Columbus Dispatch Editorial: "Don’t ask, don’t tell’ causes waste of skill"

clipped from www.dispatch.com Sunday, June 13, 2010 02:58 AM I respond to the last Sunday's letter from Lee Crognale, “Wait for report on gays in military,” to present some facts absent in his letter. First, the decision to include in the Defense Authorization Act a provision to repeal “don't ask, don't tell” was made in a floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, telecast live on C-SPAN and sponsored by an Iraq war veteran, Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa. Second, several recent surveys of current service members show that the majority of them either support or are neutral regarding open service of gays and lesbians. Third, as we fight two wars, we are discharging trained, experienced, fully qualified patriots from our military simply because of their sexual orientation — more than 14,000 since the policy was enacted — and then spending more money to recruit, train and deploy their inexperienced replacements. Many of those discharged are pilots, medics, linguists and intelligence analysts — precisely the skill sets needed to win. Fourth, the votes supporting a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the full House are not “playing politics,” as Crognale said, but represent Congress discharging its constitutional responsibilities. Finally, in reference to the vote from U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Township, on the amendment, I find it disappointing that someone who has never served in our military himself would deny patriotic gay and lesbian Americans the opportunity to serve their country openly, a right that is legally protected in every other institution in our society. MAJ. GEN. DENNIS LAICH U.S. Army, retired Powell