nastyleg
09-20-2011, 07:04 PM
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Sep 20, 2011 7:13:37 EDT
Military culture will undergo a quiet transformation today, as some of the estimated 49,000 gay troops on active duty will be allowed to come forward publicly when the 18-year-old law barring gays from serving openly goes away.
The Defense Department is not planning any public events to observe the change, which Congress approved in December.
Readers weigh in
The 2011 edition of the annual Military Times Poll asked active-duty respondents how repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” might affect them:
57% said it will not affect them.
4% said they will be more likely to remain in the military.
12% said they will be less likely to remain in the military.
7% said they will be less likely to live in military housing.
19% said it will have a negative effect on their morale.
3% said it will have a positive effect on their morale.
14% said they will personally oppose the change despite their command’s adoption of the new policy.
22% said they will accept and support the change based on their command’s adoption of the policy.
Note: Troops could check as many responses as were applicable.
But for many gay troops, the milestone will permanently alter the way they interact with their co-workers.
Related reading
As DADT ends, Air Force 1st. lt. sheds pseudonym (Sept. 20)
At DADT’s end, Navy lt. weds partner in Vermont (Sept. 20)
Pentagon: Military ready for gay ban repeal (Sept. 19)
Tell us: Marking the end of DADT
“It will mean when people ask me what I did this weekend, I can actually tell them,” said Marine Capt. Sarah Pezzat, who works at the Pentagon and lives with a woman whom she plans to marry in the District of Columbia in October.
Others say repeal won’t change their lives at all. The 2011 edition of the annual Military Times Poll shows that more than 61 percent of the 1,019 active-duty respondents believe repeal will have little or no effect on their day-to-day operations and missions, while just 12 percent think repeal will have a major impact.
Similarly, 57 percent said repeal will have no effect on them as individuals.
The percentage of service members who support allowing gays to serve openly also reached its highest level in all services since the Military Times Poll began asking the question.
In the 2011 poll, 56 percent of sailors said they support repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” along with almost half of soldiers and airmen. Even among Marines, traditionally the most staunchly opposed to open service by gays, 37 percent said they support repeal — more than twice the percentage in the 2006 poll.
But that still leaves a sizable portion of the force opposed to open service by gays — and such opposition is not limited to the military.
Little more than a week ago, Reps. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., chairman of the committee’s personnel panel, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urging that repeal of DADT be delayed.
McKeon and Wilson said the Pentagon has failed to meet a variety of regulatory requirements written into the repeal law, including delivering to Congress copies of revised regulations and a summary of all policy changes, “especially with regard to benefits,” that will take place upon repeal, they wrote in the Sept. 12 letter.
The Defense Department “is not ready to implement repeal because all the policies and regulations necessary for the transition are not yet final,” the lawmakers wrote.
Panetta, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and President Obama fulfilled the major requirement of the law abolishing DADT that was passed by Congress in December when they formally certified that the military was ready to make the historic move.
Work left to be done
But not all policy changes related to repeal, including potential changes in benefits, have been finalized, Pentagon officials acknowledge.
Some benefits are specifically intended for a “spouse,” and the federal Defense of Marriage Act precludes the military, for now, from extending those benefits to same-sex partners. The best example is family housing.
But other benefits may be transferred to same-sex partners, specifically “member designated” benefits offered to anyone selected by the member. That would include life insurance payouts or hospital visitation rights. Initially, gay couples will not receive basic housing allowance at with-dependents rates, but such rules will be under continual review in the coming years as the force adjusts to the new law.
An exhaustive Pentagon report on the effects of lifting the ban recommended strictly prohibiting any special bathroom, berthing or billeting assignments based on sexual orientation, even on ships and in other forward-deployed settings.
Still, commanders retain the authority to alter berthing or billeting assignments on a case-by-case basis in the interest of maintaining morale, good order and discipline. As money allows, the services may improve privacy measures, such as installing curtains. But troops “must understand that the mission frequently demands operations in austere conditions where privacy is not a concern to operational planning,” the report says.
While some gays are braced for tensions and friction in the initial period after repeal, some say that may melt away as troops across the force are surprised to learn they’ve been working alongside gays for years.
“Some people who think they don’t know any gays or lesbians are going to realize they do,” said one gay Army captain and former enlisted soldier in Virginia. “They say, ‘Oh, well, I’m not comfortable showering around gays.’ But I’d say, ‘Well, you’ve already been showering with gays — and you’ve probably been doing it since high school.’”
