General Douglas MacArthur, in his wildest imagination, could not have foreseen that the issue over the service of open homosexuals in the Armed Forces would threaten the very fabric of our Armed Forces much less become a "great national problem." After his firing by President Truman for making public statements contrary to official US policy in the conduct of the War in Korea, MacArthur retired to private life. His thoughts about this conflict be reviewed in his autobiography "Reminiscences." What MacArthur had considered to be "professional participation or military solution" during the Korean War, Truman saw as a threat to his Presidential authority. MacArthur had twelve years prior to his speech at West Point to reflect on his dismissal by Truman for their disagreement on Korean War prosecution. He offered sound, consistent advice to the West Point Cadets that day all those years later.
Now with the issue of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" we have an issue of "professional participation or military solution." It should be one between the Military Leadership and Congress. It is of such lesser status that one might marvel its elevation to National Prominence. That a Federal Judge has poked her nose under the tent flap is a bad omen for the Constitutional Republic. It is issue for the Military and the Congress, not the courts. The desires of the Military Leaders should be considered as most relevant. It should be weighted toward military judgment and not by social-political factors. The Armed Forces must not become a political Three-Ring Circus.
This is it not a legitimate civil rights conflict ... it is l'air du temps.
So do tell, Mr. President, Congress, and Courts. Why is "Don't Ask Don't Tell" so important in this time of war, in this election season, today, right now? Why don't you listen to the Secretary of Defense and continue DADT? Why don't you allow full candor on this issue? Why must the military leadership bow out of issues of political correctness and stay silent? Is this really a an issue to be decided today during wartime? Why does it hold such sway? Why not support your Military Chiefs and advisors. Why must you expect that they always nod in agreement? This is an unnecessary and politically divisive rift. It will tear at the very fabric of unit cohesion at a desperate time in our history. After all, it is the soldier, not you, who tastes the sting of battle. It is they who live together in close quarters. It is the small unit leader, not you, who must attend to the very most basic levels of leadership and morale ... the level at which great battles are won. It is the soldier leaders, not you, who send casualty notifications, write and sign commanders letters of condolence, and who bury their own.
Professional soldiers past and present need to stand up and sound off about "Don't Ask Don't Tell" now or forever hold their peace. This is indeed an issue of "professional participation or military solution." Do not our Armed Forces have a reasonable expectation of stability from their Chain of Command especially in War? Why in the world is the Pentagon rolling over for a Federal Judicial fiat in an area where the Congress has sole dominion? Why is there not a peep from Congress? What are we doing to our Military? What are Judges doing to our Traditions of Military Service? Where is the precedence for this ruling? Why are the people who would be affected most by this ruling, the Armed Forces, told to shut up, sit down, and follow orders. Keep it up Mr. President, Congress and Judges. This mole hill is fast becoming a mountain.
[BTW: Why do Federal Judges hear cases like this, while a Federal Military Judge allows Surgeon and Soldier, LTC Terry Lakin's Court Martial challenge to languish? Why won't a Military Judge allow requests for what should be Public Information regarding our President's background, information regarding basic questions of eligibility essential to LTC Lakin's Case. Every soldier in the military is required to present such information [and more] upon enlistment or enrollment in ROTC or a Service Academy. Such a request is certainly reasonable. These are surely two entirely different cases, but one wonders: why deny information on the one while bending over backwards on the other? Americans are growing tired seeing twisted judgments and government gone haywire.]
If this ruling against DADT stands, it may well bode the end of the All Volunteer Force. Most of the responses to the article I read in
Military.com foreshadow what may well come. Try to achieve recruiting milestones under this ruling. Then watch for a mass exodus over the next few years and the concomitant effects on Military Personnel Readiness. The Federal Government bureaucrats and social engineers can say all they want to say. The Elites are ruling instead of governing, they speak but do not listen. The simple fact is that regardless of all of the fine rhetorical arguments, homosexuality is incompatible with military service. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen will vote with their feet. That is the only "ruling" that will count in the future. This DADT mess is a political wedge issue. It is in not morally equivalent to the racial and gender integration of the Armed Forces in years past. Homosexuality, last I checked, is still a defined by behavior not by civil classification. There may be discussion and emotional argument, but there is still no such classification.
But, there is still this larger question about Judges and Congress. Why should "We the People" abide with, tolerate or allow Judicial shenanigans? It doesn't get much more blatant than this. Can a judge establish rules for the Armed Forces? Whose job is that? What does the Constitution say?
US Constitution, Section. 8 [excerpted]
The Congress shall have Power To ... provide for the common Defence ...
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court ...
To declare War ...
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years ...
To provide and maintain a Navy ...
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces ...
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions ...
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress ...
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers ...
Inferior judges do not have this power according to Article I, Section 8. This power belongs to Congress. If this ruling stands, the all volunteer force is history. More importantly, such a capriciously subjective decision by this Federal Judge arguably tinkers with National Defense Strategy and affects US National Interests. This social engineering and rule-making by a judge, unconstitutional and without any solid precedent.
Don't expect any vision or clear leadership from the Executive Branch. They politicize and market every issue they take up. Executive Branch policy decisions like the 9-11 Mosque, Black Panther voter intimidation, prosecution of Arizona, in essence characterizes non-minority Americans as bigots fearfully clinging to their Bible and guns. This is very nearly incitement of the Nation's Citizenry by its own Executive Branch, done by the President for cheap political gains in certain constituencies.
As for Mr. Obama, he could put this issue to rest if he so desired. But he has not. This would require that he spare the time to be Chief Executive and Commander in Chief. Instead, he is acting like some petty Democrat Ward Boss careening about the country on Air Force One in full campaign mode. This is Un-Presidential. It is Unseemly. It is Undignified. It is only fiddling with some public backdrop for some kind of backlash to Congressional elections while the Republic burns. That is not the way of a Constitutional Republic. This is the way of the mob. The saddest part of this whole sordid mess is that our soldiers are in harm's way overseas while our President eats barbecue and rubber chicken dinners with political donors. The soldiers pay the price. They do not need a political repeal of DADT on top of everything else on their plate. The voters meanwhile are unhappy. We are marching towards some kind of massive voter uprising Election Day. And sadly, there could well be some kind of backlash from the losers. I read more each day, in various open sources, reasonable speculations that there will be massive voter fraud. You can already see the pollsters fiddling with polls to re-order "public opinion." Rumors persist that the supporters of certain special interests, big government and statism are already voting early and often.
The Republic is gasping for air. In the meantime, let's at least clear the air passage and get our military priorities straight. Open homosexuality in the Military is not one of them.
May God Bless and Protect the United States of America.
William R. Mann——
Bio and Archives
William R. Mann, is a retired Lt. Colonel, US Army. He is a now a political observer, analyst, activist and writer for Conservative causes. He was educated at West Point [Bachelor of Science, 1971 ]and the Naval Postgraduate School [Masters, National Security Affairs, 1982].
