{"id":10732,"date":"2007-05-08T10:30:14","date_gmt":"2007-05-08T14:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/10732.html"},"modified":"2007-05-08T10:30:14","modified_gmt":"2007-05-08T14:30:14","slug":"when-dont-ask-dont-tell-falls-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/when-dont-ask-dont-tell-falls-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"When ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ falls apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just last week, we learned that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) believes openly gay soldiers represent an “intolerable risk<\/a>” to the United States armed forces. Apparently, the Navy doesn’t agree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Navy returned an openly gay sailor to active duty last year in what gay rights advocates say is an example of how some military commanders — stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — are turning a blind eye to the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays and lesbians from revealing their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Petty Officer Jason D. Knight, a Hebrew linguist who says he had officially informed his superiors that he was homosexual, was discharged in April 2005 after completing his four-year tour of duty, according to a summary of his Navy personnel file.<\/p>\n

Nine months later, the Navy recalled him to active duty, even though he was openly gay, and sent him to Kuwait, where he served as a translator and received multiple awards for exemplary service.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“An increasing number of lesbian and gay troops are being welcomed by their colleagues in the armed forces,” said Sharra E. Greer , director of law and policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which represents gay and lesbian military personnel seeking redress for discriminatory policies. “Commanders do not want to lose good people to this law, and service members do not care if the men and women they work alongside happen to be gay.”<\/p>\n

In Knight’s case, it appears that the Navy simply gave up on DADT altogether. In 2005, towards the end of his four-year enlistment, he told his commanding officers, verbally and in writing, that he is gay. The Navy initiated the routine discharge process for gay soldiers who “tell,” but then terminated the process. Knight was given a standard honorable discharge at the end of his service contract.<\/p>\n

Knight transferred to reserve status until last year, when the Navy asked him to return. He agreed — and no one cared about him being gay. “My unit was more than supportive,” Knight said.<\/p>\n

It’s as if, in practice, the controversial DADT policy simply doesn’t exist.
\n
\nKnight was doing critically important translating work, and was decorated for his service. His awards and decorations, according to his file, included the Navy\/Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Award, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.<\/p>\n

Bill Driver, the supervisor of Knight’s 15-person unit in Kuwait, told the Stars and Stripes military newspaper, “He’s better than the average sailor at his job,” Bill Driver, the supervisor of Knight’s 15-person unit in Kuwait. Driver added that Knight’s sexual orientation was “not at all strange” and “wasn’t an issue at work.”<\/p>\n

“This incident only underscores the absurdity of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” said Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.), who’s trying to get DADT repealed. “Polls show that neither the American people nor a majority of service members support this policy. It is long past time to join our allies around the world and allow more people like Petty Officer Knight to serve openly.”<\/p>\n

Will McCain label Knight, a decorated soldier, an “intolerable risk” to the military? Will he pressure the Navy to drive Knight out of the armed forces? Somehow, I doubt it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just last week, we learned that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) believes openly gay soldiers represent an “intolerable risk” to the United States armed forces. Apparently, the Navy doesn’t agree. The Navy returned an openly gay sailor to active duty last year in what gay rights advocates say is an example of how some military commanders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}