From: Elaine Donnelly, President, Center for Military Readiness

April 15, 2009 Re: Today’s Washington Post Op-Ed: Flag & General Officers for the Military





If you doubted the importance of personal involvement in the debate regarding homosexuals in the military, please read this outstanding op-ed article in today’s Washington Post:

Gays and the Military: A Bad Fit

The authors are four of the 1,000+ retired Flag & General Officers for the Military. On March 31, this distinguished group of former military leaders, including 47 who achieved four-star rank as service chiefs and combatant commanders, delivered and released a concise and respectful Open Letter addressed to the White House, Pentagon, and Members of Congress.

The open letter took a firm stand in support of the 1993 law stating that homosexuals are not eligible to serve in the military. That statute, Section 654, Title 10, U.S.C., frequently is mistaken for the administrative policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” A list of the statement signers, which has since climbed to 1,115, is posted:

We, the Undersigned Flag & General Officers

The significant, game-changing impact of this unequivocal and principled open letter is proven by the near-hysterical reaction of opposing activist groups and individuals.
Intolerant advocates of gays in the military did not expect to see this op-ed published in one of their primary house-organs, the Washington Post. Predictably, the usual nameless activists are flapping around in the comments section—inadvertently confirming just how threatening to their cause the flag and general officers’ op-ed really is.

Show me a movement that constantly resorts to personal attacks to get their way, and I will show you a movement that has no legitimate argument.

Leftist ideologues seem to think that intimidation, diversionary tactics, false analogies, flawed civilian “research,” and misrepresentations of military realities can substitute for sound reasoning.

Displaying immaturity and willful ignorance of what we know about human characteristics and historic military experience, they insist that our men and women in uniform should be forced to bear the heavy burden of social engineering that undermines morale, team cohesion, and readiness. They are wrong.

The signers of this article have observed that we have the strongest, most-admired military in the world. There is no excuse for taking unjustified risks with policies that will undermine the “3 R’s,” recruiting, retention, and overall readiness in the All-Volunteer Force. This is the voice of common sense, bolstered by decades of real-world experience leading all branches of the armed forces in peacetime and in war.

Elected officials might be misled, however, if people who support the 1993 law remain silent on the sidelines, allowing only the voices of intolerance and intimidation to be heard.