Army Recruiting, Gays and Thailand

By DHinMI

The headlines today on military recruitment are about the army exceeding its July recruitment goal. But looking past the headlines, you see that the Army Reserve and National Guard were each about 20% below their recruitment goals, that the Army is still well behind year-to-date goals and likely to come in below the year’s target for new recruits, and these poor figures are despite expanding the ages for new recruits, offering significant financial inducements, and adding so many new recruiters that the ratio of recruiters to recruits if only one recruit a month per recruiter.

Obviously the stupid war in Iraq is a big reason for the drop off in enlistments, especially for the reserve and the guard. It’s unlikely that things will get much better on the recruitment front as long as Americans are being sent to fight and die in Iraq. But are there other things that could be done to prevent the decline in enlistments? What about following the lead of Thailand, which is following the leads of about 25 other countries?

Thailand on Wednesday removed restrictions on gays and transsexuals serving in the military.

Thailand has a draft but gays and transsexuals have been barred from serving under the "mental disorder" exemption.

All Thai men at the age of 20 are required by law to register to serve. Recruits are selected through a lottery system, but each year thousands of LGBT draftees are rejected.

Wednesday the military announced that it was removing homosexuality and transgenderism from its list of mental disorders following years of complaints from the LGBT community that the ban was discriminatory.

The military said that the change was part of a program to keep up with a changing society.

"The existing conscription law has been promulgated since 1954, when there were few homosexuals and transvestites, but society is changing very fast, so the army is in the process of amending the law and omitting those words from the certificate," said Lt. Gen. Arthorn Lohitkul, director general of the Army Reserve Command.

According to a list compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, Thailand joins an impressive group of military forces that have accepted gays and lesbians in their active militaries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom. (Note that just about every major participant, past or present, in Bush’s Coalition of the Coerced fighting in Iraq allows openly gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in their militaries.) In 2003 the US Army War College published a study that examined the effects of opening the military to openly gay and lesbian soldiers in Australia, Canada, Israel and the UK, and “[n[ot a single one of the 104 experts interviewed believed that the Australian, Canadian, Israeli, or British decisions to lift their gay bans undermined military performance, readiness, or cohesion, led to increased difficulties in recruiting or retention, or increased the rate of HIV infection among the troops.”

What effect does the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy have on U.S. troop levels? According to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, since 1994 over 10,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen have been drummed out of the military because of their sexual orientation. And a study by a researcher at the UCLA School of Law estimated that dropping the ban on gays and lesbians could add another 41,000 members to the active military and reserves.

It would be great if the US military dropped its exclusionary and prejudiced policies toward gays and lesbians out of principle. But in the time of recruitment shortfalls, you would think that the administration might drop the policy out of expedience. But don’t count on it. If you tell somebody it’s OK for them to be openly gay and die for their country would just lead to that slippery slope, where pretty soon you’d have to offer legal recognition for their lasting and loving relationships, equal rights for their families, and a respite from being the political punching bag of the Republican Party.

Comments

[DHinMI]

Thanks to James3B, who's attending to some family matters, for pointing out the article about Thailand.

[ExcuseMeExcuseMe]

We couldn't get anywhere (DADT) with a President that used his dick.

We'll never get anywhere with an administration that spends so much time trying to prove they have dicks (to begin with) and then while away the hours trying to prove who's dick is biggest.

[emptypockets]

Idle thought: If we were to elect a gay President (humor me), would he or she be able to serve as Commander-in-chief of today's military?

[Mimikatz]

Of course this will never happen. If they let all those gay language specialists go, a specialty they were in dire need of, they certainly won't reverse it for combat. And the base would come unhinged.

We allowed gays to serve when they were needed in WWII, but once it looked like the war was won, there was a concerted effort to purge gays from the military. Women were kicked out as well in a witch hunt. This has been carefully documented, by Alan Berube among others, who got the stories 25 years ago when the vets were mostly all still with us and willing to talk.

[DHinMI]

Mimikatz, which base were you referring to?

[texas dem]

40,000? Isn't that a whole division's worth? Didn't Rumsfeld reject a Democratic proposal to add a division to the Army? There's a talking point here somewhere.

[Mimikatz]

To DH: Ha ha. Probably both. Fundamentalists of all (monotheistic) religions seem to hate gays to a pathological degree. I have never figured out quite why, except that according recognition to gays (particularly marriage) seems to them to knock out one of the last elements of their "privileged" status. Lesbians of course are threatening precisely because they don't need men and show that a fulfulling life without them is eminently possible. I suppose that has the same effect.

That Roberts was not bothered by working on a gay rights case suggests to me that he doesn't have a screw loose (at least not that one) and that is some consolation.

[DHinMI]

There's also the fact that the major monotheistic religions all have their roots in ancient societies, with their ultimate roots in nomadic herding societies, which had many rules about sexuality, marriage, inheritance, etc. I don't think it's a coincidence that in the area of the "fertile crescent," Africa and Central Asia, that rural communities, regardless of religion, tend to practice many of the same customs, such as female genital mutilation, multiple marriages, intense sanctions for homosexuality, arranged marriages, etc.

If you "selectively" read the "holy books" as the literal word of god, you're going to be living by a moral code that comes straight out of herding societies.

[willy vance]

hello Mister it is with a great pleasure that we address to you our loves for the Australian army and also for Australia. us two young people black summons African (ivory dimension) we are 18 years old one wants integrated the army Australian but the problem it is that we do not live on the Australian territory we would like to know if there is a possibility for us of integrated this army so strong and courageous please Mister since touts summons us small we revons made leave the Australian army Mister please if you recevés this message help us that god you benise and that it thank you protects Australia from the bad enemis

[lucas michael southern]

I would like to be recruited in the army, I think I have what it takes to be a solider. I love my country and I know I have what it takes to serve it well.

[Danny Jones]

i would love to be a soldier, especially a marine. i am 15 and i know i am gay but that doest mean i talk like a girl or dont know how to fight. i want to fight for my country and for my familty and protect what we have and whether i am gay has nothing to do with it at all. gay or straight just means what kind of people you end up in bed with on a night, whoopydoo big deal, the rest of the time we are all just people.

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