What I find most interesting about the entire "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" debate is that it focuses entirely on issue of homosexuals right to serve in the military, and the impact of having homosexuals serving openly in the military.
Those of us who have spent long years in the military all have known and worked with dozens of relatively openly homosexual service members throughout our careers. While it makes some uncomfortable and leads to some distasteful commentary, from insults to humor, it really seems like much of a non-issue by in large.
What has not been discussed at all though is the much larger issue of homosexual acts rather than homosexual orientation. Prisons are full of straight men and women, who for lack of any other option, participate willingly in homosexual acts. They rationalize it as just one more hard compromise they have to make based upon their circumstances.
A Marine friend of mine, who is famous for his candor and rough humor (you gotta love the military for this unique aspect of the community, the last refuge where PC is held somewhat at bay), would say "It's not gay if your underway!" As a winter ranger we would huddle spooning and shivering under shared ponchos and poncho liners in desperate attempts to stay warm enough to catch a couple hours of sleep and joke "No queers on a cold night!" Such rough, ironic barracks humor is about to become a barracks reality.
The fact is that we put our service members in situations very similar to the ones we put our convicted felons in. Over the past couple of generations we have stripped away the access to local women, cheap booze, and even pornography in the pursuit of zero defects under the guise of puritanical righteousness.
While certainly homosexual acts between straight service members occurred throughout the history of the military, for the U.S. military the tool employed to contain and mitigate the widespread incidence of such acts was first the ban on homosexuals altogether, followed by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Now that constraint will be lifted. Will DoD expand their puritanical controls to greater regulation sexual activity between consenting adults? Or will the U.S. military devolve into a culture where senior leaders have "Chai boys" and every squad has a "squad boy"?
I really don't know, and I'm not judging. I just find it interesting that while everyone was agonizing over the civil rights of homosexuals and the potential impact of openly serving homosexuals on unit morale, no one bothered to talk about what I see as a much larger issues of the "prison sex" syndrome. The greater incidence of such acts is inevitable. There will likely be a rise of same-sex abuse of rank and power for sex in exchange for privileges and favors as well.
We're entering a new era, and no one is talking about the most critical aspect of that era.
Bookmarks