Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust spoke at the commissioning of her university’s graduates yesterday – graduates who had been compelled to pursue their professional military education at MIT because of Harvard’s enduring hostility to ROTC programs in the Yard. As predicted, she used the opportunity to both praise the new officer for serving their country in a time of war and disagree with Congress’ “Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t harass, don’t pursue” policy with respect to human sexuality:
“The freedoms we enjoy depend vitally on the service you and your forebears have undertaken in our behalf,” Faust told an audience of about 200 who saw five Harvard students recognized for their training and three officially receive their military appointments. “Indeed, I wish that there were more of you. I believe that every Harvard student should have the opportunity to serve in the military, as you do, and as those honored in the past have done.”
Oh, but they do Madame President. They do. They simply don’t have the right to make such service conditional. At least until Congress changes the law.
Which, stay tuned.
…or it could just be that Madame President is just a dick.
I thought this was beautifully done under the circumstances. She backed off considerably and I’m glad she did.
There will be changes…
Just as people can try to deny that there are women serving on the front lines in combat, they can also continue to delude themselves that there are not openly gay people serving in our armed forces…
Naivety is dangerous, ignorance is just plain deadly. The old ways are fading fast and all those who oppose it can thank the war for it.
All seven of my bunkmates in basic training are openly lesbian or bisexual in the Army. It took me 8 weeks to figure it out but they eventually clued me in. Apparently, I have no “gaydar.”
Can’t say I’m ashamed of that fact though… people shouldn’t be viewed as a sexual preference, they should be viewed as people. And if there are gays that want to serve, let em… they can take the places of the damn lot of the rest of the population that doesn’t.
There’s no place for ignorance in our military, not ANY kind.
Homophobes, you best get off now and try to kick all the gays out before it’s too late ’cause times… they are a’CHANGing.
; )
Oh, come on, AG. A commissioning ceremony is no place for some high up muckety muck to intone sonorously about political crap that the new ensigns and second looies have been beaten up about for four years and will have no power to deal with. That ain’t “beautifully”, it’s abusing the position and the speaking opportunity. That’s true no matter what someone’s position on DADT is, quite frankly.
I say lets turn the entire armed services into a 100% female thing and let them parachute in first and get THEIR asses blown up for a change while we retrosexuals cheer them on safely from a distance. If, as the femmes claim, women are the equal of men than it shouldn’t matter if we are 100% manned(excuse me, “womened”) by she-warriors. Right?
PS: I’m sorry we can’t turn the services into a 100% gay thing as since they are only about 3% of the population in any country (NOT the 10% their propaganda claims–at least that’s what 33 refereed studies have found) such a wonderful thing would be rather hard to do.
See what I mean? The guy in the above comment is criticizing from the opposite direction, but he’s equally missing the point. Lex’s complaint doesn’t have to do with the supposed issue at hand as much as it does the choice of the official to bash the new officers and their new calling at their own commissioning ceremony, likely as cover for having the temerity to finally show up to one.
Here’s an example of what I think Lex is talking about. Every once in a while people notice an occasional kid thrown out of the language school for not doing well with DADT. (You know, stuff like bonking each other in the barracks, which would get you in toss-out-able trouble whether it was AC or DC.) The activist types criticize the loss of a valuable linguist. That’s a good point; we don’t need to lose liunguists. However, if that same kid was not bonking people in the barracks, and instead ate too many donuts, that kid would be equally thrown out and lost as an asset and good luck finding national press on that one. The issue Lex is highlighting is that we follow rules in this job and at some point have to simply follow them–especially if they’re laws and not just policy. This is not about Teh Gheys, really–it’s about the military.
(OTOH the issue I’m pointing out, related, is that the speaker abused her position to be all snippy in contravention of Lex’s observation.)
Oh, and. Unrelated. I’m thinking it’d be more difficult to be gay in Amsterdam right now than it would be to be in the service. Funnily enough I know a guy who moved there because of its tolerance about thirty years ago.
“openly lesbian or bisexual in the Army. ”
Hmmm. Ain’t you supposed to “tell” (the T in DADT) if you know about it or seen ‘em carpet munching”? I thought the Army had an honor code. The USA ain’t the Sopranos. Or is it?
re “The old ways are fading fast” &
“they are a’CHANGing”
Know we’re your coming from. Ohhh my the sky is falling- I’m quaking in my boots..It must be the end of the world……Outta my face.
The whole conversation is just politics maquerading as sex…Thats what make it so friggin shi++y!
I’m actually glad I’m old and retired from the mil. 64 years ago, today my father had been on the ground since about 0100 and was “taking a walk” in France…If he read this tripe he’d say the same as me- B.S.
b2
“openly lesbian or bisexual in the Army. ”
Hmmm. Ain’t you supposed to “tell” (the T in DADT) if you know about it or seen ‘em carpet munching”? I thought the Army had an honor code. The USA ain’t the Sopranos. Or is it?
re “The old ways are fading fast” &
“they are a’CHANGing”
Know where your coming from. Ohhh my, the sky is falling- I’m quaking in my boots..It must be the end of the world……Outta my face.
