A recent study showed that the majority of troops in the military do not mind serving with gay soldiers. This is an extremely important survey considering the fact that many Republicans and Democrats are voting with “what the soldiers have to say.” The vote to lift DADT will occur soon after the report comes out in December. What I found considerably more interesting were the comments left at the bottom of the article, a “Gunnary Sergeant Hartmann” writes,
I served in the military and let me tell you first hand most troops do mind. Survey my @ss. Maiman like many left wing pinkos has never served 1 day in the military. OORAH TROOPS. Give me one for God, two for the Country, three for the Corps, and four for no fairies. OORAH!
The writer of the article responds,
Not sure what serving in the military has to do with your homophobic attitude, but if being prejudiced and hateful towards any group for any reason were a required prerequisite for serving in the military, we'd have far fewer Americans serving than we currently do. Most soldiers --and Americans-- get it.
And you are definitely not someone I'd have been proud to serve with.
(The battle continues). But if this “Sergeant Hartmann” is actually who he says he is, then the complexity of the problem with DADT transcends further than whether or not soldiers “mind” gay troops. The issue strikes the very foundation of the military’s persona, as the army seems to use homophobia as a signifier of strength and patriotism.
Very nice use of de jure and de facto!
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting about the survey results is that they really shouldn't be a surprise. A vast majority 60-80% of Americans support getting rid of DADT so the fact that the troops themselves would support it, is not that much of a surprise.
Whether it will actually happen, is another question.