Call to Duty

added to don't ask don't tell

http://current.com/groups/dadt/

not a positive way to rep. the American people..."We kill people and break things"...i worked with five year olds who have not yet developed an enlightened comprehension of life...then again there are adults who do not have a profound understanding of life which grows from the exceptional ability and higher sense of awareness called LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, APPRECIATION and FORGIVENESS...a global and perhaps a deep knowing that this IS WHERE ALL POSITIVE LIFE EVOLVES, YO!

Animals kill and break things when they want anothers territory or mate or food or whatnot...people, educated, aware and HIGHLY intuitive, know that hate begets hate....what can be built upon this...?

in schools, we as teachers were told to ask children to sit down at a table, work out their differences, accept the other childs point of view without blood and fist fighting...i asked the admin why i should do this, the children were coming to me and telling me that the US president sends people to shoot people who don't listen...why then should i, as a teacher coach kids to talk, listen feel and reach an agreement when i should just say , yea, screw it, kick the tar outta that brat and steal his toys....

i had kids come back to me asking why they couldn't handle "problems" the way the army does on t.v.....duh, i told them 'cause in reality i didn't want to clean up the blood...of course these were middle schoolers and understood me. they did however start to see the hypocrisy all around...in school, in home and in the leaders of the country,...my response was "Good morning and welcome to the world of the UNAWARE"

it was a relief to see that there are young people who do understand and can relate to life with an exceptional and compassionate understanding of ALL living beings..

i don't dis the people who are in the middle east...my support is for ALL, globally and in a most positive way! and i too, had friends come back...their stories were vastly different from yours...horror, upset, guilt...so sad to see the effects of BLIND hate..but i wasn't surprised...and yes, i hold their hands and listen to the waking nightmares.

i don't kill people and break things even tho i am a global/american citizen... if i did tho, even if the Col. said that's what we do, as americans,i think i'd find myself in jail...Hmmm, what did i say 'bout hypocrisy...?

Accepting the presence of government-recruiters who don't have 100% the same values as you is an EXTRAORDINARILY small price to pay for $400,000,000 in government-money. And they didn't even have to do that for 29 years!!

I'm a vet & gay friends of mine, who were plenty successful in the military didn't feel any big need to go around openly telling co-workers anything about their sexuality. Which is how normal people are anyway, right? In the military they got their money, training, experience, G.I. Bill, got out & did whatever they wanted. Hardly an oppressed group of people.

Weather you find the colonel's statements politically correct or not, he tells it like it is.

A retired government leader...we're not in the business of creating jobs, we're in the business of killing people and breaking things...???

Doesn't surprise me tho...

plus the whole sex thing...c'mon, ALL the sexual deviant acts like, raping women and girls in the middle east, a marine murdering his pregnant girl friend, officers raping girls in Japan ..ALL HETERO!!!

mockrevolution has it right. We should all of us-gay, straight, male, female, black, white, and yellow-refuse to support this immoral and illegal war by refusing to buy into the lies and propaganda the government spews to bolster the ranks of the military and create more cannon fodder for the suits that control the finances and therefore the governments of the world. Do not expect me to get worked up for someone who is upset about their right to enlist and go to another country and kill people. Lt. Colonel Maginnis's statements were some of the most honest I have heard from anyone on this matter, and any gay or lesbian who is foolish enough to want to be a member of that fraternity deserves whatever befalls them. You are morons if you cannot find a more productive manner in which to "serve your country" or "be proud to be an American" One of the duties of being an American is to stand and tell your government when they are straying from the path of what the founders of this country sought to establish when they broke away from the Monarchy of England. Being a patriot has nothing to do with blind obedience; that is fascism, people.

Governments all around the world use that kind of blackmailing, it's sad but true, and no grudges should indeed be hold towards Harvard. The US Army has always count with great marketing skills when it comes to recruiting.

Harvard holds a wide group of smart teens that the U.S Force would love to count on with, because they now they are needing more scholars on the military.

It's a public they haven't offered "their services" yet, that by the way include in the words of LT. COL. Maginnis : "We don't offer jobs...we offer killing people and braking stuff" which i found intellectually fulfilling.

Now far more concerning is the fact that the military has become a promotional machine for people of certain demography, and quite clearly takes advantage of that fact, with no interest in them changing their way of thinking. The club remains purified as if a condition for defending your country includes "not being gay....being from the mid-west....and being farm raised".

Great story. Kudos!

The interview with the Lt. Col. says it all. Let that side of the story set up their booths and start talking and the number of people signing up anywhere should plummet. They are discriminating against the freedoms they are defending. Solid story. Good job.

wow, I had first heard about the school banning discriminating organizations awhile back and since then I didn't know they eventually opened it up for the military recruiters. I applaud Harvard for holding a standard for so long, but of course it was just a matter of time before the withholding of federal grants made them think otherwise.

