United States’ Discriminatory Policy in the Dustbin The United States government’s continuation of a discriminatory policy poses people to question the extension of freedom in a nation where “all men are created equal” and that boasts about their protected rights. For 17 years, the United States government’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy barred homosexuals from openly serving in the armed forces. Military commanders could not ask military personnel about their sexual orientations or begin an investigation except upon the receipt of “credible information” of homosexual conduct. The policy was a compromise between President Bill Clinton, who sought to repeal the military's ban on gay personnel, and the opponents of that repeal …show more content…
As a result, The implementation of the DADT policy has come at a high cost- not only to homosexual service members, but also to the United States military. During the past decade the military has suffered intense shortfalls in recruiting as the United States was engaged in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Due to this, the military compromised the education, moral, and aptitude standards new recruits were required to meet by offering “moral waivers” to charged criminals and lowering its education and aptitude requirements. The latest statistics compiled by the Defense Department and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the National Priorities Project show that the percentage of new Army recruits with high school diplomas has plummeted from 94 percent in 2003 to 83.5 percent in 2005 to 70.7 percent in 2007. Following this, the percentage of what the Army calls “high quality” – those with high school diplomas who score in the upper 50th percentile on the Armed Forces’ aptitude tests – declined from 56.2 percent in 2005 to 44.6 percent in 2007. In order to ensure that the numerical recruiting missions were met, the Army had to even weaken their regulation that no more than 2 …show more content…
In 2004, just 0.6 percent of new soldiers scored so low. Then in 2005 as the Army had a hard time recruiting, the limit was raised to 4 percent; in 2007, however, the Army exceeded that limit by admitting 4.1 percent of Category IV recruits (Kaplan). Most worrisome is the number of so-called “moral waivers” issued to recruits charged or convicted of felonies that allowed them to enter the military. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps recruited significantly more felons into their ranks in 2007 than in 2006, including people convicted of armed robbery, burglary, and arson. In 2008, the New York Times reported that the number of waivers issued to active-duty Army recruits with felony convictions surged from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007, while the Marine Corps increased its issuance of felony waivers from 208 to 350, almost a 70 percent increase. Additionally, from September 30, 2006, to September 30, 2007, the Army granted conduct waivers for misdemeanors and felonies to 18 percent of its new recruits, an increase of three percentage points from the previous
Healthcare systems are microcosms of the larger society in which they exist. Where there is structural violence or cultural violence in the larger society, so will there be evidence of systematic inequities in the institutions of these societies. The healthcare system in Australia is one example—from a plethora of similarly situated healthcare systems—in which the color of a patient’s skin or the race of his parents may determine the quality of medical received. Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are vastly different for non-Aboriginal, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islanders residing in Australia. The life expectancy of Aboriginal men is 21 years shorter than for non-Aboriginal men in Australia. For women, the difference is 19 years. The infant mortality rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male infants is 6.8% and the infant mortality rate for female infants is 6.7%. For non-Aboriginal infants, the infant mortality rates are 1% for male infants and 0.8% for female infants. Further, the Aboriginal population is subject to a wide-range of diseases that do not exhibit comparatively high incidence rates in non-Aboriginal Australians.
In 1973 a thirty-three year-old Caucasian male named Allan Bakke applied to and was denied admission to the University of California Medical School at Davis. In 1974 he filed another application and was once again rejected, even though his test scores were considerably higher than various minorities that were admitted under a special program. This special program specified that 16 out of 100 possible spaces for the students in the medical program were set aside solely for minorities, while the other 84 slots were for anyone who qualified, including minorities. What happened to Bakke is known as reverse discrimination. Bakke felt his rejections to be violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment, so he took the University of California Regents to the Superior Court of California. It was ruled that "the admissions program violated his rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment"1 The clause reads as follows:"...No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor without due process of the law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."2 The court ruled that race could not be a factor in admissions. However, they did not force the admittance of Bakke because the court could not know if he would have been admitted if the special admissions program for minorities did not exist.
...protest movements throughout America and the world.” Among the gay community Stonewall has become the word for freedom, for fighting, for equality. It became a turning point in Gay history, so much so that most books on the subject refer to “pre-Stonewall” and “post-Stonewall” as the lines of demarcation. Of course the journey is still long and fight has not been won. At the turn of the century there were still 20 states that made homosexual sex illegal , any only a few states would recognize the love and companionship of gays through marriage or civil unions. The military policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is still active and prejudices continue to exist. But, as exemplified by any other civil rights movement, it is through the constant grind of activists and lay-people constantly protesting and educating, that change occurs, even if only one person at a time.
From the end of the draft in 1973 to the military data from 2003, the number of women in service rose from 2 percent to 12 percent. A sample of military women studied in 1991 showed 69 percent to have experienced sexual harassmen...
The United States Army is an important subculture within our society. It has many uniquely defining attributes, which separate it from the general culture and from the subcultures of the other branches of the military. The Army’s subculture is critical to the effective operation and discipline of the Army. The Army is critical to the survival of our country, our society, and our way of life. Only certain individuals are willing to accept the demands of this subculture to be soldiers in order to preserve our freedoms for their own, and future, generations.
