Oh crap

So it seems like Joe Lieberman is going to try to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I know that there are a lot of gay people who are going to be happy about it. I am not, and here's why:

The biggest problem allowing open homosexuality into the military will cause is that you're going to introduce a sexual dynamic into a situation that cannot handle it. Did that sound too..... psychologist-ish? Maybe. But when dealing with a combat unit, you need to avoid anything that could cause that unit to not trust each other. Unit cohesion is key. Each Soldier in that unit needs to trust each other without question. If there's anything that gets in the way of that trust, it needs to go. Period, end of story.

Introducing a sexual dynamic into the unit leads to a breakdown in unit moral, trust issues within the unit, and discipline issues as Soldiers do what every human does and tries to get laid. There's a crude, one sentence summary, but it's the truth, and it's the truth that nobody likes to admit.

People point out to me all the time that women joined the Army without any major issues. Oh really? No major issues? Let's not talk about the much-ballyhooed rise in sexual assaults within the Army. By the way, that article talks about quite a few things, but one item it never manages to mention is that you cannot throw men and women together in combat and expect them to function just like they were back home. For Pete's sake, we're doing SEX SIGNALS training IN A FUCKING COMBAT ZONE. You think there might be a problem? Is this the best use of Army resources in a damn combat zone? Are you fucking kidding me?

Sex in a combat unit tears it apart. I've had quite a few homosexuals tell me that Soldiers would just need to "get over it". All of those people have no idea about just what kind of culture a combat unit enforces. When the NCOs and Officers appointed over you have complete and total authority over your life, introducing sex is a good way to ruin the unit.

Hell, it's not like I haven't visited this subject before on occasion.

The military exists to fight. Anything that interferes with our ability to fight needs to be removed. I honestly believe that homosexuality does more harm than good to the military. Now, there are probably a bunch of people asking "But Dave, how in the name of Hades does a person's sexuality interfere with their ability to fight?" The simple answer? As an individual, it doesn't.

"But, but, but....." I can hear the breath being drawn in for a good yell in my direction. Hold off for a bit.

As I said, as an individual it doesn't interfere with fighting ability. But despite all the crap advertising from a couple of years ago, there are no meaningful individuals in the Army, other than perhaps a few generals and the CSM of the Army. The smallest unit in the military is a TEAM. We try to separate men from women because to be quite blunt, sexual relationships in a unit degrade that unit's ability to fight. We don't allow men and women to share a barracks room, because unless the two people are in a committed relationship, living with someone of the opposite sex in close quarters interferes with daily life. We discourage relationships within the unit as much as possible. And trust me, right now it's hard enough to keep things simple with just male/female dynamics involved. So you tell me - especially all you women out there - would you want someone of the opposite sex living in a room with you for a couple of years? Not in the same HOUSE, where everyone has their own little private room they can go into to escape. Your room. Your BEDROOM. Think about all the problems that would cause.

Now then, you tell me, where shall we house these newly accepted homosexuals in the Army? If we don't allow men and women to share a barracks or a tent due to the sexual complications and other problems inherent in that, what is the difference with two gay men? Or a gay man and a hetro man sharing the same room? There will be just as many problems and complications between THAT room-sharing couple as there would be with a man and a woman sharing a room.

Again, it degrades the effectiveness of the UNIT. They could be G.I. Joe as an individual for all I care, but if they degrade the UNIT then they need to go.

Hell, those two posts I linked to are some nice long reads all on their own, I don't need to write a third book. The reasons to object to homosexuals in the military are just as valid as they were two years ago, or five years ago. Nothing has changed. The military discriminates for a whole variety of reasons, all to protect the integrity of the unit and improve combat effectiveness. Those needs haven't changed. So what has? Oh, right, the person in the White House, the current occupant of which pandered to the Left to get the gay vote and now has his generals telling him the hard truth that he's unwilling to accept.

Gah.