent party position. The housing situation will just change. I know you’re saying Stretch, you’re just barking at your obvious reasons for keeping the DADT policy. Well it’s not the case and refusal to look at this, you will continue to what we call stove piping. Failure to look at all things involved in a decision will result in stove piping causing the issue to be hotter than it is. You get burned making a stove pipe decision. So now I have this brand new private in the military that says, I do not want to live with a gay person. Oh come on Stretch that will never happen. Don’t stove pipe and trust me, it will. So what do we do now? Well I guess will have to have separate billeting for those who are gay and those who are not. No you can’t. That’s called singling Soldiers out because of sexual preference and is a big time EO complaint therefore leading to relief of command. Yes, now you’re in trouble for thinking you’re looking out for the health and welfare only to violate a Soldiers equal opportunity right. Okay now I’m caught. What do we do now? Do we rewrite the entire EO policy? I’m stuck and don’t know what to do. Is there some kind of special circumstance I can look at to protect these Soldiers? As you can see by now, this one issue has dominated my entire role as a leader. More than likely, the leader will just say to hell with it, you guys are adults; solve your own damn issues. This one little issue is dominating my day. Unfortunately, it is not a little issue. It is a big issue. Allowing Soldiers to solve the issue on their own will result in someone getting beat. The after action to all of this will once again result in, relief for cause.

So let us continue on to IET for their job skill. In most cases, now these Soldiers are living in dormitory style rooms. These are two Soldier rooms with a bathroom. A Soldier goes to his leader and says, I do not want to live with this Soldier because he/she is gay. So now coordination has to be made to do the shift in rooms to get Soldiers in rooms with a “proper” roommate. Uh-oh, once again I’m about to violate EO policy and singling Soldiers out. Now Soldiers understand the inspector general (IG) system and lodge a complaint against the chain of command saying I’m singling them out. Well I can’t make a Soldier live with a gay Soldier or can I? No I can’t. Now I’m violating that Soldiers rights to be in an environment that he/she feels safe. WHAT?!!! Yes folks. I have to look out for that Soldiers health and welfare. You want to talk about damned if you do and damned if you don’t? You will look at this is say that is so stupid. By what reason is that stupid? Because this Soldier doesn’t like gays he’s stupid? Some people are not going to accept it, let’s just face that right off the bat. You cannot change the way a person thinks but to open their minds to change at this point when they come in the military. In most cases you can say you will in the military but this will be one of those cases you cannot. So now we’re in the permanent party situation. Soldier arrives to his/her new duty location. Remember those documents you filled out when you joined the military, now there’s a new form because the units are no longer responsible for housing their own Soldiers, the installation is. So now you feel out a document that says are you guy? Wow, again? So now the housing installation gives you a room that the Soldier living there is a straight Soldier. You know the cycle folks. Now this Soldier goes and complains that he does not want to live with a gay Soldier and the cycle repeats itself. Now the perception of the command doesn’t fall on the lowest commander, it will fall onto one of the higher commander’s that’s in charge of garrison. This person will have to carefully write their policy as to not to offend or violate a Soldiers right. So now that we’ve run into this situation what are we to do? Well I guess we will authorize the gay Soldier population the opportunity to live off post. WHAT?!!!! You can’t do that because now you’re singling out the straight population where they don’t have that opportunity.

I know a lot of you have read this and have stated that this is too far fetched. Well it isn’t. I can guarantee that this is the very foundation there is a hold up on the abolishment of this policy. Big money drives every corporation and even the military. If you have spent an inkling of time in the military you can see this. If you’re failing to see this, then you’re letting your passion blind you from the complete truth. Yes I admit there are a lot of people in the military who truly detest someone because of their sexual preference and that is a shame. There are also a whole lot of people who never liked this policy and really don’t enforce it. Here’s my take on all of this and the bottom line to how I think. I believe that every application in the United States should have race removed. We’re Americans and that’s all that matters. Maybe I misunderstood the words of the great Martin Luther King. I’m not going to quote him word for word or maybe not in the exact order but, when all White children, Black children, Asian children, all gods children can play together regardless of the color of their skin. So what does it matter? If you’re willing to put your life on the line in order to defend the Constitution of these United States, whatever you are is immaterial. Hey thanks for stopping by Stretch’s Corner. Remember, these are just my beliefs.