Currently, despite the difficulties the military faces in recruiting, the Armed Forces believes it’s wise to throw well-trained, dedicated volunteers out of the military if they’re gay. It’s better not to put their skills and qualifications to good use than to have these troops in uniform in a time of war.
As it happens, it’s not only bizarre; it’s expensive.
The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year, with taxpayers covering at least $364 million in associated funds over the policy’s first decade, according to a University of California report scheduled for release today.
Members of a UC-Santa Barbara group examining the cost of the policy found that a Government Accountability Office study last year underestimated the costs of firing approximately 9,500 service members between 1994 and 2003 for homosexuality. The GAO, which acknowledged difficulties in coming up with its number, estimated a cost of at least $190.5 million for the same time period. The new estimate is 91 percent higher.
It costs money to recruit these soldiers, then more money to train them, and then more money still to throw them out. Not incidentally, as retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general noted, there’s also the “real cost is the cost in human dignity, in self-respect, and in the image of the military held by the American public, the world community and itself.”
It’s a policy that defies comprehension. As the estimable Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a member of the commission, said, “The real issue here is that you have a policy that is costing us money, hurting readiness and is really not fulfilling any national security objective. It just doesn’t make sense now, particularly when you’re having such a hard time getting people to join the military and retaining them in the right skills.”
It’s worth noting, of course, that Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) has championed the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R.1059), which would repeal the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and allow these men and women in uniform to stay in the military. As of now, the bill is up to 109 co-sponsors, including three Republicans. It has no chance of even coming to the floor for a vote, but it’s way overdue.