Blondes and Redheads

It turns out that appreciating brunettes over blondes doesn’t matter when fighting wars:

MANAMA, BAHRAIN – Marine Gen. James Amos, the face of opposition in the military to lifting the ban on gays serving openly, now acknowledges his concern that repeal would undermine the war effort has proven unfounded. In fact, he said, Marines have embraced the change.

In an interview, Amos called the repeal in September of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy “a non-event.”

That is in contrast to his cautionary words to Congress in December 2010, shortly before President Obama signed the repeal legislation. The ban was not lifted until this year to allow the Pentagon to prepare troops for the change.

“Successfully implementing repeal and assimilating openly homosexual Marines into the tightly woven fabric of our combat units has strong potential for disruption at the small-unit level as it will no doubt divert leadership attention away from an almost singular focus on preparing units for combat,” Amos testified. Still, he said at the time that if the law were changed, it would be faithfully followed by the Marines.

He now sees no sign of disruption in the ranks — even on the front lines.

“I’m very pleased with how it has gone,” Amos said during a weeklong trip that included four days in Afghanistan, where he heard not a word of worry about gays.

As it turns out, appreciating one sex versus another has the same non-effect.

4 responses to “Blondes and Redheads

  1. It’s obvious his superiors had a conversation with him: either get with the program or retire.

    Do you honestly think he had a change of heart on this?

    • Not sure, but I like to think that data would cause him to reconsider his position.

      -p

      • It’s not exactly a topic one would strike up with a general.

      • Not sure, but I like to think that data would cause him to reconsider his position.

        I’ve always thought that the reluctance to have gay soldiers serving was the same as having women serve; you don’t want romantic relationships clouding decision making.

        However, I suspect that every soldier knew who was gay and who wasn’t long before DADT was repealed and it didn’t seem to impact performance.

        It might actually be the case that this decision really doesn’t impact combat performance.

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