Marine Macho Makes Corps Resist Uncloseted Gays: Commandant

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NPR

Interesting discussion at the Pentagon Tuesday on "don't ask, don't tell" between Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway and reporters on the Pentagon beat.

Conway said the vast majority of Marines don't want to room with openly serving gays. (It's a position supported by a Military Times poll from earlier this year.)

He also said he doesn't know how the Marines will manage their housing situation if the law changes to allow gays to openly serve with no strings attached following completion of a survey of military members now being conducted.

But the corps will figure it out if the law changes, he promised.


Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/08/24/129408169/marine-macho-makes-corps-resist-uncloseted-gays-commandant

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And a dumbass survey in 1948 showed majority didn't want to serve & share barracks with African-Americans or Jews! Time to get over it Marines.

I'm in the midst of reading Thomas Ricks "Making the Corps" written 10 years ago which concerns marine boot camp at Parris Island. Book mentions the Marines will be the most resistant branch to Gays openly serving.

[Skittles]

1. LOL

da big bad Marines cannot handle teh gays? Just how tough are Marines, really?

[EFerrari]

14. I wish I could find that video of "Macho Man" with the real dancing parrots.

:)

[gratuitous]

20. They do sound kind of wimpy, don't they?

Hard to believe all those ads could be lying to me.

[roguevalley]

25. marine macho somehow comes off gay to me sometimes in its exaggerated macho. My

uncle was marine and macho as hell but he didn't strike me as sad as this guy becuase he didn't care one way or the other. He only cared if you could fight. But then, he was first marine at guadalcanal and was left there alone when the fleet had to pull back. He was a marine to the bone and he would not agree here.

RIP, my angel, John Paxton

[sarge43]

2. The gentleman protests too much, me thinks. n/t

[Solly Mack]

3. Snort

"Macho"

What a load.

[Soylent Brice]

4. are they really that naive to think that there aren't any in the Marines already??

ridiculous.

[tanyev]

5. Yes, they're much more comfortable with macho guys like Jeff Gannon in the corps.

"AGGRESIVE, VERBAL, DOMINANT TOP"
I DON'T LEAVE MARKS....ONLY IMPRESSIONS

[bemildred]

6. The Marine Corps is obsolete anyway. Time to close it down. nt

[mopinko]

8. a single brach service would save us a lot of money.

a WHOLE lot of useless duplication and competition right now.

[Recursion]

9. The Army has shown time and time again...

...that it doesn't want to "waste time" seizing naval bases.

[bemildred]

10. That seems like a very sound attitude to me.

Although I have been under the impression that the Army, like the other military services, it supposed to do as it is told to do.

[Recursion]

11. If only it were that easy

Presidents since Washington have found it difficult to convince a general to do something he doesn't want to do.

And, yes, it's a good idea for the Army not to seize naval bases. That's the Marine Corps' official purpose, and what Marines train for.

[bemildred]

12. So our military is not under civilian control?

I think the whole notion of having naval bases and worrying about seizing them is technically obsolete, at least on the scale it is done now. There will always be pirates and such to worry about, but that is more of a police matter.

[Recursion]

13. Bureaucracies are bureaucracies, military or civilian

People ordered to implement a policy they don't agree with usually know very effective ways to drag their feet. DADT and its potential repeal are good examples.

[bemildred]

15. That's a "yes" then? nt

[Recursion]

18. No, it's more the unofficial bureaucratic veto that all large organizations have

You might as well say no part of the government is "under control".

[bemildred]

16. Look, I don't want to argue with you, I respect people that serve in the military.

But if the government says that gays and lesbian may serve like anyone else, then the marines can deal with it or they can leave the service, much as gays and lesbian service people have had to do before now.

[Recursion]

17. OK, I agree. Now, change the entrenched bureaucratic culture

That's not as easy as just snapping your fingers. You have to get buy-in from the people who will actually be implementing the change. I know that DU for some reason absolutely hates getting buy-in, but I don't see a way for this to work without it.

[bemildred]

19. Well, I don't doubt there will be some difficulty with it, so we can agree that much.

Racial integration of the military was quite contentious at the time too. But it was not done because it was easy to do.

[wmbrew0206]

22. Bullshit. I don't agree with Conway on this but the Marine Corps is most cost effective

service that the US has.

The Marine Corps offers several capabilities that no other service can offer. There is a reason that the Marine Corps was shifted out of Iraq to Afghanistan when Al Anbar calmed down rather than keeping them in Iraq.

[proteus_lives]

26. The USMC has heard that song before.

They always outlast the tune.

[ronnie624]

7. "... A certain type of young American,

pretty macho guy or gal, that is willing to go fight and perhaps die for their country."

In other words, more ignorant and readily susceptible to state propaganda.

Brainless machismo is what drives arrogance, aggression and war to begin with. If our species is to survive, this element of human behavioral characteristics, will have to be educated out of human society entirely.

[BillH76]

21. If gays want to serve in the tip of the spear of US imperialism...

...that's OK, I guess. Isn't it?

[ProudDad]

27. Not to me...

:hi:

I think it's way past time to dismantle the fuckin' empire...

[Turborama]

23. Video of what he said and Think Progress article on this

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x498466

[Lightning Count]

24. Easy solution. Let everyone room together and just grow up.

That includes men, women, gays, and lesbians. No reason that adults shouldn't be able to make this work.