tpg,
Maybe a few years back (like 10 or 15 or so), I had a problem with the whole idea of homosexuals openly serving. "Not in MY service" was my typical and very vocal thoughts on the matter.
But as I got older and gained more responsibility, I came to realize it really wasn't MY AF, it was the US Taxpayers. And the best people for the Taxpayers money were the ones who did their job. My headaches became trying to get those who didn't do their job to either: 1) change their attitudes and learn to perform, or 2) take their attitudes with them and return to the civilian world. And you know what? I learned that these were the only two categories of classification of the troops that really mattered (performers and non-performers).
It made me think. Who am I to judge what a person does at home when not in uniform. (I mean, some folks play fantasy football, some play fantasy computer games like WoW, some live fantasy lives on weekends dressing up as Civil War soldiers or Middle age knights, pretending to die on pretend fields of glory. And some just mow the lawn, do a little home project or two, and go grocery shopping with the Missus and the kids.) Who really cares what you do with your free time, as long as it is legal. And as long as what they do IN uniform gets the mission done, then they're aces in my book.
A certain recent case of a certain Lt Col who happened to be in my sister squadron doing the same job I did at the same level drove this point home for me. A warrior's warrior in the air, plenty of flight time and combat experience. A RESPECTED aviator, instructor, and Mentor. And an pretty good acquaintance I shared a few beers and a few war stories with. Who just happened to get caught in a homosexual scandal and get relieved 2 years before he was eligible to retire. You may have seen the news.
Would I have taken to the public airwaves to become the latest cause celeb like he took it? Perhaps not. But I don't know the levels I would have gone to either. I don't think I would have slunk into the background either, like the leadership hoped for. Perhaps I would have fought as well.
But what I do know is the AF lost a good warrior over something he did AT HOME, in PRIVATE. And to me, that is a shame. I know there will be issues, I know there will be things to overcome. But the military has been asked before to do similar shifts in attitude and acceptance. Desegregation comes to mind, and it was a bitter fight to get to where we are today, where the opposition used some of the same arguments. But I think everyone here would agree it was the right thing to do and worth the struggle.
So I guess you can count me in with those who looks at the President's speech yesterday and says: "about time".