From Fox News:
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he said he believes homosexual activity is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.
Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.
"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request.
"We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," he added. "And that was very simply that we should respect those who want to serve the nation, but not through the law of the land condone activity in my upbringing is counter to God's law."
He also points out something that practically never gets mentioned anymore:
Pace noted that the U.S. Military Code of Justice prohibits homosexual activity as well as adultery. Harkin said, "Well, maybe we should change that."
So Senator Tom Harkin wants to put a stamp of approval on adultery, too?
This statement by General Pace echoes what I've often pointed out about Clinton's pathetic "don't ask, don't tell" policy: it did nothing to erase the fact that the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) still prohibits these activities. "Don't ask, don't tell" is merely a statement that "Hey, we're just going to ignore the law here and pretend it doesn't exist." This is a dangerous practice in a civilized society.
It almost seems axiomatic that if someone doesn't understand the correct thing to do with their genitals, do we want to trust them to do the correct thing with a gun/tank/ship/airplane?
Military service is a privilege, not a right. During my 10 years in the military, I saw countless people discharged (from basic training to the end of the line) for a multitude of infractions. Civilians might consider many of them frivolous, but when you consider that morale and readiness capabilities are at stake, not to mention the lives of other military people and the civilians they're protecting, you can't afford to let just anyone serve in the military.
Our national defense is too critical to subject it to politically correct social experiments.
2 comments:
from Schmitz Blitz: schmitzblitz.wordpress.com
In a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing yesterday, outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman General Pace reiterated his belief that gays are immoral and that they don’t belong in the military.
I find it infuriating that Pace still claims that he respects gay troops while consistently scolding them with his self righteous moral speak. What’s more, his concern with morality is dubious, as he seems to concentrate solely on gays, rather than other potentially immoral targets such as the recent surge in convict recruits.
One must really feel for gays serving in the military. Not only must they hide and deny their family life in a time of war, where they are certainly most needed, but they also must put up with consistent demoralization from one of their top commanders.
Elizabeth: If homosexuals serving in the military don't like Gen. Pace's "moralizing," they can always leave the military.
As I said in my original post, military service isn't just another job, and there is no "right" to serve in the military.
There are a number of behaviors which, for service members, are crimes which can result in punishment and even imprisonment, and are generally be considered "incompatible with military service":
- AWOL. If you don't show up for work at your job at Olive Garden, you just risk your job; if you don't show up in the military, you risk imprisonment and discharge.
- Contempt toward officials. As a private citizen, you can say anything you want--short of threats of violence--about any elected official, but in the military it is a crime.
- Disrespect toward a superior. In the civilian world, it can get you fired. In the military, it can get you jail time and a discharge.
- Misbehavior before the enemy. As a civilian, there is no prohibition against acting cowardly or otherwise misbehaving before the enemy (if it was, many in Congress would be in DEEP trouble), but in the military it can get you jail time.
- Multiple DUIs or drug use. These are criminal offenses in the civilian world, but you typically don't lose your job over them. In the military, you can not only do jail time, you can be discharged for them.
- Malingering. A civilian can pretend to be be sick to get out of going to work, and if their boss catches them, they can get fired. In the military, you can do jail time for it.
The U.S. military's job is too important to entrust to those who have difficulty governing unnatural sexual desires. Further, with the close quarters and living conditions military members are often forced to operate in, they don't need to be distracted by sexual situations and other uncertainty while they're trying to kill the enemy and protect civilians.
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