Don't ask don't care

Don't ask don't tell has been the rule of law in the United States and here in Canada we have had openly LBGT soldiers for many years although there has been opposition,  soldiers have realized that times have changed. The military is a masochistic organization but in reality when bullets are flying no one cares if you sleep with a man or woman at home.  

The important thing is that you can do your job.

In reality I don't care what someone does at home.

Being physical fit so that you are never a burden on anyone in the forces that is the key. In the past women served so that men might fly... now we have women flying to help protect us all.  If a woman wants to be a pilot, search and rescue technician, special forces soldier or just an infantry soldier than lets make sure the standards are the same and everyone is treated equal.  The same goes for LBGT soldiers there are rules on fraternization and sexual discrimination for not just these soldiers but all soldiers and the penalties are stiff.

There are currently 99 women combat officers serving in the Canadian military and each one does the same job as any man.  Sometimes that job comes at a cost such as Capt Nichola Goddard a artillery officer that died in combat in Afghanistan  in May 2006.  Her bombs were dropped with same efficiency and accuracy as any man or as any LBGT officer would.  Canada never treated her husband any differently and neither should we, its common sense.  Jason Beam was the first husband to receive the memorial cross for his wife's efforts in Afghanistan.

Lets serve our country together so that we stand in front of the bullets and explosions and die for the belief of Canada so that others don't have to.  One only has to look at history and Alexander the Great an openly bisexual commander virtually conquered the known world.............. orientation does not matter.

Its time to open our eyes and as we let women, blacks and LBGT soldiers serve its also our time to not care.

Members of the Canadian Forces were permitted to march in uniform for the first time during Toronto's Gay Pride parade on Sunday. (Robin Rowland/CBC)

Read more:  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/29/gay-pride.html#ixzz15BmrQyub

"The stakes in this fight are enormous, beginning with chaplains, who would be forced to recant their biblical morality or resign. Enforcement of any new "tolerant" policy would result in zero tolerance for servicemen who believe that homosexuality is wrong."

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/12/lame-duck-quackery/

One only has to look at the history of minorities in the US military:
African Americans have died for the cause of freedom ever since the War of Independence.

"Despite a high enlistment rate in the U.S. Army, African Americans were not treated equally. Racial tensions existed. At parades, church services, in transportation and canteens the races were kept separate."

"No legal restrictions regarding the enlistment of blacks were placed on the Navy because of its chronic shortage of manpower. The law of 1792, which generally prohibited enlistment of blacks in the Army became the United States Army's official policy until 1862. The history of African Americans in the U.S. Civil War is marked by 186,097 (7,122 officers, 178,975 enlisted) African American men, comprising 163 units, who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and many more African Americans served in the Union Navy." wikipedia.org




Paul Franklin
MCpl (ret)