Palm Center Releases Detailed Report On Great Costs Of DADT To America

[Bluebear]

While the President and Pentagon move into the most ridiculous phase of this travesty, (their "survey" of the troops, now asking the soldier's FAMILIES if serving with gays would impact the family's "readiness"), Dr. Frank enumerates what DADT is costing the nation:


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via David Mixner: Dr. Nathaniel Frank has written a stunning report for the Palm Center on the price the United States has paid for the "DADT" policy. In a report called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Detailing the Damage," Dr. Frank outlines how this nation has paid dearly for this horrible policy. Writing about every aspect from losing critical personnel to economic costs, he leaves nothing to the imagination on how bad this policy has been for our country.

He elaborates on twelve basic points and I urge you to read the entire study.

1. Waste the talents of thousands of essential personnel with “critical skills” who were fired for their sexual orientation, including Arabic language specialists, medical professionals, combat aviators, counter-intelligence agents, military police and more

2. Strike at the heart of unit cohesion by breaking apart cohesive fighting teams, and undermining trust, integrity, and honesty among soldiers

3. Hamper recruitment and retention by shrinking the pool of potential enlistees and discouraging many of America’s best and brightest young people from joining, or remaining in, the military

4. Lower the quality of military personnel by discharging capable gay troops leaving slots to be filled through “moral waivers” that admit felons, substance abusers, and other high-risk recruits

5. Infect the morale of the estimated 66,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual troops and their military peers who must serve in a climate of needless alienation, dishonesty, and fear

6. Impair the family readiness of gay, lesbian, and bisexual troops who are preparing for deployment since they cannot name their partners on paperwork

7. Hamstring tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from doing their jobs by limiting their access to support services that are essential to morale and readiness

8. Invade the privacy of all service members—gay and straight alike—by casting a cloud of suspicion and uncertainty over the intimate lives of everyone in the armed forces

9. Increase reports of harassment that are more difficult to investigate and harder to prevent because of the policy’s strictures on gathering honest information and because of service members’ inability to safely report abuse

10. Embarrass the military through consistently bad press reports on an institution increasingly seen as intolerant, widening the “civil-military gap” and further hampering recruitment efforts by alienating Americans who view the military as out of touch

11. Cost the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars paid toward lost troop replacements, administrative enforcement, and defending the policy in court

12. Use up valuable time by officers who must investigate and discharge gay troops

http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/08/palm-center-releases-detailed-report-on-great-costs-of-dadt-to-america.html

[FreeState]

1. Big K&R

Here's to all the GLBT service members - you are all heroes

[unblock]

2. this fails to take into account how important sexual orientation is to military missions.

consider the following scenario:


sgt: "gentlemen, i need a volunteer to disarm this bomb. it could explode and kill us all at any moment!"

gay soldier: "sgt, i am fully trained in all manner of munitions disarming and disposal and have successfully completed many such missions. i am willing to risk my life for my fellow soldiers!"

sgt: "sorry, kid, what if there's a penis inside?"

gay soldier: "er, excuse me?"

sgt: "you heard me, soldier! what if you open this bomb up and take a look and there behind a few of the wires is a huge, turgid penis, plain as day?"

gay soldier: "what, in that little box?"

sgt: "you're over-analyzing! what if there's a penis in there and you see it and get a big gay boner, and your big gay boner then bumps something it shouldn't, and then ka-BOOM! we're all dead because you're gay! i can't risk it. back in line, i need a straight soldier!"

gay soldier: "that makes no sense. i mean, by that logic, what if a straight soldier does it and there's a vagina in there. or some boobs. or a sports car or some money since pretty much anything can turn on a straight man?"

sgt: "what!?? a car inside this here bomb? you people are just crazy. back in line!"

straight soldier: "s-s-s-sgt, i v-v-volunteer!"

sgt: "now that's more like it! son, i know you've never tried this before, but i'm sure you'll do just fine. like i've always said, don't let anyone ever tell you you can't do anything just because you're colorblind, got no training, and got the shakes real bad. you go disarm that bomb, you prove them wrong!"

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[Bluebear]

4. kick