KLS wrote:
If "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is rescinded, there is no doubt that
hundreds of otherwise ineligible folks would join up.

What do you mean by "otherwise ineligible"? The military is already
accepting functional illiterates, ex-cons, and others who can't get
civilian jobs out of desperation to get troops over into the war
zones. And has discharged a number of gay linguists who could speak
Arabic and Farsi, languages vital to efforts supporting our national
security.

Not so. Every branch of the military as met its yearly recruiting and
re-enlistment goals with three months left to go. Eight-five percent of the
ground forces that have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have re-enlisted at
the first opportunity. The remaining fifteen percent retired, invalided out,
or married harridans.

As for accepting "functional illiterates,' again, not so. Virtually all
members of the military are high-school graduates (or equivalent) and more
than half have significant college credits.

As for gays that speak Farsi, Pashtu, Arabic, etc., they may have uses in
the government. If so, they can work for NSA, the Girl Scouts, or similar.
If you put them out in front, dealing with Muslim civilians and government
leaders, tell me true: How do you think they would be received or treated by
a culture for which homosexuality is abhorrent?


By some estimates, however, as
many as two million members of the armed services (out of three
million) would separate themselves from the service at the first
opportunity.

I believe you wax hyperbolic. I also think you greatly underestimate
the ability of intelligent people to bond over common cause and
service to our nation.

This was a survey done, I think, by Army Times. They reported 65% of
existing members would not serve with gays. The National Command Authority,
from the Joint Chiefs on down, are unanimously opposed. I suggest that these
people are intelligent. For example, consider the "intelligence" of the JCS:

Mike Mullins, Chairman: Post-graduate degrees from Naval Postgraduate School
and Harvard Business
James Cartwright, Vice Chairman: Master of Arts, Naval War College, MIT
Fellowship
George Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff, U.S. Army: B.S. Georgetown, M.A. Univ of
Denver
Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations: B.S. U.S. Naval Academy
Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff, USAF: B.S., Air Force Academy, MBA
Michigan, MIT Fellow
James Terry Conway, Commandant, Marine Corps: Bachelors, SE Missouri



Having gays in the infantry is, in my view, not a good idea. We just
can't take weeks to kill an enemy soldier!

What? Please translate that last sentence; it makes no sense.

It has to do with the forcible draining of precious bodily fluids - the
purity of essence. I'm reluctant to go into detail.