Don't Ask Don't Tell needs to end now

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the only holdover in the Obama cabinet from the Bush Administration, believes that homosexuals no longer need to lie to serve in our military. He shares his opinion with Adm. Mike Mullen, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also happens to be a Bush appointee. And the Commander in Chief himself, Barack Obama, sides with his two highest ranking military and civilian Defense Department leaders on this subject. The president supports the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell."

Well, so do I. Of course, I'm not an expert like Gates, Mullen or Obama, but I am a newspaper columnist. Over the past few weeks, three regular columnists for this paper and dozens of columnists for other papers across the country have weighed in on this controversial issue. More than a few of us think we know what we're writing about.

Again, I'm not an expert, but unlike most of said columnists, I did spend the better part of the past decade as an active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces and I've even met Adm. Mullen a few times (I was in the same Naval Academy class as his daughter).

My personal experiences at the U.S. Naval Academy and as a Naval Officer on a ship deployed to combat zones taught me that "Don't ask, don't tell" currently exists as little more than a muffled joke. Attitudes may be different in other units, but the supposed threat of homosexuality was never much of a concern in my berthing spaces, divisions or departments.

Every man and woman I served alongside shared a devout belief in our country and our cause. Our biggest personnel concerns centered on Marines and Sailors who failed to meet job and training requirements. We did not lose sleep thinking about what our peers in arms might be doing in their bedrooms while on leave.

I served alongside a number of fellow junior officers who were fairly openly homosexual. Some of them remain on active duty and continue to be friends with my wife and me. I led a division with known homosexuals in its ranks. None of these men or women spoke to our commanding officer about their sexual preferences, but even if they had, I doubt it would have mattered.

A popular story -- or perhaps a base myth -- circulated throughout the waterfront during my time at Pearl Harbor. A skilled Boatswain's mate was unhappy with his chief and wanted out of the Navy a few years before his most recent enlistment was complete. The Boatswain asked for and was granted a meeting with the captain of his ship. Once inside the captain's stateroom, he revealed the lurid details of his ongoing romance with another man. As the story goes, the captain listened patiently before finally responding, "If you were a dirtbag like seaman so-and-so, I would believe you, but you're too well-trained and too good at your job. I'll dismiss this little lie without punishment. Now, get back to work."

Regardless of what happens to "Don't ask, don't tell," homosexuals will continue to serve in our military. While outsiders insist that homosexuals currently serve only in secret, I know from experience that some don't. I also know from experience that sexual orientation is not a problem in many units.

Racial intolerance is a rare problem, and it is handled with a strict zero-tolerance policy. So is sexual harassment. Gates, Mullen and Obama recognize that their military effectively protects our freedoms, even if the "n-word" or "c-word" leads to the occasional court martial of a bigot.

They realize that adding a gay slur to that court martial list will only make our military stronger.

Surveys show that the majority of us who have served in the War on Terror are ready to go to bat for all of our brothers and sisters in arms, no matter who happens to welcome them home from deployment with a kiss.