The Army captain, who is a counterintelligence officer and company commander, asked that his name not be used since this story was published in print before Sept. 20.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/09/military-sees-the-end-of-dadt-092011w/
Posted : Tuesday Sep 20, 2011 7:13:37 EDT
Military culture will undergo a quiet transformation today, as some of the estimated 49,000 gay troops on active duty will be allowed to come forward publicly when the 18-year-old law barring gays from serving openly goes away.
The Defense Department is not planning any public events to observe the change, which Congress approved in December.
Readers weigh in
The 2011 edition of the annual Military Times Poll asked active-duty respondents how repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” might affect them:
57% said it will not affect them.
4% said they will be more likely to remain in the military.
12% said they will be less likely to remain in the military.
7% said they will be less likely to live in military housing.
19% said it will have a negative effect on their morale.
3% said it will have a positive effect on their morale.
14% said they will personally oppose the change despite their command’s adoption of the new policy.
22% said they will accept and support the change based on their command’s adoption of the policy.
Note: Troops could check as many responses as were applicable.
But for many gay troops, the milestone will permanently alter the way they interact with their co-workers.
Related reading
As DADT ends, Air Force 1st. lt. sheds pseudonym (Sept. 20)
At DADT’s end, Navy lt. weds partner in Vermont (Sept. 20)
Pentagon: Military ready for gay ban repeal (Sept. 19)
Tell us: Marking the end of DADT
“It will mean when people ask me what I did this weekend, I can actually tell them,” said Marine Capt. Sarah Pezzat, who works at the Pentagon and lives with a woman whom she plans to marry in the District of Columbia in October.
Others say repeal won’t change their lives at all. The 2011 edition of the annual Military Times Poll shows that more than 61 percent of the 1,019 active-duty respondents believe repeal will have little or no effect on their day-to-day operations and missions, while just 12 percent think repeal will have a major impact.
Similarly, 57 percent said repeal will have no effect on them as individuals.
The percentage of service members who support allowing gays to serve openly also reached its highest level in all services since the Military Times Poll began asking the question.
In the 2011 poll, 56 percent of sailors said they support repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” along with almost half of soldiers and airmen. Even among Marines, traditionally the most staunchly opposed to open service by gays, 37 percent said they support repeal — more than twice the percentage in the 2006 poll.
But that still leaves a sizable portion of the force opposed to open service by gays — and such opposition is not limited to the military.
Little more than a week ago, Reps. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., chairman of the committee’s personnel panel, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urging that repeal of DADT be delayed.
McKeon and Wilson said the Pentagon has failed to meet a variety of regulatory requirements written into the repeal law, including delivering to Congress copies of revised regulations and a summary of all policy changes, “especially with regard to benefits,” that will take place upon repeal, they wrote in the Sept. 12 letter.
The Defense Department “is not ready to implement repeal because all the policies and regulations necessary for the transition are not yet final,” the lawmakers wrote.
Panetta, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and President Obama fulfilled the major requirement of the law abolishing DADT that was passed by Congress in December when they formally certified that the military was ready to make the historic move.
Work left to be done
But not all policy changes related to repeal, including potential changes in benefits, have been finalized, Pentagon officials acknowledge.
Some benefits are specifically intended for a “spouse,” and the federal Defense of Marriage Act precludes the military, for now, from extending those benefits to same-sex partners. The best example is family housing.
But other benefits may be transferred to same-sex partners, specifically “member designated” benefits offered to anyone selected by the member. That would include life insurance payouts or hospital visitation rights. Initially, gay couples will not receive basic housing allowance at with-dependents rates, but such rules will be under continual review in the coming years as the force adjusts to the new law.
An exhaustive Pentagon report on the effects of lifting the ban recommended strictly prohibiting any special bathroom, berthing or billeting assignments based on sexual orientation, even on ships and in other forward-deployed settings.
Still, commanders retain the authority to alter berthing or billeting assignments on a case-by-case basis in the interest of maintaining morale, good order and discipline. As money allows, the services may improve privacy measures, such as installing curtains. But troops “must understand that the mission frequently demands operations in austere conditions where privacy is not a concern to operational planning,” the report says.
While some gays are braced for tensions and friction in the initial period after repeal, some say that may melt away as troops across the force are surprised to learn they’ve been working alongside gays for years.
“Some people who think they don’t know any gays or lesbians are going to realize they do,” said one gay Army captain and former enlisted soldier in Virginia. “They say, ‘Oh, well, I’m not comfortable showering around gays.’ But I’d say, ‘Well, you’ve already been showering with gays — and you’ve probably been doing it since high school.’”
The Army captain, who is a counterintelligence officer and company commander, asked that his name not be used since this story was published in print before Sept. 20.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/09/military-sees-the-end-of-dadt-092011w/