DADT: Gates Plans for Repeal, Wilson Plans to Reinstate
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said he hopes policy changes necessary for DADT repeal will be accomplished “within a matter of a very few weeks” so “the real challenge” can begin:
“My hope is that it can be done within a matter of a very few weeks so that we can then move on to what is the real challenge, which is providing training to 2.2 million people,” Gates said…
Commanders will provide all troops with some sort of education about the repeal, and Pentagon officials are determining the scope and format of that training, officials said.
Meanwhile, the new Republican Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee personnel committee has said he wants the Service Chiefs to return to Congress to testify. HASC Chairman Howard McKeon has also indicated battlefield commanders might be called to testify on “morale and readiness.”
Armed services committee aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said hearings will focus on implementation issues, from housing to benefits to changes in criminal laws — which would have the effect of slowing down the change.
DADT will not be reinstated. There are not enough votes in the Senate to pass a reinstatement, and there are not enough votes in EITHER house to overturn a veto on it. It is time for the few people who fought against the policy to get over it and move on. Gay people will be openly serving in the military of the United States, just as they do in the militaries of over thirty countries. American military personnel will be just as professional as those of Romania and Peru and Israel, and will continue to do fine service for their country even knowing that the guy next to them writes home to Stephen instead of Stephanie.
..fought against the policy CHANGE..
Considering that there were a couple democrats in the senate who voted against the repeal in the first place, there might be (barely) enough votes for a repeal – if a decent argument is made and the republicans can get themselves to work together- but not enough to overturn a veto – and it would be vetoed. Thus actual repeal of the repeal just isn’t going to happen.
I think the real challenge is merely how they’re going to pay for implementation. I can see a lack of funding plus DOMA being used as an excuse to not really, effectively implement real change.
No republican could ever run on a platform of defunding the military.
The tea party republicans seem for it. And the pentagon is already looking to cut it’s budget and military spending accounts for a lot of the federal budget, which needs balancing. Some republicans may not like it, but they can’t run on a platform going after medicare or medicaid (the other top things in the budget) either.