Stripping away emotions, agendas and politics from the DADT debate Posted by Jacob Stokes

Yesterday Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway expressed his views on ending the ban on gays in the military through a rhetorical question:

“My personal opinion is that unless we can strip away the emotion, the agendas and the politics and ask, at least in my case, ‘do we somehow enhance the war-fighting capabilities of the United States Marine Corps by allowing homosexuals to openly serve?’, we haven't addressed [the debate on lifting DADT] from the correct perspective.”

He went on to say that, in his opinion, the policy should stay in place. This is a line of reasoning consistently touted by the GOP, that allowing qualified homosexual servicemembers to do their jobs would somehow hurt our military’s effectiveness.

The question Conway poses is the right one, but the conclusion doesn’t follow. Everyone from the independent Government Accountability Office to the Palm Center at the University of California-Santa Barbara has found that the ban on gays in the military hurts America’s war-fighting capabilities. The numbers are staggering. As this Center for American Progress article points out, since 1994 more 13,000 military personnel across the services have been discharged, “including approximately 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.” These are all specialties in which the military faces shortages.

And it’s not just the number of people pulled from a manpower-starved military. The dollar costs are huge. CAP again:

“In 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that the cost of discharging and replacing service members fired because of their sexual orientation during the policy’s first 10 years totaled at least $190.5 million. This amounts to roughly $20,000 per discharged service member.

Analysis of GAO’s methodology, however, shows that the $190 million figure may be wildly off the mark. A recent study by the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that GAO’s analysis total left out several important factors, such as the high cost of training officers—commissioned soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen with several years of service experience—who were discharged due to their sexual orientation. When these costs were factored in, the cost to the American taxpayer jumped to $363.8 million—$173.3 million, or 91 percent, more than originally reported by GAO.”

In other words, once you strip away the emotions, politics and agendas—as Gen. Conway rightly suggests—it’s easy to see that the ban on gays in the military hurts the war-fighting capabilities of our armed services. So it follows that lifting the ban would those enhance those capabilities.

When it comes to looking at the issue objectively, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has the right idea. Here’s what Mabus said in that same Armed Services hearing:

“… it’s important to distinguish between orientation and conduct. We have lots of rules in the military, in the Navy and Marine Corps, about conduct and heterosexual conduct, that we enforce very stringently and very specifically. And I think that we’ve got to be careful to separate orientation, which is what we’re talking about, and conduct.”

In short, the ban on gays in the military costs huge amounts of money and hurts the readiness of our armed forces. And lifting the ban on gays in the military wouldn’t require any special accommodation for homosexual service members. They’d simply have to follow the same rules that heterosexual servicemembers do. That’s the truth, sans emotions, agendas and politics.

Comments

[rado watches]

If you have PANERAI Watches , I still have my idea to achieve.

[bvlgari watches]

I am so with you FRANCK MULLER Watch

[r4i gold]

Hi,
I had heard that the Don't Ask Don't Tell Story Project will introduce Americans to some of the brave men and women who have been harmed by this unjust policy.

[sesli sohbet]

Thnk You Editors..

[rack]

the ban on gays in the military costs huge amounts of money

[rolex watches]

He went on to say that, in his opinion, the policy should stay in place. This ischeap bridesmaid dresses a line of reasoning consistently touted by the GOP, that allowing qualified homosexual servicemembers to do their jobs would somehow hurt our military’s effectiveness.

The question Conway poses is the right one, but the conclusion doesn’t follow. Everyone from the independent Government Accountability Office to the Palm Center at the University of California-Santa Barbara Gucci Luggage Casehas found that the ban on gays in the military hurts America’s war-fighting capabilities. The numbers are staggering. As this Center for American Progress article points out, since 1994 more 13,000 military personnel across the services have been discharged, “including approximately 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.” These are all specialties in which the military faces shortages.
And it’s not just the number of people pulled from a manpower-starved military. The dollarLouis Vuitton Pochette Kaluga costs are huge. CAP again:

“In 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that the cost of discharging and replacing service members fired because of their sexual orientation during the policy’s first 10 years totaled at least $190.5 million. This amounts to roughly $20,000 per discharged service member.

Analysis of GAO’s methodology, however, shows that the $190 million figure may be wildly off the mark. A recent study by the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found that GAO’s analysis totalswiss replica rolex watches left out several important factors, such as the high cost of training officers—commissioned soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen with several years of service experience—who were discharged due to their sexual orientation. When these costs were factored in, thephylogeny of montblanc cost to the American taxpayer jumped to $363.8 million—$173.3 million, or 91 percent, more than originally reported by GAO.”

In other words, once you strip away the emotions, politics and agendas—as Gen. Conway rightly suggests—it’s easy to see that the ban on gays in the military hurts the war-fighting capabilities of our armed servicestiffany glory centuries. So it follows that lifting the ban would those enhance those capabilities.

[kokoty]

Are you concern about what luxury lifestyle. Along with the improvement of life quality, someone not satisfy the current life conditions lived , and live a luxury life, buy all kinds of luxury products. I attach more importance healthy diet, also liked the artistic things, often go to see differs art gallery, gether more art news to enrich my life .

