Commandant says gays would be a distraction

General James F. Amos, USMC 31st Assistant Com...Image via Wikipedia
Washington Post:

The Marine Corps' top general suggested Tuesday that allowing gays to serve openly in the military could result in more casualties because their presence on the battlefield would pose "a distraction."

"When your life hangs on the line," said Gen. James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, "you don't want anything distracting. . . . Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines' lives."

In an interview with newspaper and wire service reporters at the Pentagon, Amos was vague when asked to clarify how the presence of gays would distract or disrupt Marine combat units during a firefight. But he cited a recent Defense Department survey in which a large number of Marine combat veterans predicted that repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" law would harm "unit cohesion" and military effectiveness.

"So the Marines came back and they said, 'Look, anything that's going to break or potentially break that focus and cause any kind of distraction may have an effect on cohesion,' " he said. "I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen. And I'll tell you why. If you go up to Bethesda [Naval] hospital . . . Marines are up there with no legs, none. We've got Marines at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] with no limbs."

Amos has previously said that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly could cause "distractions" and "risks" for combat units. But his remarks Tuesday were the first time that a senior military leader has publicly suggested that repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law could endanger troops and lead to more battlefield casualties.

...
If gay troops were acting like they were in a San Francisco parade, I can see how that would be a distraction, but I think commanders can control that kind of conduct.

What would be more difficult to control would be how gays in a committed relationship would act if one were under fire or in trouble. Would they act like Marines or like lovers. That is the reason the British military does not allow women to serve in combat.

What is interesting about that is I believe that gays do serve openly in the British army and in the military of other NATO countries. Perhaps, Gen. Amos would like to see a study of whether they cause a distraction in those units.
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