Gays in the Military

Okay here is where I have two minds again. A personal opinion. then one based on being able to see it from all sides. I'm a 65 year old man with a very low testosterone count. I'm also very, very heterosexual. I was married five times so I hope to god that wasn't secretly the problem.

So here is my personal opinion. If a guy goes out there and is willing to die for my freedom, I am not going to question his sexual orientation. If he causes no problems, then I don't see a problem. Somehow I can't see the guys on project runway wanting to be in the Marines. However it is my understanding that some top athletes are gay. If a man is willing to do the job, and is capable, then I personally don't have a problem.

Now for the flip side.

I can see why an 18 year old young man would have a problem taking orders from an openly gay officer. Especially in a combat situation. I can also see how sexual harassment and the perception of harassment might well increase. It is bad enough that drill instructors have been accused of raping women soldiers. It would definitely put a crimp in recruitment, if it were males being raped. We don't need a prison type environment for our service men. I don't see how that would happen, but there could easily be some assaults and a couple of fragging incidents on the horizon. In other words I wouldn't blame any president for ducking this one. I don't think there is an easy answer to this issue. Right now with the job situation being what it is, the military might look pretty good to a lot of guys, Especially if they think they can avoid combat tours. So the one thing I would make very clear, if it were me, would be that there could be no special consideration for gay service men and women. If you sign up, you must be prepared to go into harms way.

So do I think it is political? Of course I do. But when the country voted for him, they knew his stand on gays in the military, so I'm not at all shocked. This just doesn't seem like an issue I want to make a stand on to be honest. If a candidate said he was for or against it, I wouldn't even take that into consideration as to how to cast my vote.

I am not really happy with Colin Powell since he endorsed Obama, but if he had not done that and he would have run, that issue would be a non issue for me. That is just how I feel but I don't feel strong enough to disagree with you guys about it either.