'They Won't Hold Up Well in Combat' — North Carolina Marines Voice Concerns on DADT Repeal

Actually, just a couple of dozen of 'em, but interesting nevertheless. At NYT, "Backing ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal, With Reservations":

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Pfc. Daniel Carias, a Bronx native who is just weeks from graduating from Marine Corps infantry training at Camp Geiger near here, says he has known plenty of gay men since high school and feels completely comfortable around them.

He thinks Congress did the right thing in repealing the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, a policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” But Private Carias, 18, has one major concern: gay men, he says, should not be allowed to serve in front-line combat units.

“They won’t hold up well in combat,” he said.

That view, or variations on it, was expressed repeatedly in interviews with Marines around this town, home to Camp Lejeune, and outside Camp Pendleton in Southern California on Sunday.

Most of the approximately two dozen Marines interviewed said they personally did not object to gay men or lesbians serving openly in the military. But many said that introducing the possibility of sexual tension into combat forces would be disruptive, an argument made by the commandant of the Marine Corps a week before the historic repeal was passed by the Senate on Saturday and sent to President Obama for his signature.

Many concerns — and possible solutions — are outlined in a Defense Department plan for carrying out the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Officials said they did not yet have a timetable for adopting the change. Under the terms of the legislation, the Defense Department will not carry out the repeal until Mr. Obama, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, certify that the military is ready to make the change.

RTWT at the link.

Yeah, pfft, what do these guys know, right? It's an unrepresentative sample, of kids, really, mostly just out of high school.

By contrast, surely the editors at NYT know best, for example, at today's editorial, "At Long Last, Military Honor":

The Senate vote on Saturday afternoon to allow open service by gay and lesbian soldiers was one of the most important civil rights votes of our time. The ringing message of the decision to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law will carry far beyond its immediate practical implications. Saturday may be remembered as the day when sexual tolerance finally become bipartisan.

Sadly, the vast majority of Republicans remained on the benighted side of the party line. Senator John McCain disgraced his distinguished military career by flailing against the vote, claiming it would be celebrated only in liberal bastions like Georgetown salons. But to the surprise even of supporters of repeal, eight Republican senators broke with party orthodoxy and voted with virtually every Democrat to end the policy. Fifteen House Republicans did the same on Wednesday. By focusing on history and decency, they took a stand of which their states can be proud. Perhaps a new moral momentum may even help them erase the remaining traces of prejudice in public life, including Washington’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriage.

Hmm... Actually the Pentagon's report was a bit more complicated that the editors let on. And interesting how we can see that DADT repeal will help "erase the last traces of prejudice" in American life. Well, no. We'd have to totally erase human nature to eliminate prejudice — but reason isn't the basis for the policy change. Politically correct emotionalism is.

PREVIOUSLY:

* "Gay Rights Militants to Push for Same-Sex Marriage Following DADT Victory."

* "'Deal With It' — Straight Troops to Shower With Gays Under DADT."

* "Senate Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' — BUMPED AND UPDATED!"

And more from Stephanie Gutmann, at National Review, "Rhetoric on DADT Was Overblown."

My award for schmaltziest lede of the year goes to the New York Times for kvelling in an editorial yesterday that “More than 14,000 soldiers lost their jobs and their dignity over the last 17 years because they were gay, but there will be no more victims of this injustice.” Can we have a little reality here, please?

Via Memeorandum.

Cross-posted from American Power.