Brody's Notes... Defence Department Announces ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Surveys E-Mailed To Troops

General Carter F. Ham  Photo By HDQTRS U. S. Army Europe

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) July 8 | Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden reporting for the Defence Department's Armed Forces Press Services announced yesterday, in a statement released by the Pentagon, that a survey regarding ending the current DADT policy had been e-mailed to 200,00 active and 200,000 reserve troops and their families.

Carden said that General Carter F. Ham, commanding general of the U.S. Army Europe  and Co-Chairman of the DOD Review Group ordered by Defence Secretary Robert Gates to oversee DADT,  told AFP: 

"The voice of the service-members is still vitally important,” the general said, noting that although amendments to the current law were approved by legislators in May, lawmakers still require the Pentagon review. “This is draft regulation, it is not yet enacted into law, and there are several hurdles yet to come,” Ham said.

The General also noted that he, Co-Chairman Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon's top lawyer, along with other members of the working group would continue to meet with servicemembers and families.

"He and Johnson have met with troops at “a large variety of bases, posts, camps and stations around the country,” the general said, adding that they’re planning to meet with troops stationed overseas as well.Such sessions have proven invaluable to the working group, Ham added.
“What these sessions do afford is an opportunity for Mr. Johnson and myself to speak directly to service-members, to hear in their own words what their assessment of the impact of repeal of the current law would be should Congress decide to take that action,” he said. “Those sessions provide us context. They provide us substance to what we know we will get statistically from the survey and put it in real terms of how real service-members feel about this.”

Reaction from LGBT activists and others in regard to the Pentagon's announcement has been largely negative. One commentator noting that:

"Since when is repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell about the comfort and convenience of heterosexual soldiers?? I am getting so sick of homophobic people claiming that the majority of the world has to approve of your existence before you qualify as a human being." 

Another said:

"How real service-members feel about this? Really? Last time I checked, "service-members" didn't get to vote on military policy; the Commander in Chief and his designees were in charge of such things. See, these bigots can't go to the President because he's voiced support for repeal. They can't go to Congress, because they overwhelmingly support repeal. They can't go to the ballot box, because the American people support repeal. It's like a spoiled rotten little brat bouncing between unsuspecting parents in order to get the answer he wants. Obama, take control of your political larvae and do what's right for once. Jesus."