Marine Corps Book Chronicles 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Demise

WASHINGTON -- Tuesday marked six months since the repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. On the same day, the Marine Corps University Press released the military's first official book on the end of the policy and its effect on the military.

Titled "The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the volume includes stories from gay and straight members of the military as well as articles and studies on the policy's effect. The message, according to Tammy Schultz, a professor at the Marine Corps War College who co-edited the book with journalist J. Ford Huffman, was clear: The repeal has largely been a non-issue.

"This is the first book of its kind on DADT or any other similar topic, such as desegregation, at the time of that policy’s implementation in 1948," said Schultz.

The Marine Corps has had perhaps the rockiest time of any of the military services in repealing the ban on gays serving openly. Marine Commandant Gen. John Amos told Congress in 2010 that the repeal could harm his service. "Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives,” Amos said. “That’s the currency of this fight." Polls conducted around the time of the repeal also showed that Marines opposed the policy change at higher rates than their counterparts in other services.

But Schultz, a professor of strategic studies at the Marine Corps War College, argued that the book's release is proof that the Marines, along with other services, had moved "smartly to implement the new law." Amos said last year that he is pleased with how the repeal has gone, while the New York Times reported positively on Marine efforts to recruit gays.

"I believe the demise of DADT will quickly become a non-event, and the services as a whole will get on with the business at hand: Defeating the enemies of our country," wrote retired Marine Col. Brendan Kearney in one of the book's essays. Kearney's son Matt also served in the Marine Corps, and helped convince his father to support the repeal.

Schultz said she believes the book detailed a relatively smooth compliance with the new law. "That is not to say that challenges don’t remain ahead, and our book details some of those. But the U.S. military can more than handle it," she said.

"The critics cannot have it both ways," said Schultz. "Either we have the most professional force in the world that has handled the repeal as professionally as other militaries, or we don’t have a professional force. I obviously believe the former."

UPDATE 2:27 pm 3/22/12: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Matt Kearney is gay. Also, the opening quote in the story was incorrectly attributed to J. Ford Huffman instead of Tammy Schultz.

Comments

[shupper]

10:20 PM on 04/17/2012

So, has anybody come right out and said, "Hey, Marine Commandant Gen. John Amos, you know squat."
?

[bknight87]

08:44 AM on 03/25/2012

Awesome News....But where can i find/buy the book from?

[CRandallB]

08:51 PM on 03/21/2012

""I believe the demise of DADT will quickly become a non-event, and the services as a whole will get on with the business at hand: Defeating the enemies of our country," "
The non-issue thing is great, but if only defeating the enemies of our country were really the motivation.
Unfortunately, it's mostly about money for the rich, decreasing the number of unemployed and proving to the world that the USA can invade any country any time for any reason. I really think the department name should be changed from Department of Defense to Department of Offense. After all, the ONLY time this country needed defending in the last 50 years or so, they didn't do it. But, the services were real good at the offensive part. How many countries have been invaded since? 3, 4? I'm not sure anymore.

[Ed Baker]

03:13 PM on 03/21/2012

Let's all take a minute to thank the Log Cabin Republicans who destroyed this law in federal court and force the DNC to actually repeal it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_Cabin_Republicans_v._United_States

[Ed Baker]

03:10 PM on 03/21/2012

What? No meteors hitting the Pentagon? No massive gang rapes in the showers? No soldiers showing up in drag for duty?

Just like gay marriage - the 'phobes are proven to be exactly what they are - nuts.

[tidalwave4455]

02:39 PM on 03/21/2012

Gays, in the Military, no longer have to worry about losing their jobs because of DADT. They just have to worry about losing their health and lives because of the bigots still imbedded in the Services.

[4ureal2]

01:26 PM on 03/21/2012

NBD because the vast majority of gay Marines prefer to stay in the closet. DADT repeal as a whole is NBD because of this reality.

[RobertoM]

02:50 PM on 03/21/2012

It's not NBD because of the many in all branches who have been outed and then outed from the service dishonorably. Furthermore, it's an important step forward for those with partners who need benefits. Finally, any improvement in the military situation will be felt throughout society, as has been true for other minorities. How do you know what people prefer when they have no other choices?