As a gay man who came of age during the Vietnam conflict as an anti-war protestor, I hae mixed feelings regarding gays and lesbians wanting to be able to join the military. I still think , to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I wouldn't want to be a member of a group that doesn't want me, (this goes for all organised religions that would exclude or condemn gays and lesbians as well) and I do feel that discrimination for any reason should be opposed, I find i hard to get worked up about someone's right to go to a foreign country and kill people whom they do not know. Talk of "serving my country" and "proiud to be an American" aside, in this day and age, joining the military is about killing people you don't know. Jingoism is jingoism, regardless of whether or not homosexuality is involved. I am a little saddened that these men and women can't find a more constructive manner in which they can serve their country-like, maybe, opposing unjust wars, not supporting them.

This was an extremely controversial issue, which my law school struggled with some years back. Having attended Hastings, a law school with a very strong and active LGBT student population, the presence of JAG at employment recruitment forums was tough to handle. Of course, being a government-funded UC school, it was quite obvious the reason administration had to allow JAG such an opportunity. But thankfully, despite being backed into a corner so to speak, the school administration issued several statements of apology and protest, and further, the student population stood in unity and collectively boycotted JAG's booth at every forum.

This was a really strong video. I am gay myself and I think that that we do live in a messed up world. I think that its not right for the schools to discharge or disown people because of their orientation. Its basically like saying that a certain group of human beings can not be in the military service because of their ethnicity. Its not right and our society really needs to get it together and start being accepiting.

Illuminating piece on how fundamentally messed-up the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy truly is.

Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis is bullshitting.
The "don't ask, don't tell" law one of the single most homophobic pieces of legislation that I've ever heard of.
It IS about homophobia and catering to those who cling to it as a reason to hate those who are different from themselves.
Not everything with a dick and a pulse is going to be attractive to every, or any, gay troop.
From what I've observed, the vast majority of homophobic guys have NOTHING to worry about, seeing as they're often some of more repulsive specimens of human-kind.
This is part of the reason there is so much hatred of gay people: PEOPLE NEVER MEET ANY.
I've got some racist grandparents, you think they KNOW any black people?
(that'd be a "no")
if they did, I assure you they wouldn't pepper their jokes with the racial slurs.
When the troops are out "killing people and breaking things" they aren't worrying about who's gay and whether or not they're going to get anally raped, and you KNOW that's what these homophobes who actually fear, and not hate, are worried about.
You should be allowed to be openly gay if you damn well want to be.
Just like you should be allowed to be openly female, black, or any other minority.
Should there be strict rules about sexual harassment?
Absolutely, but to prohibit someone from serving because of their sexual orientation is just fucking un-American.

This being such a discriminating world why not against Guy's. Who are qualified, smart, capable, intelligent and able to protect our country when you did know they were guy. But heretofore it is most honorable to employ to the military adulteress and whore-mongers who in-pregnant underclassmen and have extra marital affairs, while serving. Oh don't please keep that a secret... that over 20% of enlisted females are sent home because they have become pregnant but the can maintain all of their rank and serve without question...Investigate that. Officer's who can have who they want when they want and you had better not tell or you will be striped. The land of the free would rather employ unqualified straight people with no morals but attend church and look down on you for being guy regardless of how many lives you've saved or how many brothers back you have protected. The sacrifices you've made.
So I hold it in and you expose your sexual orientation for anyone and even have kids but other women.....You're still the man and I am less....Discrimination on every continent has had a victims. Jews, American Indians, Africans, Haitians, Koreans, Hawaiians, women, Aborigines, to name a few. Sexual orientation is a is a choice like being fat or skinny. You cannot change your nationality...But we all belong to the same Race.....The human race and because we cannot love purely we discriminate against people who look difference. We first need to fight the war with in. Hatred and fear are different....which one defines you? Being different is something all of us must deal with.
Gays have been around since Genesis and they are part of a corrupt culture just like the rest of us. The Rich control our world and finance the drugs not the street pushers. But they don't go to jail, we elect them to office to control the world. Deal drugs in the US anywhere on school campus's, corners, offices, and in the military, across the United States even to 7 year old but don't acknowledge that your gay. Keep that to yourself and explode inside. This is backwards and it's time to change the way we think. Our convictions should be to do justly and to treat everyone equally.....Wasn't this the bases of the constitution....for us the people in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. What?

I just don't understand why people can't just shut up about sex. Why should anyone show in any way that he/she is gay or straight? It's a matter of discipline.
If you don't have it and can't restrain yourself you shouldn't be in the military.

@marklotor

"I do believe it is a very big problem that the government can force them as they did by withholding the funds. Should they have the right to do this?"

Yeah I found that weird, too. This is a classic case of blackmail. If it's not illegal it should be.

I don't think we should hold it against Harvard that they allow military recruiters on campus now. In a way they were forced to allow it. I do believe it is a very big problem that the government can force them as they did by withholding the funds. Should they have the right to do this?

Today we have a woman and African American candidate who are frontrunners for the Democratic ticket. I wonder when that will hold true for a gay candidate?