Conservative Milbloggers Begin Speaking Out Against DADT

Dan Choi is an effective advocate for the movement to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law because he's not only an articulate West Point graduate and an Arabic linguist, but he's also walked the walk as an infantry officer in the streets of Iraq. In fact, his breadth of experience allows him to highlight just how ridiculous the DADT policy is in 2009 because he's a soldier's soldier--as evidenced by the support he's received from the troops in his own unit. So, with Dan leading the way--while also providing political and philosophical cover--we're beginning to see more conservative milbloggers come out in favor of a repeal of DADT. Take Uber Pig writing at Blackfive on Friday for instance: Word on the street is that Baron Von Steuben was gay. Also, I'm pretty sure if you read some of that greek stuff, you'll find there were some gay dudes hanging out in phalanxes. My position has long been that gay dudes have the same duty to serve as breeders, and that shouldn't be interfered with. Uncle Jimbo, of course, outed himself almost three years ago with the same opinion. And even if a majority of active duty folks disagree with us on this, they'd be at least a little bit troubled by the case of Dan Choi. Dan is apparently an excellent Arabic linguist who has served in harsh environments, is a graduate of West Point, is respected by his fellow soldiers, loves his unit, and has sworn to defend his country with his life. He's not like some of the guys I know of who used their newly found sexuality as a means to leave the Army before their term was up. There are no charges of improper relationships between him and a subordinate. The only complaint is that he went on national TV and didn't lie about his sexuality. According to Aaron Belkin, Obama can, at any time, suspend the implementation of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Doing so would save the career of what appears to be a good man. So you know what? It's time for Obama to put his money where his mouth is. Uber Pig took some heat in the comments, but he's also writing on the same site which saw his conservative colleague Uncle Jimbo call for a repeal of DADT two and a half years ago--as Uber Pig mentioned above. Back then, Uncle Jimbo had this to say: My view is that since there are currently a number of gay troops and little difficulty due to their presence, there is no need for the ban. We have effectively progressed beyond the point where most members of the military even care about sexual orientation in any way that would preclude them working side by side with gay people. But it didn't end with Uber Pig's remarks at Blackfive on Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, The Sniper had publicly joined the "repeal" crowd at his conservative milblog: I'm sure I'll get some hate mail for this or even lose some readers. . . I don't care. I'm standing with Uber-pig and Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive on this one... if they want to serve, let them serve. Bad behavior (like this) will be dealt with on a case by case via the UCMJ. But I doubt that will be commonplace. I once knew a guy who was an excellent linguist (and no, not all linguists are gay) but he was gay and when he came out of the closet he wanted to be honest so he told the command. He wanted to serve, he just didn't want to be a liar. They railroaded him for two years, tried to make him out other gays, relegated him to driving a bus (a waste of his language skills), and then when he was two months out from an honorable discharge they tried to screw him over by giving him a gay-out discharge which would have stripped him of his benefits... after serving his four years the best he could. He wisely hired a lawyer who promised a PR nightmare and years of court battles for the Command and the army so they gave up. He was a lucky one. This BS needs to stop. All it takes is stroke of the pen. Obama's got that pen. Make it stop. Dan Choi is the type of officer America's Army needs. And he's the type we can ill afford to lose. That's hard to deny--and it's even more irrefutable for those who've had to deal with tricky situations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Who out there wants to say they wouldn't go to war with this guy simply because he's gay? Not many Iraq and Afghanistan vets, that's for sure. And that's why we're beginning to see veterans coalesce around the movement to repeal the DADT law--regardless of their views on other political issues. It's outdated, it hurts readiness, and those who've been there can see this.