Page 41 - Unit Cohesion News Today

>> we have an estimated 65,000 gay analyst byian and service members serving today in theater in afghanistan and iraq. and theyre not taking away from unit cohesion but enhancing it. but so i think that the opposite is going to happen. the military will improve as a result of repeal. >> president obama is expected to sign that bill this week. more than 13,000 service members have been discharged under dont ask, dont tell. the policy will not disappear right away. first up, the defense departme...

What would you have wanted to say to them if they had give youn that chance to defend yourself and your record? >> just as drew alluded to, rachel, to present my record but then also again to stress to them that certain aspects of the law as it stood, you know, when i went to my review board, they were not followed by the air force, and certainly the new enforcement standards apply as well as the whit standard. you know, even before my first discharge board in april of 2009, we actually had a pr...

A meeting between you and the review board so that you could make your case. but that request was denied. what would you have wanted to say to them if they had given you that chance to defend yourself and your record? >> just as drew alluded to, rachel, to present my record but then also again to stress to them that certain aspects of the law as it stood, you know, when i went to my review board, they were not followed by the air force, and certainly the new enforcement standards apply as well a...

And ive seen nothing but positive impact when you tell people around you, people who you work with the truth about who you are. there is nothing but an increase in unit cohesion, in team work, in trust. honesty is the fabric, the foundation of all of that. >> still lots to talk about with syndicated columnist dan savage about dont ask, dont tell. he is also the editorial director for "the stranger," a seattle news weekly. dan, lieutenant choi makes it clear that his infantry unit has advanced si...

Positive impact. theres no reason for anybody to be afraid. theres no need for a survey, a poll, for people to put up shower curtains because theyre afraid of what might happen. ive been serving for 17 months quite openly. and ive seen nothing but positive impact when you tell people around you, people who you work with the truth about who you are. theres nothing but you an increase in unit cohesion, in team work, in trust. honesty is the fabric, the foundation of all of that. >> lieutenant dan ...

Poll, for people to put up shower curtains because theyre afraid of what might happen. ive been serving for 17 months quite openly. and ive seen nothing but positive impact when you tell people around you, people who you work with the truth about who you are. theres nothing but you an increase in unit cohesion, in team work, in trust. honesty is the fabric, the foundation of all of that. >> lieutenant dan choi, i know you had a million choices of who to talk to on tv tonight. i want to thank you...

Rights for women, we didnt have rights for blacks in this country. he needs to be reminded that this is a new world and that people in this country have a different way of thinking about things. as evidenced by our president, barack obama, being elected. so you know, someone needs to pluck him in the head and wake him up. >> heidi, jim inhofe never saw one minute of combat but feels hes an authority on how it will work nowadays in the foxhole. >> hes gone through training. barack obamas not a ve...

Unit cohesion. its the same argument that was made back before the services were racially integrated. does unit cohesion suffer if you put gay and straight soldiers together? >> well, the interesting thing is that all communities are tribal. and the smaller the community and the more focused the objective, the more tribal it is. there is no more tribal society than the military establishment, and so, therefore, things like sexual orientation, race and all the rest of that stuff just fall by the ...

I was working in an amazing squadron. the people were highly dedicated, highly trained. they worked hard at getting the mission done and were successful at that. we had strong unit cohesion. after i was fired, it had a complete disruption to the unit, to the cohesion, to the mission. theres a lot of chaos, confusion. i was replaced by an officer who was junior to me, and who wasnt adequately prepared for the job. as a result, the mission suffered and so did the unit cohesi cohesion. >> i know yo...

>> i think the rule of dont ask, dont tell has seemed to work pretty well. >> it has helped to balance a potentially disruptive tension between the desires of a minority and the broader interests of our all-volunteer force. it has sustained unit cohesion and unit moral. >> today in the house armed services committee, congressman "you lie" joe wilson explained what proponents of keeping the anti-gay policy mean when they say that the policy is working. >> during fiscal year 1999 through fiscal ye...