The problem with gays in the military is that there is no problem, except for those who are so narrow minded that they cannot deal with this. A lot of linguists that were badly needed in Iraq were forced out because they were gay. Gays make good soldiers too, they bleed and die along with the rest. Now, because they are having trouble, they are taking in people who are bordeline intelligent, have criminal backgrounds and more to meet their quotas. My husband never had trouble with gays under his command, but, because of the draft in Vietnam, he had a LOT of trouble with the sort of men who are now being recruited. The big problem in the military now is the sexual harrassment and rape of the female soldiers, often which goes unreported. This, because if a woman reports this it is often covered up, and the guilty party is not repremended. The woman is often blamed for it happening or not believed…and they worry about gays. I have a  gay friend who served in the Air Force for 20 yrs. and is retired. He is a decent, hard working man, and I am glad he was allowed to stay in the AF.

I think one of the problems Clinton ran into was that he had a Congress unreceptive to changing the rule against gays, and the U.S. Code contains provisions making homosexual behavior in the military grounds for court martial.  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/10/subtitles/a/parts/ii/chapters/37/sections/section_654.html  Clinton simply knew he could not get Congress to make the changes he wanted to permit gays to openly be gay in the military so he came up with the Don’t ask, don’t tell idea.  Unfortunately, what it did was make people aware that there in fact were gays in the military and some people tried to find them out, out them, etc. 

 It is a huge problem for military readiness.  Whenever you arbitrarily exclude a segment of the population from service, you are saying you are willing to accept an armed services that is not necessarily the best qualified for the job.  That is the reason Truman integrated the Armed Forces, because it was clear that the Tuskegee Airmen were superior in their skill and dedication and had demonstrated that.  The loss of all those translators has been terribly expensive.  Every day since we lost them, I have seen ads pleading for translators, offering huge sums.  

 I am not sure that Congress—or the Pentagon, which after all has its own peculiar culture—is willing to make the changes needed in the statutes, but we should urge them to do so.  And we should definitely work to improve the status of women in the Armed Forces.  No one should have to accept rape and not report it for fear for her life.