Pride, don't ask don't tell, and physics presents a bummer
Last week, the Army made clear in a memo that transgender soldiers can openly serve and will be provided hormone therapy, mental health care and other clinical care. "This directive supersedes all previous guidance," Maj. Gen Douglas Stitt, director of the Army's G-1 Military Personnel Management Office, told reporters on June 24.
While Pride Month ended Wednesday at midnight and these progressive changes have been made force-wide, remnants of a legacy of intolerance and silence will likely continue for decades.
When Dan Misch, a student at the Naval Academy, signed a seven-year contract (two for school, five for military service) in the years before "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) was repealed, he couldn’t risk talking to his peers about what the commitment meant for him. “I pushed away friends whom I hadn’t told I’m gay to keep my personal life private and to ensure self-preservation," Misch writes in a new essay for the War Horse.
When DADT was overturned, on Sept. 20, 2011, Misch was nearing the end of his tour. But for many veterans and military families the effects of the policy still linger.
It’s now been almost ten years since the repeal, but those who were not in heteronormative relationships still recall those pre-2011 “witch hunt” days. And some prejudices endure: LGBTQ+ flags remain banned on military bases; hazing and abuse (both IRL and online) are rampant and pervasive; and some within the military feel that homosexuality has “corrupted our mission and ruined the cohesion.”
It’s not all bad news, as we offer a belated salute to Maj. Gen. Tammy Smith, the military’s highest-ranking openly gay officer, who came out in 2012, and retired in June after 35 years of service.
Note: War, U.S.A., will be off on Monday, July 5, in observance of Independence Day. We will resume publishing on Wednesday, July 7. Enjoy the long weekend.
Top Brass (Best Of)
News & Off-News
Despite initial criticism, the House approved an extra $170 million for Veteran Affairs, alongside a 10 percent increase to its budget for fiscal year 2022 (Military.com). Meanwhile, Task & Purpose called recent U.S. strikes against militants in Syria and Iraq “Forever War Lite” (Twitter) . Which is fine, because that’s what the U.S. does best: the Biden administration said Afghanistan is "not a winnable war" (Defense One) — so why bother anyway?
Speaking of keeping one’s cool: roughly 50 pages of classified documents were discovered in a trash bin in the United Kingdom. They belonged to the Ministry of Defense and detailed plans for a potential U.K. military presence in Afghanistan following the NATO and U.S. withdrawal (BBC).
As for something to really bum you out: space wars will never be like Star Wars. Physics, folks (War on the Rocks).
But the House did pass its bill to streamline the visa process for the Afghans who aided the U.S. (NYTimes) You can read more about those interpreters and support staff in War, U.S.A, both here and here.
Meanwhile, in the Department of How Can the U.S. Further Privatize its Military, GOP mega-donor Willis Johnson (of Tennessee used car auction fame) said he'd foot the bill for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) to send 50 South Dakota National Guards to the border with Mexico. (MSNBC)
Lastly, a hacker released data from the neo-Confederate Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose membership list included several high-profile military leaders. Among them are Duane AJ Probst, a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army National Guard; and Dr. Danny Davis, a professor and program director at Texas A&M University, and a training consultant to the U.S. Army Reserve. According to the Guardian, which received the data, a number of active members are associated with The Citadel. (Guardian)
Analysis
Here's why the Pentagon can't identify UFOs—and why they won't tell us when they do. (Slate)
A retired Army colonel and former member of the National Security Council on why Republicans’ “woke military” concerns miss the mark.” (Think)
Media
The Pentagon released videos of the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcons which struck militia facilities in Syria over the weekend. Watch here.
The Footlocker (Longer Reads)
As Afghan War Nears its End, a Marine’s Guilt Intensifies (War Horse)
“But my mind won’t let go. My guilt has grown in the intervening years. I was mostly innocent in the days before I came to know Afghanistan, its people, and our war. I think the intervening buildup of guilt is derived from not doing enough. Enough for Afghanistan, enough for the Corps, and enough for myself. The farther I get from those days, the heavier my guilt.”
Eddie Gallagher Vs. the World: After War Crimes Trial, Notorious SEAL Is Out to Settle Scores (Military.com)
“Throughout the book's nearly 430 pages, Gallagher comes across as deeply aggrieved and persecuted, and he attacks his antagonists in strikingly personal terms.”
The Hell Donald Rumsfeld Built (NYMag)
Donald J. Rumsfeld, the former Pentagon chief who knew what we didn't about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (Politico) and later acknowledged he maybe lied, died on Tuesday. He was 88. An appraisal, from New York Magazine: “The war on terror has endured for so long that it has embedded itself in our national functionality like a worm in a rotten piece of fruit. It is impossible to fathom what and where we would be without the wars that Rumsfeld orchestrated, and equally impossible to tell what we’ve gained. The answer, seemingly, is nothing but death. Destruction and war, decades of it.”
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Quote of the Week
“I realize now that I don’t hate the people, their country, or the mission. I hate the war. It is an injustice of the highest order to do what we did and continue to do there. We were never committed to anything but sticking around, and the results for the people of Afghanistan show it.” —Russell Hellyer, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2008 to 2013.
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