Dakota Beacon

The military today is not what it used to be. Gender based units once existed, but only as a supplement in order to free up men for combat. Once upon a time, women were permitted in the Army as units in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Once upon a time the Navy force structure included all-female units as Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) and later identified as U.S. Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve). Once upon a time the Air Force contained all-female units of Women in the Air Force (WAF). Likewise, the Marine Corps had the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve.

In these instances, women supplemented the men and were kept separate for reasons of propriety and decorum. Sadly, these words have lost their operative function in the English language as demonstrated by forcing the military to become more libertine.

Today, for better or worse, and catering to political correctness, female units have been disbanded and women have been integrated into all positions in the services except into the combat arms. Even that restriction is about to fall.

Given the close proximity of twenty-four hour contact, close living space and fundamental biological magnetism between genders, sexual relations both consensual and forced in the military barely exceeds what would be found on college campuses. It is a morale and discipline problem foisted on commanders with operational readiness consequences.

Political correctness knows no bounds. It rages on while using the military as a social laboratory. Homosexuals were eventually permitted on a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” basis until changed by the Obama administration. Military policy now permits openly homosexual men and women to be integrated into the ranks. Homosexual “weddings” are now performed in military chapels including the West Point Chapel and homosexual married couples are given the same benefits and privileges as married heterosexual couples.

There currently appears a rather lengthy article in “GQ” (formerly “Gentleman’s Quarterly”) titled “Son, Men Don’t Get Raped.” The article opens with a few eye-opening statements. Sexual assaults in the military are becoming more common. More than half the victims of sexual assault are men. “GQ” alleges that 38 men are sexually assaulted every day. More military men are assaulted than women. The article further alleges that Pentagon figures indicate that almost 14,000 men were sexually assaulted in 2012.

The author, correspondent Nathaniel Penn, in true politically correct fashion, wants the reader to believe that the increase in sexual assaults against men by men is not related to the 2011 repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy by the Obama administration. Oh, no. Not at all.

He would rather his readers believe that the problem stems from the military culture itself. Because, he contends, authoritarian military culture is a balance between aggression and obedience, the potential for sexual violence exists.

For the record, new recruits have never been allowed to question the authority of their superiors. Even seasoned subordinates seldom challenge the boss. There has always been a power structure in every military organization from time immemorial. If the military culture itself were at fault, then how do you account for the spike in male-on-male sexual assaults if not for the fact that sexual norms and mores are being forcibly changed? In fact, how do you account for an increase in male-on-female assaults if not for the same reason? All military organizations are authoritarian to the core. If this disintegrates, there is no military – period.

Only in recent decades has the American military been forced to become more liberal in its policies accommodating gender and homosexuality. Political correctness has struck as savagely and as mortally as any enemy!

When social norms and mores (deeply engrained values regarding men, women and homosexuality) are violated, then sexual promiscuity and violence are bound to increase. Wisdom acquired over centuries of experience and understanding human sexual behavior has created the military structure in all cultures to be what it is – strictly male heterosexually oriented. Rare exceptions may be found but the operative term is “rare.” This is true for the greater integration of women into most units and now it is true for the integration of homosexuals into the ranks.

The current change in military culture is the salient variable of eliminating the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in favor of a policy welcoming a homosexual population as a normal and equivalent part of military culture.

The “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy worked. That the military establishment must now regard as normal and equivalent the two or three percent of the general population that makes up the homosexual population is a bad idea.

Ideas have consequences and it is the unintended consequences that plague any idea. This is amplified with bad ideas.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)