[TBJ]

02:53 PM on 03/21/2012

Which is fine. No one had to come out with DADT gone, now no one is forced to lie to stay in the military.

[duckpuddle]

11:07 AM on 03/21/2012

One step at a time. We'll have to pull each and every kicking and screaming group of people into the 21st century only to hear them say, "its no big deal" once they get here.

Little by little, step by step, person by person, organization by organization. Religion may be last, but they will all be on our side by the time we are done.

We shall over come, some day. Thanks everyone for all the hard work. Keep it up.

[CogentThought]

11:38 AM on 03/21/2012

Someday isn't good enough, and the USMC saying it's no big deal is a slap in my face.

[duckpuddle]

11:58 AM on 03/21/2012

It is what it is.

The repeal of DADT was a big deal. Enjoy progress when it shows up.

[rwgunn]

12:22 PM on 03/21/2012

"Someday isn't good enough, and the USMC saying it's no big deal is a slap in my face." -- CogentThought

Don't mix up the facts. The USMC is saying that "implementing the change" turned out to be "no big deal". It sounds like you are attributing this statement to the repeal of the rule instead.

Not appreciating the changes in attitude that have been and are being made is also a slap in the face of everyone dealing with our social maturing.

[bamacab]

09:45 AM on 03/21/2012

I guess the rapture and the demise of the US are just running late.

[Ed Baker]

03:13 PM on 03/21/2012

Is it raining toads over the Pentagon yet?

[joe1964]

08:01 PM on 03/21/2012

No, it's raining Ann Coulters and Jan Brewers.

[vonric]

09:37 AM on 03/21/2012

So, DADT goes the way of segregated troops, and the world does not collapse, the sun still rises, and there are still voices in the land proclaiming that Russia can be seen from the shores of Alaska....

Troops care about competency in the field. Period. nothing else matters.....

[nonChristian]

09:32 AM on 03/21/2012

Where is the "DISASTER" GOP Clowns predicted?

Now if we can move on and get rid of DOMA as well please?

[vonric]

12:44 PM on 03/21/2012

the real "disaster" will be the "slow burn" social change that occurs when Johnny serves next to a gay dude, figures out that he is a skilled trooper and a decent guy, and goes home to rural Arkansas to tell Daddy and the girls that it's ok. that is the real "decline and fall" of western prejudice as we know it.

I don't have rose glasses on, but the integration of the troops decades ago created, in my sense of it, the platform for the Civil Rights movement of the '60's. Are we done? nope, is it farther along than it used to be? Yep

[duckpuddle]

01:36 PM on 03/21/2012

you share my perspective exactly.

[duckpuddle]

01:49 PM on 03/21/2012

Are both your senators and your representative co-sponsors of the repeal of DOMA? If not, you could speed up the repeal by contacting them.

[joe1964]

08:03 PM on 03/21/2012

Hah! I have David Vitter. Remember, wearing a diaper and patronizing "lady's of negotiable virtue' is NOT gay!

[xGulliverx]

01:24 AM on 03/21/2012

Last thing: with the exception of actual gay people, we all know the HuffPo faithful couldn't be pulled away from their Macs and designer lattes long enough to throw a gay person a life preserver. C'mon--we know they're only useful to you as a political mascot, so let's just drop the sanctimony. All of us out in the hinterlands have recognized this about you for years; it's time you did too. Nobody's buying it. It's a social flair badge. You're against all sorts of bigotry except your own. Again, heroes.

[golions]

02:35 AM on 03/21/2012

Straight veteran here. Fully supporting the repeal of DADT. Citizens who serve with honor in wartime deserve the same freedoms they risk their lives to preserve.

Don't believe the chicken hawks.

[CogentThought]

11:40 AM on 03/21/2012

Thanks - for your service and the sentiment.

[vonric]

12:45 PM on 03/21/2012

with you... served with a CO who was gay, was an excellent commander. Who he spent his time on his leave was his business.....

[vonric]

09:33 AM on 03/21/2012

Another straight veteran here, of a messy war that probably took place before you were born.. infantry officer in 'nam.

2lts were an expendable commodity in that hot mess, a war that had little purpose, to be candid... I served under a commanding officer who was rowdy, bawdy, blunt and incredibly capable in the field. he kept me out of trouble, and - alive - kept his troops protected....