Tim O’Brien finds himself staring at his draft notice on June 17, 1968. He was confused and flustered. O’Brien does not know how or why he got selected for the draft. All he knew was that he was above the war itself, “A million things all at once—I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, to everything. It couldn’t happen” (41). He was also demented on the fact that he, a war hater, was being drafted. He felt if anyone were to be drafted it should be the people who supported the war. “If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own precious fluids on the line” (42). His draft notice was when he first carried his thought of embarrassment. He instantly thought if he does not support the war he should not have to go to war. The only way not to go to war was to flee the country so the draft council could not find him. He had a moral split. “I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile” (44). This quote is so true in young adults, not only then, but also now. Peer pressure, the thought of being embarrassed if we do not do something, pushes many young adults to do things they do not want to such as pushing Tim O’Brien to enter the draft. The thought of being judged ...
In the essay “Why gays shouldn’t serve” by David Horowitz he states that “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell policy is a way of containing the destructive force of sex on a combat capability called Unit Cohesion. (354)” This controversial topic has surfaced more and more recently because Barack Obama wanted to let all people serve in the military, regardless of their sexual orientation. “More than 1,000 retired flag and general officers have joined us in signing an open letter to President Obama and Congress, repeal of this law would prompt many dedicated people to leave the military (James J. Lindsay).” There are multiple points you could focus on when trying to explain your point on why gays or lesbians should not serve in the military. The first point we will be focusing on is: how would military life change if straight men or women knew that there were gays or lesbians sleeping next to them? The second point is: would straight men and women communicate with the gays or lesbians the same way as they would toward other straight men or women? The third and final point is: how would other countries view our military if they knew we had gays or lesbians in the military?
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy means that service men and women are not questioned about their sexual orientation, and they are not to talk about their sexual orientation. In 1993 U. S. Congress passed a federal law forbidding the military service of openly gay men and women serving in the military. Even though Congrees created the law, it was up to the military leadership to carry it out. Opposing viewpoints states:
From the mothers and fathers of the daughters and sons in the military to the friends that are left back home when someone enlists and prepares on their journey, this film provides a starting point to influence conversation’s about the sexual violence and injustice prevalent across the DOD. The film speaks out to the audience’s emotions by delivering jaw-dropping statistics all while providing a strong ethical basis of trustworthy resources, interviews, and statistics. This documentary is a great example of how using pathos, ethos and logos to implore an audience to question how the DOD reacts to MST. By combining all these rhetoric appeals, Kirby is able to convince the audience that there is sexual misconduct in the military and there is no evidence to prove that they are doing anything about
Although the United States has replaced a partially drafted army with an all-volunteer army, the Selective Service System stills allows men to be drafted if the military is too small (Olson-Raymer, par. 48-50). When the United States invaded Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Americans voluntarily enlisted (par. 55). Despite this, military personnel claimed that there was a shortage of soldiers, and a draft would be beneficial in the war effort (Thompson, par. 7). Fortunately, the draft remained and still remains unnecessary. Whenever a draft has been implemented in the United States, controversy has ensued. Some people think a draft
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of rape and sexual assault in the military. The number of attacks for rape and sexual assault in the military are at an all-time high. Women have recently been allowed to fight on the front line. While this may be a huge achievement for women-kind, for this woman, it is a very scary thought. I am a junior at Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences; a school geared towards students wishing to enter the medical field. I may be forced to join the military one day if a war breaks out and women are needed to protect the country. I would be happy to serve my country if I did not have to be scared of my fellow soldiers. Rape and sexual assault are major issues in the military and have been for many years without much effort to decrease the attacks. I am suggesting that unless the rape and sexual assault issue is fixed, the amount of people joining the military, specifically the women, will decrease greatly.
This article focuses mainly on the problems that the military is having today on recruiting young men and women. For the last few months, both the Army and the Marines have been down in their numbers. The military now is trying everything they can do in order to get people to join the service. The armed forces alone have spent over $4 billion dollars in advertisements to get young people to join. They do this by talking at schools, handing out free merchandise, and even give out free video games that simulate actual training. The military now is faced with such a crisis that the draft may be the only option if numbers keep staying down, but the Pentagon says there won’t be one.
A soldier, conscripted or not, will face many stresses during their career. Serving for any amount of time is a trial, but some are more suited to the military than others. A drafted soldier may go through their entire mandatory term feeling miserable and insufficient, completely overwhelmed by the tasks that military professionals easily complete. These pressures and the denial of a choice of career should not be placed on any person. The idea of a two-year term of mandatory military service being implanted has been brought up. Military service should not be mandatory not only because it violates fundamental individual rights of humans, but also due to the fact that a military based on volunteers would operate much more impressively than one comprised of conscripted soldiers who would not have chosen to serve otherwise.
Between the 1950s and 1960s homosexuals had been frequently harassed and ridiculed by many people, including the police (Ojeda, 12). Homosexuals began to fight back after the civil rights and anti-war movements by asking those who were stil...
2. Bell, Sandra F., Gabrielle M. Anderson, Herbert I. Dunn, Brian G. Hackett, and Joseph W. Kirschbaum. "Military Education: DOD Needs To Enhance Performance Goals and Improve Oversight of Military Academies." . GAO, Sept. 2003. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. .