How long did it take to implement DADT?
January 6, 2011 4:01 PM Subscribe
I'm curious: how long did it take to implement DADT?
There's all this talk of what it will take to implement the repeal of DADT: changes in regulations, policies, and training. Certainly the Defense Department went through similar steps when DADT was first put into place. So how long did it take to train everyone about DADT?
My simple mind thinks that the lengths of time should be comparable, all things being equal.
There's all this talk of what it will take to implement the repeal of DADT: changes in regulations, policies, and training. Certainly the Defense Department went through similar steps when DADT was first put into place. So how long did it take to train everyone about DADT?
My simple mind thinks that the lengths of time should be comparable, all things being equal.
Best answer: i think your logic is flawed - they went from "immediate discharge if we think you're gay" to "we just aren't going to talk about it unless you walk around looking all gay." this change is from "we're not going to talk about it" to "we're going to be openly accepting of homosexuals in the military." those changes aren't apples to apples.
posted by nadawi at 4:31 PM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 4:31 PM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
My simple mind thinks that the lengths of time should be comparable, all things being equal.
Highly doubtful. It might only take a ship a few hours to sink, but once it's covered in barnacles and coral, it'll take significantly longer to bring to the surface and clean up.
Once you have a policy in place, the policies you write afterward work with it, clarify it, and otherwise depend on it, so it's not as simple as just ripping them out. They've had 15 years for DADT to get intertwined into the inner workings of the DoD, it's not going to disappear with the stroke of a pen.
posted by toomuchpete at 4:33 PM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Highly doubtful. It might only take a ship a few hours to sink, but once it's covered in barnacles and coral, it'll take significantly longer to bring to the surface and clean up.
Once you have a policy in place, the policies you write afterward work with it, clarify it, and otherwise depend on it, so it's not as simple as just ripping them out. They've had 15 years for DADT to get intertwined into the inner workings of the DoD, it's not going to disappear with the stroke of a pen.
posted by toomuchpete at 4:33 PM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
It will take longer and it will be done in stages. They'll come up with and education policy first, draft new orders, general and specific, then educate the troops (remember that weird comic book?), then start admitting openly gay servicemembers. Then they will have to draft a policy for readmitting those fired for being gay.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:07 PM on January 6, 2011
posted by Ironmouth at 5:07 PM on January 6, 2011
Best answer: As nadawi points out, DADT replaced a very similar system. The "implementation" of DADT consisted of training over the course of years in what commanders were and were allowed to do. And precious little of them gave a rat's ass anyway. If a CO wanted someone out, it got done. That training is still going on, and still being ignored (albeit in fewer and fewer cases). Any change in discharge rates didn't come about because it was legal to be gay-but-not-out; the change came because fewer COs cared.
So, in a very real sense, the transfer to DADT is still being implemented.
posted by Etrigan at 6:07 PM on January 6, 2011
So, in a very real sense, the transfer to DADT is still being implemented.
posted by Etrigan at 6:07 PM on January 6, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mhum at 4:11 PM on January 6, 2011