General James Amos was confirmed by the Senate as the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps. According to reports, he will be sworn in on 22 October 2010, at which point he will become the first fighter pilot to lead the Marine Corps.
Amos’ views on the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were constant news during the runup to his confirmation.
The Alliance Defense Fund previously wrote a letter to President Obama in which 41 retired Chaplains, speaking freely since they are outside military service, opposed the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell” on religious freedom grounds.
Last Friday they added to that number, with 25 new signatories. As noted at the ADF,
The letter states, “By raising homosexual behavior to the same protected class as innate, innocuous characteristics like race and gender, the armed forces will cast the sincerely held religious beliefs of many chaplains and Service members as rank bigotry comparable to racism.”
The release of the letter nearly coincided with Read more
Despite some prior insinuations to the contrary, it appears Marine General James Amos holds much the same view as General James Conway, outgoing Marine Commandant, when it comes to the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
In testimony at his confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Amos reportedly said DADT repeal is a “distraction” to the ongoing wars, and he personally opposes the repeal. In his written answers to advance questions, he reportedly said
In my personal view the current law and associated policy have supported the unique requirements of the Marine Corps and thus I do not recommend its repeal.
During his testimony he also gave a hint to Read more
LtGen William Boykin (USA, Ret) has reportedly said that no one can prove the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell” will improve military readiness; as a result, credence must be given to those who say it will detract from unit cohesion and morale.
“Cohesion, camaraderie, [and] brotherhood [are] just as important as the weapons that are used by those military units,” Boykin contends. “When you destroy the integrity of that cohesion, you are in fact degrading the readiness of the military — and there is no question that it will destroy the cohesion within the military.”
He also repeats the accurate but often dismissed point that the military routinely discriminates against people who might still be willing to serve their country: Read more
A firestorm erupted in the media last week when LtGen Thomas Bostick, a member of the “working group” on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal, was quoted in the Washington Times apparently equating religious opposition to homosexuality with bigotry and racism. From the Washington Times editorial “A New Gay Army:”
Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, the Army’s deputy chief of staff in charge of personnel matters who spoke about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before several hundred troops at the European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. “Unfortunately, we have a minority of service members who are still racists and bigoted and you will never be able to get rid of all of them,” Lt. Gen. Bostick said. “But these people opposing this new policy will need to get with the program, and if they can’t, they need to get out. No matter how much training and education of those in opposition, you’re always going to have those that oppose this on moral and religious grounds just like you still have racists today.”
The Times provided no source for their information. The US military subsequently released a statement in which Bostick denied making the quotes: Read more
In a move that is apparently independent of the DoD DADT “inbox,” the US Army launched its own “DADT Inbox” last week:
The intent of the inbox is to help the Army assess and consider the impacts, if any, a change in ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law would have on operations, readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention, and family readiness.
The site will be available through the end of the month.
A recently retired Army Reserve Chaplain minced few words in criticizing the proposed repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Chaplain (Col) Alexander Webster (USA, Ret) said, among other things:
President Barack Obama’s initiative to rescind the “don’t ask, don’t tell” statute of 1993 will, if Congress yields to him later this year, shred the social and moral fabric of our armed forces…Fortunately for the nation and its military defense, many chaplains and their civilian faith group leaders are beginning, at last, to push back on the issue.
Webster cites the ADF letter from the Chaplains and the resolutions from Chaplain endorsers opposing repeal.
In a recent Pentagon briefing, outgoing US Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway repeated his earlier statement that logistic issues like billeting would immediately be a problem should the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” be repealed.
Based on his information from Marines, he said, “I can tell you that an overwhelming majority would like not to be roomed with a person who is openly homosexual.” But because some Marines do not object, he said, perhaps having those Marines share rooms voluntarily with openly gay service members “might be the best way to start, without violating anybody’s sense of moral concern or perception on the part of their mates.”
Asked what he meant by moral concern, General Conway said, “We have some people that are very religious.” He added: “I couldn’t begin to give you a percentage, but I think in some instances we will have people that say that homosexuality is wrong, and they simply do not want to room with a person of that persuasion because it would go against their religious beliefs.”
To date, the General is the only person who has voiced concern or seemed to validate the “moral concerns” of some servicemembers. In fact, some have Read more