According to a 67 page plan filed last month, as far as the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell goes, gay and lesbian soldiers are to treated the same as everyone else. Sweeping changes which have been rampantly spun throughout the media, simply are not the reality of the changeover during the enactment of repeal. There are no plans to construct separate barracks or facilities in order separate soldiers who may be uncomfortable with each other. That’s not to say that those options are off the table.
Throughout the recommendations, it’s clear that the first step of any conflict will be counseling. The military will make every attempt to try to settle any disputes that come up, whether it be a soldier complaining that a military minister is preaching against homosexuality, or soldiers who don’t feel comfortable sharing sleeping space with an out soldier.
Courtesy the Associated Press…
(Defense Secretary Robert) Gates has said the military will not drag out the implementation process, but it will move carefully and deliberately.
A new study by the Palm Center, a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said only three steps are needed to assure a smooth and quick transition: an executive order suspending all gay discharges, a few weeks to put new regulations in place and immediate certification to Congress that the new law will work. And it says that the military often implements new policies as it begins training, rather than waiting for the training to be finished.
Aaron Belkin, center director, said it took just 40 days to train the force when the don’t ask, don’t tell policy was implemented under President Bill Clinton in 1993-94. The Pentagon, Belkin said, can train the entire force rapidly, even those in combat zones.
