Homosexuals in the military

[pmulcahy11b]

<Split from Female combat soldiers in T2K thread>

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Politically that might now be possible, but I just can't see too many women being assigned to combat roles. It'll be a good generation or so before there's more than the odd token woman in any one battalion.
The testosterone laden, male dominated combat arms will need a whole new mindset before it occurs.

Though it's already started to a small extent, it will be a fight similar to integrating the services and allowing gays in the military. Once it starts in earnest, it will drag on for decades.

And unfortunately, gays in the military will find that their problems are not now solved; their going to be the subject of hate crimes, hazing, bullshit details, and prejudice and hate from the senior NCOs and officers -- and possibly some of the mid-level ones as well. Ironically, polls of the troops indicate that the enlisted and junior NCOs, and junior officers -- Captain and below -- don't really care if their fellow soldier is gay, except in 20% of the responses. The higher the rank of the soldier, the more likely he is to be prejudiced against gays in the military.

And for the record, I knew fellow soldiers who were gay at every posting, in every unit I've ever been in, the whole time I was in the Army. I couldn't care less. My attitude was pretty much, "Do your job, pull your weight, do better than your best, and don't be a troublemaker -- and your personal life is your business." I counseled some gay soldiers, and didn't break their trust by telling my superiors about it. Yeah, I broke the rules in that respect, but I felt I was morally correct in that attitude and that the Army wasn't.