Tweet
All of the occupants of the PHB 2012 GOP Clown Car who are proponents of restoring DADT take a look at this story in the Wall Street Journal. A top enlisted service member is telling opponents of repeal to get with the program. Now.
Sgt. Major of the Marine Corps Micheal P. Barrett speaks to III Marine Expeditionary Force Marines and Sailors at Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan, June 13, 2011. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. J.L. Wright, Jr.) In that respect, Sgt. Maj. Micheal Barrett, recently selected to be the senior enlisted adviser to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, fits the bill. Sgt. Maj. Barrett has a long military resume, including combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he doesn’t need a microphone to get his point across.“You all joined for a reason: to serve,” he continued. “To protect our nation, right?”
“Yes, sergeant major,” Marines replied.
“How dare we, then, exclude a group of people who want to do the same thing you do right now, something that is honorable and noble?” Sgt. Maj. Barrett continued, raising his voice just a notch. “Right?”
Sgt. Maj. Barrett then described conversations with U.K. troops, who saw a similar ban lifted a decade ago, with little disruption. And to drive the point home, he produced a pocket copy of the Constitution.
“Get over it,” he said. “We’re magnificent, we’re going to continue to be. … Let’s just move on, treat everybody with firmness, fairness, dignity, compassion and respect. Let’s be Marines.”
2 Comments
I’ve heard speculationthat Obama’s going to announce “certification” (i.e. announce that he’s finally doing the right thing) at the White House’s Pride celebration next week. I won’t get too excited till it happens, if only because attending Pride at this White House means swallowing your pride. If Barry finally moves on this, all well and good. It’s about time he kept at least one of the promises he made to us three years ago. One is good. But when do we get the rest?
Let’s be honest: by ending DADT he’ll be facing the reality that the courts are going to strike it down anyway. How convenient that he’s doing it during campaign season. I’ll be more than willing to give him credit for that much (if it really happens) but no more.
A point“Sgt. Maj. Barrett then described conversations with U.K. troops, who saw a similar ban lifted a decade ago, with little disruption. And to drive the point home, he produced a pocket copy of the Constitution.”
Has it occurred to anyone that the anti-gay religious right really doesn’t believe in the American system? It’s implicit in a lot of the commentary about “Christian principles” and so forth, but no ever seems to come right out and say that Christianity, as practiced by the hardcore evangelicals and the Catholic hierarchy, is diametrically opposed to American values.
Good for the Sgt. Major.