Pentagon to Survey Straight Soldiers' Families on DADT Repeal

An interesting pattern begins to emerge on the "yearlong internal assessment" being conducted by the Department of Defense on implementing the repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." On Tuesday, some 350 soldiers were invited to the first of a series of forums for their feedback. Now comes word the Air Force will poll the husbands, wives and parents of servicembers to ask their opinions.

The military will ask mommy and daddy how they feel about their son serving and bunking with the homos. Srsly.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) obtained the above letter (PDF) from the United States Air Force Chief of Staff and writes:

The military is not a democracy, and we do not survey our troops to solicit their opinions on policy and operational decisions, most notably when we go into harm’s way. When other significant change has been brought about, military surveys were not conducted to discern the views of the troops. Most recently when women were integrated onto submarines, the Navy did not conduct surveys. When women were integrated into the military academies in 1976, male service members were not surveyed. And when African Americans were fully integrated into the armed services, white service members and their families were not surveyed to determine their views.

There is already significant data regarding open service of gays and lesbians in the military and its effect upon performance, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention, and mission effectiveness. From numerous analytical studies commissioned by our military including that of Colonel Om Prakash, USAF, as well as academia, we have learned that open service has no detrimental effect upon the factors the Pentagon’s survey seeks to assess.

John Aravosis at AMERICABlog finds the polling "supremely condescending" and notes: "It's not just offensive to us that the Obama Administration is permitting the Pentagon to survey service members about the President's order—that alone is a hell of a cop out, polling the troops about whether they want to follow an order, in puppy land that would signal that the President is not the pack leader—but to ask their families how they feel about the President's order? Why don't we ask the pizza guy too."

Lawrence Korb, who was Undersecretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration and opposes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", recently met with officials working on the study and tells DC Agenda the Pentagon is "not interested" in repealing the ban. Korb contrasted the Obama Administration's approach on repealing DADT with the Reagan Administration's issue of women in the military when  the Army wanted an extensive study on the matter. "I said, ‘That’s great, you got one month and you better come back in and say you need more women,'" Korb said.

Polling troops and their families on following orders would be unprecedented. But while they're at, why not poll the troops about serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Comments

[Javier]

Unless Obama changes his actions regarding DADT and other progressive issues, I will actively support a primary challenger or third party candidate in 2012. He should have told the generals that there will be no prolonged story, the policy will be changed this year, before the election. He has abdicated his duty to lead and act with moral clarity. He is a coward and abets bigotry. Shame on you President Obama and Democrats!

[Kelvin]

Somehow Harry S Truman found within himself the fortitude to desegregate the US military without first asking the permission of every service member's family.I guess we don't live in that country anymore.

[Grady]

And when do the partners of gay soldiers get their surveys? And their kids?

[Da' RealstOne]

That's funny. Instead of taking "LEADERSHIP" and doing what's right by all people, we have to do a "survey" first to see if people would like it beforehand... LOL!!!!!

SMH... I have no words for this.

[Jim]

Next up:

Should black Americans be allowed to vote?

White Americans: YOU decide!!!

[Kevin Perez]

Pure bigotry at its finest.

[Diva1961]

The Voting Rights Act of 1964 comes up for a vote every certain number of years. I guess we need to put a big ad asking if white America feels blacks should still get the right to vote.

It's weird because a leader leads by example. Obama is saying through this that he is coping out and that he is all talk.