Time to End Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The majority of the people that still care about maintaining the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy are conservatives that have never served in the military. Currently, “three-quarters of Americans support allowing gays to serve in the military, whether they "tell" or not” (ABCNews). Those that have actually served in the military, especially in a combat zone, know that a person’s sexuality is one of the furthest things from their mind. So, why are we still keeping a policy that only a minority of the population supports?

We have now seen that a Soldier’s sexual orientation does not determine the kind of Soldier that he will be. We have seen exemplary service from them. One example is SGT Darren Manzella, who served a in a deployment in 2005, then served his 15-month deployment with his unit knowing he was gay. It only became a problem when he agreed to be interviewed by the Service Members Legal Defense Network for a story on those affected by the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Over the next seven months, Manzella returned from deployment, spent time with family, testified on Capital Hill regarding Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He was even given orders to go to his next duty station, Fort Drum. Only a week after receiving his orders, he was called into his Commanders office and told he was being discharged from the Army under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

SGT Manzella was a Combat proven Soldier. With his discharge, the Army lost all of the money that they spent training him, and even more valuable, they lost his experience. I just don’t see how we can continue to uphold Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell when we have seen that the Soldier and their Unit have no problem with serving side by side. As one former Soldier told me “it is much preferred by anyone, who has actually served, to serve with a competent, reliable person who you know is going to look out for you, regardless of sexual orientation”.

As a former Soldier myself, who has served with gays and lesbians, I have found it no different than serving with anyone else. I even served with two women in my Unit who had been in a relationship and lived together for years. The kept their military life professional. I found going to the field with them, living in barracks, or even, oh, dare I say it, showering in the same common showers, as no different as any other Soldier I served beside.

Another example is Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, who has honorable served 18 years as an Officer in the Air Force. “Fehrenbach’s experience as an instructor-level weapons systems officer included time in both the F-15E Strike Eagle and the EF-111 Raven. Missions took him over Baghdad during the 2003 invasion, above Afghanistan in 2002 and into the Balkans for Operation Allied Force in 1999. He has 2,180 flying hours, nine Air Medals — one for heroism — and five Air Force Commendation Medals” (Air Force Times), yet he is now being discharged after a civilian acquaintance identified him as gay to military officials. The amount of money spent training Lt. Col Fehrenbach, along with his invaluable experience and heroics, is a great loss to the Air Force.

In a time when we are still fighting two wars, and our military being stretched so thin, I find it appalling that the military is willing to give up such valuable Soldiers and experience for the discriminating views of such a small minority. It is time to finally put an end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.