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Sunday, November 14, 2010

"Mission Critical", Theoretical and Practical Aspects

DADT harms the nation's security. Getting rid of it is more than just a moral appeal to "the right thing to do".

There is no need to balance this with any other practical consideration, is there, including that some GIs might feel uncomfortable, until such time as they 'get over it':

The data confirm a long-term trend, and a 2005 Government Accountability Report found that the military fired 757 mission-critical specialists, including 322 linguists, in the first decade of "don't ask, don't tell." JD Smith, co-Director of OutServe, said that today's news shows how "don't ask, don't tell" jeopardizes the safety of the troops. "These discharges put our lives at risk," Smith said. "As leadership continues to fire gay service members in critical career fields, it is the troops on the ground who will pay with their personal safety." OutServe is the first-ever organization made up exclusively of currently-serving gay and lesbian troops. It now includes more than 500 members.

The new data were collected by the Defense Manpower Data Center and made available by the House Armed Services Committee. They were submitted to the Committee in compliance with current law which requires each of the services to disclose on an annual basis the number of service members who have left the service, why they left and what jobs they performed.

-Palm Center