Brody's Notes... Troops’ Opinions Matter Re:‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Review

XVIII Airborne Corps Uniform Insignia U. S. Army
By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) June 3 | During a 'Town Hall' meeting yesterday with the  U. S. Army's 18th Corps, [Airbourne] based at Fort Bragg North Carolina and which is designed for rapid deployment anywhere in the world, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen told the gathered troops:

“Your view and opinion of [Gays & Lesbians serving openly] is absolutely critical to address those issues."

Allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, Mullen said, is a direction the military needs to move forward on.

“The law needs to change,” he said. “Fundamentally, it’s an issue of our values. It’s very critical for us as an institution, and I’m hard-pressed not to support policy and a law that forces individuals to come in and lie everyday.”

Mullen’s remarks on the topic were sparked by a senior non-commissioned officer’s question. The soldier expressed his concern for the possibility of hate crimes and increased cases of sexual harassment if the law changes. Mullen told the soldier that disciplinary issues regarding sexual harassment have nothing to do with the change in the law and should not be tolerated, period.

“Certainly any change in the laws is not an excuse for anything like that to ever happen,” the admiral said. “We are a disciplined force. We have standards. Maintaining those standards, sustaining that discipline is our job, no matter what happens. I have every expectation that not only we will do this, but we will lead in a way [so] it gets done,” Mullen continued. “[But] that doesn’t mean we won’t have challenges.”

Ultimately, he said, troops and leaders need to have a greater understanding of the impact openly gay and lesbian servicemembers will have on the military.

“I want to understand what the possibilities are … what it’s going take to implement this and, in that regard, address the leadership challenges and implementation with expectations that at the small-unit level, not exclusively, it will be led and led well,” Mullen said. 

“I have a lot of faith in you that that’s doable.”