Today, Servicemembers United released a new ad against Don't Ask Don't Tell.
In the narrative, describing the irreconcilable conflict he has, this anonymous Marine says:
I have to serve but lie at the same time. The values of my military branch are Honor, Courage and Commitment. There's no honor in lying. I have the choice to reenlist again. I cannot, morally, continue to work for an institution that requires me to lie.
The first part of the video describes how he saw lives lost because the law of the land demands that service personnel vital to troops' missions be discharged because they are of a different sexual orientation.
Now, we are about to lose this experienced veteran because he can no longer take the hypocrisy. No less than Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed with this soldier's thoughts in testimony before Congress:
No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. --Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
but to no immediate avail.
Whatever we might think about this country's war strategy, it behooves us to have trained, experienced men and women conducting tactical operations on the ground so that still more troops don't come home in body bags or without limbs.
Yet the President, at the behest of his Defense Secretary, continues to allow this policy, even while just yesterday making a speech praising the men and women who serve. He continues to allow the armed forces he commands not to be as effective as they could be. He continues to allow the men and women he is responsible for to face more peril than they would otherwise, all because he is waiting for Godot Congress. Instead of taking on the moral and ethical responsibility that is his to do what is right and order a stop to the discharges -- as he is legally allowed to do under 10 U.S.C. 12305.