BattlelandNational Security
President Obama has just signed the law allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the U.S. military. “This morning I am proud to sign a law bringing an end to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he said. No one should have to “sacrifice their integrity” to wear the uniform of the U.S. armed forces, he said.
He singled out Defense Secretary …
BattlelandNational Security
In the wake of the Senate’s vote to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Saturday — and President Obama’s plan to sign the bill into law Wednesday morning — just how long is it going to be before gay men and women can serve openly? Some Pentagon officials have suggested it could be a lengthy process, perhaps more than a year, while a new …
BattlelandNational Security
I missed the racial integration of the U.S. military, but I witnessed up close the mixing of women into nearly every rank and file. Soon it will be time for openly gay men and women to serve, as well. I can recall the tirades against opening up more billets to women some 20 years ago. There was a special commission set up to deal with …
BattlelandNational Security
The Senate voted 65 to 31 this afternoon to kill “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a law that had been used to kick nearly 14,000 gay men and women out of the U.S. military since 1993. The measure, which already has passed the House, is on its way to the White House for President Obama’s signature. It marks a significant victory for Obama – who …
BattlelandNational Security
The Senate has voted 63 to 33 against a filibuster designed to thwart repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The law still lives, but only by a thread. After 17 years, it is expected to die tomorrow this afternoon in a final Senate vote, and clear the way for openly gay men and women to serve their country in uniform for the first time in history.
BattlelandNational Security
The House voted 250 to 175 Wednesday night to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Didn’t they do that back in May?
BattlelandNational Security
The Marine commandant says he opposes ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because allowing openly gay Marines to serve could get leathernecks killed.
As the Pentagon’s own Stars and Stripes newspaper reports:
Ultimately, the voices of forward-fighting combat Marines who worried about unit cohesion in the Pentagon’s survey swayed Marine
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BattlelandNational Security
Following Thursday’s Senate defeat of the effort to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Pentagon will continue to do what it has been doing for the past 17 years. It will keep on enforcing a ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military, although with considerably less ardor than in years past, Pentagon officials say. …
BattlelandNational Security
The Senate — for the second time this fall — blocked an effort to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Thursday afternoon. The move all but kills any chance of over-turning the 17-year old ban on gays serving openly in the U.S. military for the foreseeable future.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Republican opponents of the …
BattlelandNational Security
Sen. John McCain knows about delivering ordnance on target: after all, the Arizona Republican piloted a Navy A-4 over North Vietnam (and was shot down and imprisoned for his efforts). That’s what has got Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid upset about McCain’s ever-changing coordinates when it comes what he wants to happen before he’ll …
BattlelandNational Security
While the Pentagon’s exhaustive study on integrating openly gay men and women into the military convinced President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, of the wisdom of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — a position each already held — it didn’t move the guys who actually have to …
BattlelandNational Security
The first of two days of hearings before a Senate panel on the future of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” unfolded like a high-school drama production, with each side speaking its memorized lines. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, played his role as the key opponent of allowing openly gay men and women to serve to the hilt, calling it “a …
BattlelandNational Security
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