The whole conversation is just politics maquerading as sex…Thats what make it so friggin shi++y!
I’m actually glad I’m old and retired from the mil. 64 years ago, today my father had been on the ground since about 0100 and was “taking a walk” in France…If he read this tripe he’d say the same as me- B.S.
b2
B2,
82nd or 101st?
AG, Don’t start namecalling to marginalize someone you don’t agree with. Especially, in this bin. Shows a lack of maturity and, perhaps, intellect.
B2- A airborne nod to your Old Man. God bless him. We used to love to have the WWII vets come by and visit us back when I was in the 82nd. We felt greatly honored.
GEO6
well, to be fair to AG, i did start it off by calling Madame President a dick…
(glad it didn’t stifle any dissenting views)
Craig, GEO6,
82nd. 19 years old. Pvt. Rifleman. Got out a Pvt in ’46. Died in ’73. Thanks for asking. Slipped out above due to the date. Very proud.
That generation of All-Americans was sure something and so are today’s generation of paratroopers- Thank G for ‘em.
b2
Thanks Bob. Do you happen to know which Company and Regiment? Being a history nerd I could probably tell you about where his stick landed, given enough time. Best-
B2,
This is a good week to honor heroes like your father. Midway in ’42 and Normandy in ’44 (also Saipan. Marines and soldiers landed on Saipan on 15 June, 1944, but because of the distances involved the invasion force sailed from Hawaii on the same day as the Normandy invasion. A three division attack, 2nd and 4th Marine divisions and 27th infantry division, halfway around the world from where your father was doing his all.)
The scale of it. Difficult to fathom these days. I thank god for men like your father. (19 years old!)
Somehow we always seem, in every generation to scrape up a few, enough, of those guys.
Back to Normandy: I read today S.L.A Marshall’s essay “First Wave At Omaha.” He paints a scene with Lt. Walter Taylor of the 29th infantry Division.
‘The village is quiet when Pearce joins him. Pearce says: “Williams is shot up back there and can’t move.”
Says Taylor: “I guess that makes me company commander.”
Answers Pearce: “This is probably all of Baker Company.” Pearce takes a head count; they number twenty-eight, including Taylor.
Says Taylor: “That ought to be enough. Follow me!”‘
In a movie, that dialogue would be a yawn. But think of real men saying those words under those
real circumstances.
Bless them and their memory.
Craig,
You’re right of course. I can remember my father coming into the room during those war movies of the ’50′s I’d be watching in B&W on the TV and I can remember him saying on several occasions : “Just think of all those individuals stories being made by every one of those folks”..and then he’d walk out. I wish I had asked more questions then.
GE06,
508 PIR. Don’t know which batt/comp he was in. I have his 214 (did my sister has it now) and it shows he mustered out late Jun 1946 at Ft Bragg from 18 AB hdqtrs so he could start college on GI bill. Rifleman badge, ETO, Bronze Star and some other things I can’t remember. No writeups. I have gone back to VA group years ago and more recently online but his service record stuff was destroyed in a fire back in the early seventies.
Sorta funny. I’m looking across the room right now and I’m looking at his picture in uniform on the wall. Airborne piss cutter on his head has a patch of a parachute, a khaki tie-khaki shirt under a 3/4 zipped up collared jacket with a patch over the left breast that says “United States Paratrooper”. At the 12 o’clock position are his jump wings. Awful young- if you saw it you’d see me 35 years ago. He was bigger, stronger and 500% tougher though.
When I was little my father wore those boots quite a bit on Saturdays and of course my brothers and I all got paratrooper boots, too! I can succinctly remember my Uncle Mike (Army Ranger ETO) always making fun of ‘em. Years ago when I was a kid we had all kinds of stuff lying around from the war that was brought home, even stuff my great Uncles and grandfather got in WWI..I used a lot of it as we played Army in the neighborhood in those days- seems funny now (no guns though!). All I have left are a Nazi Flag from a tank (I think thats what he said) locked in a plastic bag I haven’t seen in years and a Nazi SS knife with black handle w/ inset Nazi symbol in a black sheath. I would never sell ‘em because I would hate to see some skinhead or some other nut wearing it.
Where I came from calling someone a Nazi was instant fightin’ words.
I’ve been to the big 82nd AB Museum at Bragg but didn’t spend nearly the time needed to research. Plus those big unit pictures- it’s impossible to pick anybody out. I know if I give the 211 and all the info we have to the folks from St. Louis they’ll figure it out too. Something I need to do in the future I guess.
b2
B2,
Ask our host to give you my email address and I will get with you off line. It will be fun and an honor to research for you.
geo6