Homosexuality and Military Service (Merged thread)

[Uboat509]

Hell, it gets ridiculously frustrating sometimes. Almost a decade ago I had one of my SSGs receive a Field Grade Art 15 for having a drink with a source in the Balkans. All of our pleading about local culture, source rapport etc. was dismissed by the Bn Cdr in his "zero tolerance" approach. (Just to be clear - the guy wasn't drinking. He nursed a drink while the source was drinking. Anybody who's worked that AO knows there are many people who won't trust you if you don't have a drink with'em. Just like sitting down to drink tea with a source in the ME.)

Ridiculous. Slightly off-topic here but this is another brazen example of a leader enforcing a regulation without bothering to apply any form of critical thought. One of the reasons that I left the big Army and crossed over into the dark side was the number of "leaders" who I had worked for and around who believed that leadership meant ensuring blind to the letter of the regs. Personally, I have always that thought that it was either laziness or stupidity or a combination of both. Thinking is much harder than simply doing whatever the book says. God forbid someone try to consider the intent of a reg rather than just what it says in black and white. Of course we can't have Joe going down town and tying one on with the locals. No good can come from that but is that what was going on with that SSG? Obviously not but why should a leader think when he can just read from a book and do what it says?

[/cynicism]

SFC W

[Global Scout]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_porn_071105/

Dozens of religious and anti-pornography groups have complained to Congress and Defense Secretary Robert Gates that a Pentagon board set up to review magazines and films is allowing sales of material that Congress intended to ban.

"They're saying 'we're not selling stuff that's sexually explicit' … and we say it's pornography," says Donald Wildmon, head of the American Family Association, a Christian anti-pornography group.

And the left comes to the rescue, hell I might start donating to ACLU.

Nadine Strossen, a New York Law School professor who heads the American Civil Liberties Union, says the law effectively censors what troops get to read in remote areas or combat zones. "We're asking these people to risk their lives to defend our Constitution's principles … and they're being denied their own First Amendment rights to choose what they read," she said.

[Ken White]

Ridiculous... Personally, I have always that thought that it was either laziness or stupidity or a combination of both... SFC W

"Regulations were meant to be intelligently disregarded."

Took me about two years to figure out that what you say is too often the case and I gleefully proceeded to ignore a great many for another 40 plus years -- on both sides (even the dark side has a few party line hewers) -- and had a lot of fun doing it...

[selil]

When I was a rookie cop.....

Citizen says to me... "You're here to enforce the law!" (barking dog complaint).
Me... "Nope, I'm here to listen to your complaint". (fifth time we'd been called).
Citizen says to me... "Damn it I pay your sallary you must enforce every law!!! Now!!". (By the way there wasn't any dog next door)
Me... "I realize that sir. Did you realize that your car is parked more than 18 inches from the curb? Sign here. Press hard 3 copies".

Moral of the story? When y'all start complaining about somebody else and wigging out don't be surprised if it comes back to haunt you. Making and abusing the law to harrass somebody else can have dire consequences. Let the soldiers have their porn and nudie magazines. Unless the complainers are serving they should keep their nose out of relaxation and recreation.