This Veteran's Day, Secretary Rumsfeld needs a few good men. Almost seven thousand, in fact. That's the number, according to the Associated Press, by which the Army missed its recruiting goal for fiscal year 2005. And that may just be the beginning.
The AP also reports that many in Congress believe the Army needs to get bigger still—by as many as 50,000 new enlistees in the next year. The war in Iraq; the war in Afghanistan; the increased interest in Iran and its nuclear program; and a military mobilization for natural disasters ( as proposed by President Bush following Hurricane Katrina ) all point to the need for a beefed-up military. But if our armed forces can't find 7,000 new recruits, where can they possibly find 57,000? 'Recuiting' Charlie Moskos, the author of the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ban, told AP, 'is going to get harder and harder.'
Unless, of course, the ban Moskos helped put into place is finally repealed. The military can come close to meeting the entire 57,000 number, according to statistician Gary Gates, by turning to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community.
Gates, who works at the Williams Project at UCLA, estimates our armed forces could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits by lifting the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ban on gay personnel and selecting troops based on qualification, not orientation.
The percentage of gay men in the military, Gates found in his research, is currently below the percentage of gay men in the country at large. Removing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' a significant deterrent to military service for those men, also removes an official deterrent to military service among them. In doing so, the percentage of gay men in the armed forces may then mirror their representation in the general population, with 34,000 potential new recruits. Factor in the Reserves and the National Guard, and the number reaches 41,000.
It's no mystery that gays and lesbians already serve, honorably and with distinction, in our country's armed forces. For decades, there has been a drop in gay discharges during wartime. The trend was true in the first Gulf War, in Korea, Vietnam and even as far back as World War II. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gay discharges have dropped by more than 40%. And just two weeks ago, an SLDN supporter who served on the frontlines in Baghdad, completed his enlistment and returned to private life received orders stating he was being 'involuntarily recalled' to active duty. His sexual orientation, when push came to shove, didn't seem to matter at all. His qualifications did.
So why not officially welcome gays who want to serve and acknowledge the contributions of those already in the armed forces?
Critics, including Moskos, often dredge up the 'unit cohesion' mantra: Gays and lesbians, they allege, undermine unit cohesion and morale. In short, straight servicemembers would refuse to serve alongside openly gay servicemembers. Of course, polls in Britain and Canada showed the same before those nations lifted their military bans. Those apocalyptic predictions, however, never came to be. Britain and Canada—and all the other U.S. allies who have repealed their gay bans—saw no decrease in enlistment; no mass exodus of straight soldiers; and no impact on the effectiveness of their fighting forces. There is no reason to believe the United States would be any different.
Since 1993, the military has fired more than 10,000 men and women under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' That number includes more than 300 language specialists, including 54 who specialized in Arabic, and about 800 people the Pentagon says had critical skills now in demand among the services. It also includes helicopter pilots, physicians, combat engineers and other men and women who could be making a significant difference on the job today. Replacing those skilled servicemembers is never easy, but it doesn't have to get 'harder and harder,' as Moskos predicts.
More than 1 million lesbian and gay veterans are currently living in the United States. While we remember them on this Veteran's Day, we can also honor their service by repealing the prohibition on the 65,000 who are now serving and the 41,000 who are waiting to enlist. The military can find a few—indeed, more than a few—good men ( and women ) by welcoming Americans who want to serve without regard to their sexual orientation.
C. Dixon Osburn is executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) , a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and related forms of intolerance.