[sesli sohbet]

The question Conway poses is the right one, but the conclusion doesn’t follow. Everyone from the independent Government Accountability Office to the Palm Center at the University of California-Santa Barbara Gucci Luggage Casehas found that the ban on gays in the military hurts America’s war-fighting capabilities. The numbers are staggering. As this Center for American Progress article points out, since 1994 more 13,000 military personnel across the services have been discharged, “including approximately 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.” These are all specialties in which the military faces shortages. sesli chat sesli sohbet

[shelving]

We all know these years china pallet racking in china develop very fast, now the design capacity of racking is very strong in china.
You can see every kind of china racking in china, includingDrive in racking,
cantilever racking, shelving,Longspan shelving, dexion racking,. We also have very experienced engineer to do the design and instlaation job.

as a whole contractor for refrigeration equipment, design, manufacturing, installation of cold store.

[ray ban 2010 sunglasses]

Yellow lens of Ray ban wayfarer can 100% filter UV, allowing infrared and 83% visible light through the lens.

Its greatest feature is that you can filter the sun's most dazzling blue.

Sunlight through the atmosphere, the most performance is the blue light, which is why you see the sky is blue. Yellow lens filters blue light, the natural scenery can be seen more clearly. So driving with a yellow lens Ray ban 2010 sunglasses, you can more clearly see from the vehicle.

Ray ban sunglasses sale

ray ban 2010 sunglasses sale

ray ban sunglasses sale

ray ban wayfarer message from http://www.eyewear-rayban.com

[stianless steel rings]

We don't take the luxury route, just playing crazy exaggeration and assertive personality. In addition we break the traditional and innovative stainless steel bracelet, stainless steel rings and so on. Our stainless steel jewelry has great stage effects. The color, texture and design are very fashion. The breakthrough in molding achieves the strong sense of art stainless steel jewelry. It experiences a foreign land and customs, tracking the trend of the international fashion accessories. Our company welcomes the large stainless steel jewelry wholesalers to e-mail consultation.
E-mail: sus360@hotmail.com
website: http://www.sus360.com

[ghd]

GHD IV mini styler has a safety feature that gives you peace of mind, by turning itself off if it is left unattended for 30 minutes. The unique digital technology of GHD hair straightener means that the temperature is automatically controlled even quicker for even better styling.

Creating tight curls, flicks and waves as well as the perfect straight. The ideal styling tool for urban angels with short hair, men's hair and fringes.

price includes: ghd IV salon styler,ghd purple roll bag.

product features:
Auto sleep mode(A built in safety feature that gives you peace of mind by turning off if the ghd IV styler is left unallended for 30 minutes.)
Universal voltage(So that you can use your styler in any country without an adaptor.)
Advanced ceramic heaters(The ultimate heating technology for the ultimate shine and style creation.)
All our products are cheap,if you want to find cheap ghd,come here and that is right.

If you want to find GHD hair products,you can write GHD straightener,GHD hair straighteners,GHD straightners,GHD hair,straighteners GHD in google browse.

[payday one]

If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employee will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.

[nike shox TL]

personally,I can not accept gay....

[film izle]

thnks you very much love real admin and boss..

[sesli sohbet]

Very informative and trustworthy blog. Please keep updating with great posts like this one. I have booked marked your site and am about to email it to a few friends of mine that I know would enjoy reading

[youtube]

thnks you very much love real admin and boss..youtube

[video izle]

yes of caours thanks you very good.

[porno izle]

Thanks,If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employee will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.

[SesLiSoHbET]

If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employee will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.

[TıkLa-SohbeT]

seslisohbet siteleri arasında ekol bir adres sestonum hemen sohbette başlamak icin sestonum 'tıklayınız..! seslisohbet ve seslichat adreslerinin gözdesi hemen tıklayarak seslisohbet yapmaya başlaya bilirsiniz..!

sestonum
seslichat
seslisohbet

[seslisohbetci]

türkiyenin en elit seslisohbet portalına opensesli sohbet
eglence müzik ask open sesli sohbet

[k247br]

Known as replica chanel replica chanel
Los Angeles' "Ambassador of replica gucci replica gucci
Boogie Funk," Dãm-Funk represents the citizens of the Funkmosphere. Headquartered in replica hermes replica hermes
the Leimert Park section of L.A., Dãm (pronounced: dame) has been dedicated over the last few years to cultivating a musical renaissance replica louis vuitton replica louis vuitton
rooted in the early-'80s styles known discount handbags discount handbags
as Boogie, Modern designer handbags designer handbags
Soul and Electro-Funk.

[porno izle]

have a system of dual local administration. This is to say, on the one hand we have the Vilayet [Province, Provincial] system, where the governors and all Directorates [be it Security, Education, Housing, Religious Affairs, Rural and Agricultural Affairs] are all appointed and accountable to no one but their superiors. All staff are civil servants with high degree of immunity an

[wholesaler]

I would love to bookmark your blog as there are very interesting and encouraging articles!

