Right Answer, Wrong Reason
Yet again, Dionne Micawber proves what Plato demonstrated long ago, it is quite possible to arrive at the right place by traveling in the wrong direction.
Dionne tells us the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is "wrong and stupid." Three hundred years ago, John Locke taught us, knowledge is derived from experience. As we all know, Dionne has never served in the military, thus we may conclude his reasoning is equally "wrong and stupid," for it is based on nothing but unfiltered emotions.
Unlike Dionne the Communitarian, I did my time, but Dionne's communal spirit has never required that he sacrifice himself for the defense of his neighbors. In the 1970's, I made 6 patrols on a fleet ballistic missile submarine (USS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SSBN 640). I know what it is like being in close quarters -- underwater with more than 100 men for as many as 72 days on patrol without surfacing to see the sun, breath fresh air, or to gaze upon those that enflames the natural passions, of healthy, virile men in the prime of their lives.
The last thing we needed to concern ourselves with was the sexual proclivities of our shipmates, either officer or enlisted.
One evening, while I was stationed in California at Mare Island attending the Navy's Nuclear Power School, a classmate of mine told me he had announced his sexual preference, and he was being discharged. He was very confused and relieved, I felt sorry for him. I had no idea he was "gay" until he told me he was. I didn't care about his preference, and I didn't want to know about it either, he was the first person to my knowledge that I had ever meet that was "gay."
Five years later, I was hurriedly re-assigned to another boat (USS BLUEFISH SSN 675). Three of us were flown from Norfolk to Italy to join this boat. I recall the clerks processing my travel orders joking about sending me to the "Blowfish." At the time, I thought they were telling me it was a crappy command.
The boat pulled into La Maddalena, a small island off the coast of Sardinia, to pick up the three of us, plus fruit, vegetables, milk, and mail; once food and men were aboard the boat, we steamed back out to finish its patrol assignment.
I'll never forget it. Soon after getting onboard, I met with the Executive Officer, he told me the story about these chaps getting busted for pot and then claiming they were "gay." The XO even showed me their bag of dope, for he had it stored in his built-in desk safe. These chaps were heading stateside to be processed out of the Navy.
These chaps used the policy, for they knew they would probably get re-assigned to some crummy duty station for their drug offense. At the time, it was not uncommon for sailors to get busted for drugs. After being on patrol for weeks, often the first night in port people became disorderly with the re-discovered freedom of living as normal people do. We all knew someone that got busted or heard stories about other "bubbleheads" getting busted and sent to an Oiler heading for Diego Garcia, to be off-loaded with the diesel fuel to serve out their enlistment, which was often years away.
What Dionne Micawber doesn't know is: a person's sexual preference matters not one jot or tittle when you are serving onboard a fleet ballistic submarine carrying enough nuclear weapons to destroy one's enemy. The only thing that matters is whether they are willing to execute the orders of our Commander-in-Chief. Whether Tom likes Sally or Dick matters not.
Only "busybodies" (Plato's term of art ) like Dionne think they know best about matters they know nothing about. As usual, Dionne's reasoning is the product of a shallow and lazy mind.
My sexual preference is no one business but my own, and I have no desire or need to know what another person's sexual preferences are. Given the complicated nature of human existence, the policy is wise and prudent promotes unit cohesion, which is vital when one is sent out to be the instrument of death, destruction, and mayhem the likes of which the world has never seen.
Dionne tells us the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is "wrong and stupid." Three hundred years ago, John Locke taught us, knowledge is derived from experience. As we all know, Dionne has never served in the military, thus we may conclude his reasoning is equally "wrong and stupid," for it is based on nothing but unfiltered emotions.
Unlike Dionne the Communitarian, I did my time, but Dionne's communal spirit has never required that he sacrifice himself for the defense of his neighbors. In the 1970's, I made 6 patrols on a fleet ballistic missile submarine (USS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SSBN 640). I know what it is like being in close quarters -- underwater with more than 100 men for as many as 72 days on patrol without surfacing to see the sun, breath fresh air, or to gaze upon those that enflames the natural passions, of healthy, virile men in the prime of their lives.
The last thing we needed to concern ourselves with was the sexual proclivities of our shipmates, either officer or enlisted.
One evening, while I was stationed in California at Mare Island attending the Navy's Nuclear Power School, a classmate of mine told me he had announced his sexual preference, and he was being discharged. He was very confused and relieved, I felt sorry for him. I had no idea he was "gay" until he told me he was. I didn't care about his preference, and I didn't want to know about it either, he was the first person to my knowledge that I had ever meet that was "gay."
Five years later, I was hurriedly re-assigned to another boat (USS BLUEFISH SSN 675). Three of us were flown from Norfolk to Italy to join this boat. I recall the clerks processing my travel orders joking about sending me to the "Blowfish." At the time, I thought they were telling me it was a crappy command.
The boat pulled into La Maddalena, a small island off the coast of Sardinia, to pick up the three of us, plus fruit, vegetables, milk, and mail; once food and men were aboard the boat, we steamed back out to finish its patrol assignment.
I'll never forget it. Soon after getting onboard, I met with the Executive Officer, he told me the story about these chaps getting busted for pot and then claiming they were "gay." The XO even showed me their bag of dope, for he had it stored in his built-in desk safe. These chaps were heading stateside to be processed out of the Navy.
These chaps used the policy, for they knew they would probably get re-assigned to some crummy duty station for their drug offense. At the time, it was not uncommon for sailors to get busted for drugs. After being on patrol for weeks, often the first night in port people became disorderly with the re-discovered freedom of living as normal people do. We all knew someone that got busted or heard stories about other "bubbleheads" getting busted and sent to an Oiler heading for Diego Garcia, to be off-loaded with the diesel fuel to serve out their enlistment, which was often years away.
What Dionne Micawber doesn't know is: a person's sexual preference matters not one jot or tittle when you are serving onboard a fleet ballistic submarine carrying enough nuclear weapons to destroy one's enemy. The only thing that matters is whether they are willing to execute the orders of our Commander-in-Chief. Whether Tom likes Sally or Dick matters not.
Only "busybodies" (Plato's term of art ) like Dionne think they know best about matters they know nothing about. As usual, Dionne's reasoning is the product of a shallow and lazy mind.
My sexual preference is no one business but my own, and I have no desire or need to know what another person's sexual preferences are. Given the complicated nature of human existence, the policy is wise and prudent promotes unit cohesion, which is vital when one is sent out to be the instrument of death, destruction, and mayhem the likes of which the world has never seen.
posted by Tony Harrison at 8:41 AM
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