Won’t Repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Cost Money?
Blogger and activist (and someone I admire) Joe Mirabella has a piece today on Bilerico that asks, “Why was the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” excluded from the 2011 budget?” It’s a good question, one he tried to answer.
I’m not sure we know.
Joe writes,
“Most military heterosexual families have access to a plethora of services and benefits. Basics like health insurance, death benefits, housing and moving costs, are provided to military families.”
“Is DOMA the real reason we don’t see more detail on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the 2011 budget? Is DOMA the reason Congress is pushing back and lowering expectations about how quickly we will see a repeal?”
Take a look at the piece. He’s done a lot of work to ask and answer some of the tough questions. I hope more bloggers work as hard as he has on this.
The one bit I’d add is that repealing DADT will save us money — not to mention credibility, honor, and manpower — in the long run. The cost of recruiting, training, and retaining manpower in the military is huge. Add to the the cost of discharging someone and then replacing them. It’s big. Imagine if we didn’t have to spend all that money?
And I hope we don’t drop the ball: “Oh, look, a shiny…”