Don't Ask Don't Tell | 56 comments (56 topical, 0 hidden)
The fifty-eight percent don't really matter. (3.00 / 2)
Some time ago i heard a radio show discussing manliness in the military (i'm german and it was a german radio station). They interviewed an recruitment officer of the "Koninklijke Marine" -- the Netherlands Marine Corps if you will. They are aming their recruitment for maybe the top five percent of men (from a physical point of view) and do not accept women. Why? Not because women are arguably not as fit as men are. The top one percent of women can surely compete with the top five percent of men, so they could widen their recruitment base by one fifth. But their target group for recruitment, young physically fit man, would be less interested in joining the corps if they would accept women. Muy macho and so on. The point is: it dosen't matter (to the military) what the average conservative thinks about openly gay men and women serving in the military, but what the recruitment target group (like 18 to 25 year old conservative men or so) think. Do they gain more personnel from gays than they lose from homophobic men? So from the military's point of view, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" may make sence.

by michaja on 06/09/2009 06:16:26 PM EST

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Hmmm (5.00 / 2)
I never really thought of it from a recruitment point of view. Interesting point. I still think this is not giving the troops the credit they deserve.

by LadyFriend on 06/09/2009 09:29:21 PM EST

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Really? the UK army is openly recruiting gays (4.00 / 3)
The British armed services set up a recruitment stalls at the Gay Pride festival in Manchester.

At the stalls, the men in uniform, complete with medals, mingled with eager would-be recruits.

 Lieutenant-Colonel Leanda Pitt, commander of regional recruiting in the northwest, said: "It is such a massive event in the Manchester calendar that we can't afford not to attend. As far as the army is concerned, sexual orientation is a private matter."

Additionally the Israeli military recruits openly gay soldiers. The IDF is regarded as one of the top armies in the world.

They dont seem to be that worried about driving away homophobes.


by Chinese Democracy on 06/10/2009 02:56:52 AM EST

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Don't Ask Don't Tell | 56 comments (56 topical, 0 hidden)