In a recent column for Mercatornet, InsideCatholic contributor Bob Reilly argues that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would be a subversion of the very military virtues they claim to value:
In his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, poor Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never seemed to know when he was shooting himself in the foot and making the very points he haplessly wished to refute. In regard to the “bunk and shower” issues, he said that “I believe, and history tells us, that most of them (the troops) will put aside personal proclivities for something larger than themselves and for each other.” But “put[ting] aside personal proclivities for something larger than themselves” is exactly what the “don’t ask; don’t tell” policy asked of serving homosexuals. They were only dismissed when they could not or would not keep those personal proclivities aside for something larger.
Now the policy Mullen is advocating precisely promotes the personal proclivities of homosexual troops who are not content with serving without having their proclivities openly accommodated. Where exactly is the service to “something larger than ourselves” in that? Poor Mullen, without noticing it, has installed a set of personal proclivities while he thought he was transcending them.
The Admiral testified that in his experience, he had “been serving with gays and lesbians my whole career… I knew they were there. They knew I knew it. And what’s more, nearly everyone in the crew knew it. We never missed a mission, never failed to deliver ordnance on target.”
Well, if this is so, why change the policy? It seems to have served us well.
Read his entire argument here. Do you agree?
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