Earlier this month Steven Green was convicted of the rape and murder of a 14 year old iraqi girl Mr. Green was enlisted in the army of a clause waiving his criminal past. Although not a hardened criminal, the army is willing to waive criminal backgrounds because of low enlistment rates and will not consider enlisting open gay recruits.
You can join the Army and be gay. Just don't go flaunting it. We all have certain sexual deviances, but most of us can keep it to ourselves. I don't know about y'all, but I certainly don't want to see this running around Afghanistan.
First your ignorant comment about hiring the head of NASA because he might be black, and now this. Are you trying to be ignorant, and bigoted as some sort of joke?
I read the link from pgabs -- but missed what he was previously convicted of? Horrible horrible story. But no mention of previous convictions in the story. Athough it is two years old, so maybe more info came out? I mean...I mean....depends on the previous record, doesn't it?
it wouldn't have to do with each other if there wasn't a shortage forcing you to accept criminals while kicking out perfectly fine service people who decide to come out the closet
The military is also allowing not-so-secret white supremacists to join. It seems like we're really hard up for volunteers...
and no one ever said the shortage was caused by not accepting people who are openly gay. you have an incredible way of twisting an argument. the debate is how to fill the shortage
I said they are two issues. They have nothing to do with each other. Let me ask you a question. You want to discharge and not allow anyone who was charged with possession of alcohol to be enlisted?
I don't think you should lower your standards while another perfectly fine group is willing to serve. this guy was not only guilty of alcohol pocession that I admitted wasn't serious, he was a high school dropout meanwhile, officers who graduated from west point who come out the closet are being discharged
My dad was a high school dropout and served in vietnam. He volunteered in 1964. You are saying people with a GED should not be let in? What about this case says we "lowered our standards"?
i'm saying gay people should be allowed to serve if you lower your standards to fill gaps, such as high school drop outs. its insulting to gays
1) The shortage in the military is not caused by a shortage of homosexuals. Even if homosexuals wanted to join and be open about it, that wouldn't fix the shortage. As stated by a previous poster, the shortage is caused by foreign conflicts in Iraq/Afghanistan and our troop presence in other countries across the world. Once again, the enlistment of openly homosexual people will not fix this problem. 2) Homosexuals not being allowed to openly express their sexual preference may not be fair, but it's what has been decided to prevent distractions/issues that would arise. What kinds of distractions/issues? I don't know, I can't think of any right now, maybe somebody could give an example. Key point: This policy is not and was never in place because the United States of America or its armed forces hate/dislike gays. It was intended to prevent problems and was put into place in 1993 when being openly homosexual was not as common as it is now.