The Ethicality of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Abstract

The United States Army Policy of Dont Ask, Dont Tell is unethical. What wouldhappen if the Army took the same approach with extremist organizations? It would be okay tobe a gang member, skinhead, or neo-nazi, you just cannot tell. What message is the Armysending society by embracing an overall attitude of: We do not want to know about it?The Soldiers in the Army are a slice representation of the American public at large. TheArmys Soldiers are members of all races and both sexes. These Soldiers are heroes, leaders,followers, rapists, thieves, intelligent people, stupid people, killers, nice people, racists, clergymembers, and everything that is in American society, to include both heterosexual andhomosexual individuals. The Army is the test bed for improving American society and has beenfor centuries. Recent examples include: desegregation of the Army in the 50s, expanding rolesfor women in the military, and Army efforts to minimize sexual harassment in the workplace.The Army provides an excellent way to influence a large cross-section of Americans once therehas been a consensus by the American people of a direction to go.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 03, 2008
Accession Number
AD1133818

Entities

People

  • Thomas J. Latter

Organizations

  • United States Army Sergeants Major Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Discrimination
  • Elections
  • Governments
  • Homosexuality
  • Leadership
  • Noncommissioned Officers
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Personnel Management
  • Recruiting
  • Sex
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Social Problems
  • Social Sciences
  • Societies
  • Sociology
  • Standards
  • Terrorists
  • Test Beds
  • United States
  • Volunteers

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.