Turns out, as I discovered by accident on leave, he preferred guys....so what.. did not change his skills in combat, did not change who he was at war.

He left, given that living in the closet in 1971 in the military was far, far worse than trying to redefine what it meant to be gay in civilian life. He and his partner are still welcome guests in my wife's and my home.

point is that who you go to bed with has absolutely nothing to do with your skills as a soldier. Period. We're no longer such a rich country that we can afford to throw away men and women and their talent for a stupid prejudice and a stupid reason.

and, by striking down DADT, we now differentiate ourselves from the military in Syria and Uganad, an align ourselves with the military troops in Canada, most of Western Europe, most of the former Soviet federation countries and Israel. They all got there first, we were the slow ones.

This study in no way surprises me.

[Ed Baker]

03:20 PM on 03/21/2012

When the Chinese have 6 times the population we have - you're right - we don't have one person to cast aside......

I never served in the military, if the prohibition on gays wasn't there, I might have. I think I would have done quite well there. Instead, I went into business.

[joe1964]

08:06 PM on 03/21/2012

Thank you for your service and thank you for your words. I hope they might change some people's minds.

[xGulliverx]

01:24 AM on 03/21/2012

Most of the claims here about what "right wing clowns" were predicting are straw men, so no use in starting with that (though the fact that predictions of insidious institutional decline haven't fully matured in the space of 6 months should surprise no one). But to the extent that people were afraid a DADT repeal would have adverse effects, the UCMJ has always prevented and punished what they call fraternization, particularly romantic fraternization. You're technically not even supposed to be social pals with someone of higher rank than you; the wider the gap, the worse. The preemption of romantic fraternization was easily accomplished by segregating genders. Repealing DADT of course singlehandedly eliminates any such preemptive institutional advantage.

In my own case, I was in the Marine Corps (that's "corpse" to Barry) and I suspect the greater resistance owes to the macho culture, for better or worse. I know I have a problem with people who are by and large civilians--most certainly including the 99.9% of HuffPo readers who would never dream of military sacrifice, save for the handful of AWOL Guardsmen and AF Reservists--implementing a major cultural change in our own institution (be it about homosexuality or anything else) in a bid to cheaply achieve righteousness and imagine themselves noble cosmic crusaders. You aren't marching through the streets under imminent threat of assassination--you're making snarky comments on the Internet. Congrats, heroes.

[duckpuddle]

11:22 AM on 03/21/2012

Okay, dismiss all of us pansies if you want, but what about the comments of those currently in command?

In your case, you apparently have as little information as the rest of us. Your military experience is irrelevant to this discussion, unless of course, your experience has been in the last 6 months and included whatever training the Corps is currently giving.

All in all, I think you have a chip on your shoulder and would rather hold on the the Corps as it was, not as it is. This is the 21st century. Welcome to it.

[CogentThought]

11:44 AM on 03/21/2012

Screw you. You had the opportunity to serve that better people than you were denied. You can pound your chest all you want McGilla, but the fact is you can't say that the Corps would not have been better off with a big buff Gay man than the likes of you.

[taddles]

10:31 PM on 03/20/2012

All the right wing clowns who were declaring that ending DADT would destroy the military...where are they now?

[vonric]

09:35 AM on 03/21/2012

hopefully planning to emigrate to Uganda or Syria where gays are still not allowed to serve openly in the military. Am sure they can find an idiological home there

[Fein]

12:58 PM on 03/21/2012

In gay bars, getting 'appropriately punished' by leather clad dominatrix,

[Ed Baker]

03:24 PM on 03/21/2012

A "dominatrix" is a female.

[djnjon]

03:59 PM on 03/21/2012

Dominants covers both sexes, and not many gay men are looking for a female Dominant and activity is done far more in private than public except in the largest cities.

[dhertzfe]

10:09 PM on 03/20/2012

Wait! Wait!! I was told by McCain and other repubs that soldiers would be leaving in droves and it would be the demise of our military. This article is just BS. Military personnel are leaving every day!!!

[sarcasm off]

Guess they were wrong about that too. Go figure. I;m beginning to think that there isn't much to the boogeyman anymore.