[nike air max shoes]

, on the one hand we have the Vilayet [Province, Provincial] system, where the governors and all Directorates

[louis vuitton belts]

are staggering. As this Center for American Progress article points out, since 1994 more nike air maxs
nike air max zapatos
nike air max Schuhe
nike zapatos
nike Schuhe 13,000 military personnel across the services have been discharged, “including approximately 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,’ such as pilots, combat engineers

[explosion proof light]

The national, the world.

[Best Hemorrhoids Cure]

There is no way you can take emotions out of politics.

[muhabbet]

thank you admin

[Liushuanglin198606]

ugg boots clearance On my Egypt Air flight yesterday to Cairo, I witnessed one of the more intriguing in-flight exchanges that I can remember. A bearded, well-dressed man sitting a few seats behind me began shouting at the flight attendant.ugg boots clearance He was complaining that the in-flight movie was inappropriate. What are these “offensive images?” he asked. These included a 15-minute stretch of the movie where at least one woman at any given time was wearing a bikini. In a couple of scenes at a club, members of opposite sexes were dancing in close proximity while, it appeared, consuming alcoholic beverages. “Are we really all Westernized now?” the man behind me asked,ugg boots clearance as if posing a question to those of us in the back of the plane.

The man’s arguments were rather interesting. He pointed out that if you took a poll of the passengers,ugg boots outlet most would agree the film was morally offensive. He asked the attendant, “if we ask the passengers what they think and they agree with me, then what will you do?” The attendant responded, “we don’t take public opinion (ra’i al ‘am) on the airplane.” The man was right: most passengers, and most Egyptians – the vast majority of whom don’t drink, go to clubs, or wear bikinis – would object to the film’s content. But at what point do they have the right to restrict minority expressions of unfaithfulness?ugg boots clearance

It was an odd, amusing exchange that justified the otherwise unpleasant experience of flying on EgyptAir.ugg boots clearance But it was a reminder of the fundamental lack of consensus in the Arab world over the boundaries and limits of the state. There are two groups – Islamists and secular elites – with worldviews which couldn’t be more different. They live parallel lives in parallel worlds, with parallel institutions. They rarely intersect.ugg boots clearance One group believes it has both history and the Egyptian people on its side. The other side, considerably smaller in number, likely has neither. It does, however, have the power.

This stalemate has paralyzed the Arab world for decades now.ugg boots outlet

Sunday’s elections will be just another version of this.ugg boots clearance The main players are the Muslim Brotherhood – populist, religious, and righteous – and the regime coalition which, with its president soon to pass, finds itself in an uncertain place. Both sides are strong in different ways – and weak in others. Neither seems to have anything resembling a coherent strategy for dealing with the impending transition that is soon to come.

ugg boots clearance

[Rosetta Stone]

Language doesn't have to be a barrier. Rosetta Stone can help you! Learn foreign language like you learned your original language, by speaking with and listening to natives and other learners, instead of memorizing flashcards. Intuitive voice-recognition technology allows you to communicate with learners around the world and take live lessons with native speakers, giving you valuable real-time feedback as you practice.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Rosetta Stone French
Rosetta Stone Chinese
Rosetta Stone English
Rosetta Stone Japanese
Rosetta Stone German
Rosetta Stone Italian

[mp3 dinle]

The national, the world.

[Sohbet Arkadaslik]

stripping nice away post..

[film izle]

hello.I really liked the theme of a site design, or something very pleasant good day was wonderful

[radyosec]

Hi,
First of all I can say LOVE that site. Your site's content is informative and I like the image can be sure that you're gone. I think many people have access to this site easily.

[mert]

hosting

[branda]

branda ve tente çeşitleri

[branda]

branda ve branda çeşitleri

[porno]

porno ve sex filmlerini en iyi sikiş izle

[porno]

sende gel burda porno izle sex yap

[porno]

sende gel abi pornoizle31.net de porno izle sex yap birde sikiş

[porno]

xpornofilm.net en güzel porno ve sex sikiş fimlerini izleyeceginiz site

[sikiş]

sikis ve sokus hepsi porno ve sex

[izmir çetesi izle]

thanks. ;)

[cook]

thanks :)

[film izle]

hepsi güzel teşekkürler

[hcg diet]

Very good article. I like the economy, I prefer a healthy life

[film izle]

and your last the ableds ferter noteing theakreed thank you admin

[knockoff handbags]

m41414 Keepall 55, m41416 Keepall 50, m41522 Speedy 40, m41528 Speedy 25, 219704, m40249 artsy mm, m40259 artsy gm, M45257 Messenger Bag, M40156 Neverfull MM, m40144 Tivoli GM

[wholesale knockoff handbags]

I think Munch, "who had been leaning against the side of the booth and brooding at the Continental, now stood upright and said" is good...Much.

[beats by dre]

If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employee will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.

[video izle]

Nice review! Thanks for offering innovative topic here. I enjoyed reading article a lot. Thank you very much.

[knockoff handbags]

Thank you for your sharing.It's very helpful for me,It's so Great.

[seks shop]

Hello.First of all I can say LOVE that site. Your site's content is informative and I like the image can be sure that you're gone. I think many people have access to this site easily.