This is a very heated and emotional topic, I will however approach it with personal experience and sarcasm:):) The gay community, whatever that is-what about the hetero community, is up in arms about "don't ask don't tell"(DADT) and repealing the legislation. This of course, as you may remember, happened under Clinton. He had basically promised to end the ban on gays in the military but instead instituted DADT. Which infuriated the gay community. Rightfully so as they were made a promise and were a huge part in Clinton getting elected. They felt betrayed! I have to wonder about anyone who takes a politician at his/her word. My views, if you have followed me, will probably surprise and shock you. To sum up: I don't care if you are gay, straight, male, female, black, white, Latino.....If we have to dumb down any of the standards for you, you don't belong in the military!!
Now let me pontificate a little. and give you my experiences in the military dealing with race, gender and homosexuality. I spent eight wonderful years in the Marine Corps (pronounced CORE, for that genius Obama) from 79-87. During that time I encountered all races and gender. I also had a couple of friends who were gay, that I knew of. I was with the infantry for my first 4 years in 29 Palms, CA. I didn't work with anyone other than motivated male Marines. Were any of them gay? Not to my knowledge and to be honest it probably wouldn't have been a good atmosphere to come out of the closet. So in general my first 4 years I didn't have any significant interaction with gay or female Marines. I did however encounter all different races. In my experience it was fairly equal of bad and good work ethic and conduct. I noticed no differences in a Marine based on race. My best friend at the time was Hispanic and we did everything together we both went from Private to Corporal in record time, as the Marine Corps has a meritorious promotion program. You were promoted on merit not time in. A side note I made sergeant in 28 months, at 20 years old for a time the youngest sergeant in the Corps. I KICKED ASS! As time went on I had friends of all races. Despite my "white trash racist" upbringing I never noticed race. I wasn't being sarcastic about my back ground, more details later.
From 29 Palms I went to Okinawa, Japan to the 1st Marine Air Wing (The Wing). It was a culture shock as the The Wing wasn't very disciplined compared to the infantry, which made me a motivated warmonger. They were very relaxed in conduct and appearance, so it was an adjustment for them as well as me. I would introduce myself as " Sergeant Motherfucking Keltner", I was a tad aggressive and abrasive. It's funny when people say the same thing about me know and I just laugh, I am so civilized now:) I tried to fit in but The Wing never did fit me.
I worked in an office building where I interacted and eventually dated a Women Marine (WM). She was nice enough and all in all a good person. I was very surprised and disappointed when we would discuss our military experience and how it didn't even seem like she was in the Marine Corps, she just wore the uniform. She didn't have to run any more than one mile and a half and had NO combat training to speak of. It is DRILLED into your head all through boot camp that a Marine is a "rifleman" first foremost, then comes your MOS (Military Occupational Specialty). As they say "when the shit hits the fan" you better be able to pick up a rifle and march into combat. That isn't true with WMs, so my question is why should they be called Marines? Moving on, while I was stationed with The Wing that I encountered my first (as far as I know) gay Marine. I must admit I was shocked and surprised how accepting everyone was. He was a Sergeant in a support platoon, I didn't work with him but we lived in the same barracks. He was treated like any other Sergeant, the Sergeant's lived at one end of the barracks so we all knew each other fairly well. From a military perspective he was always "squared away" and he could run me in the dirt, as well as most of the other Sergeant's. So needless to say his fitness level as a Marine was outstanding. His work ethic was without question one of the best in the unit. So who would you rather have go to combat with you? The WM or the gay Marine?
From Okinawa I was ordered back to the states to a Landing Support Battalion (LSB) at Camp Pendelton in California. LSB is what I would call a want-a-be infantry unit. We would hit the beach after the infantry and set up a Headquarters on the beach then operate from their as a support unit for the infantry. So we did a lot of the same things as the infantry. As I checked in I realized this was basically a coed unit and I would have WMs in my platoon. I took over as Platoon Sergeant and immediately started having problems with the WMs. It was always my practice whenever possible to run my platoon 10 miles on Fridays mornings and who ever made it through the run was off for the rest of the day going into the weekend. The problem was that 3 out of the 4 WMs in my platoon refused to run more than a mile and a half. EVER!! So being the sarcastic Neanderthal that I was/am I would make comments like "you aren't Marine's you are just window dressing". For this I was counseled several times. Nothing came of the counseling. It was hard to argue with my frustration and logic. Then I had one of my WMs falsely accuse one of my male Marine's of rape!! After a thorough investigation and questioning both, the WM confessed that she had made it up because he had broken up with her. So I was just loving my first platoon with WMs!
It was at this time I had decided I didn't like the direction the Marine Corps was going and couldn't bring myself to accept WMs as Marine's. So I told my Company Commander that I would not be reenlisting when my current contract was up. I had about 8 months to go. I continued to perform my duties as Platoon Sergeant and just waited out my time. It was during my last 8 months that I encountered a very curious new Private in my platoon. I was ordered to go pick him up as he would be joining my platoon. He seemed like a nice kid very personable and "squared away", then I was told I would have to take him to the hospital in San Diego once a week. They wouldn't tell me why, just do it. So I followed orders and did just that. Remember this is 1987 so AIDS was just coming to the forefront. The media of course blamed Reagan, which I found odd. Was he in charge of handing out condoms and clean needles to everyone. I digress. Well after getting to know this young Marine he confided in me that he had AIDS and he was going to San Diego for special treatments. Again this is 87, he told me he knew he was going to die but he would live life to the full as long as he could. I respected that he didn't quit!! He would run with the platoon as much as he could and would make some of the 10 mile runs on Friday. He had an easy out, he didn't have to run. I knew it and he knew it!! He continued like this until he was transferred to the hospital for good. Even with AIDS this young man carried himself with Honor and Courage. So I ask you again. Who would rather go to combat with a WM or a gay Marine?
I end this by saying I believe in TOTAL equality! NO exceptions no excuse, if you can do the job AS IT IS DEFINED then you deserve the job!! We don't dumb down aptitude tests, physical requirements, Height, weight, or anything else just to feel warm and fuzzy. Everyone should be treated EQUAL, no exceptions!! If there has to be an exception made for you then you aren't qualified!!
SEMPER FI
Choose to Succeed
Koach Karl
http://www.koachkarl.com/
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