"Don't ask, don't tell" study

A recent study has found that over 193 million dollars was spent when enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy over the past six years in the military. The Government Accountability Office (nicknames the GAO) looked at over 3,664 cases of those who were forced to leave the military for been gay or lesbian. After looking at each case, the total showed that it costs nearly 50,000 dollars to replace a soldier and train a new one. Moreover, nearly 40% of those who were replaced had “critical” occupations or important skills that were essential to the military. Congress recently repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and President Obama signed the change in law in December. Since then, those who have opposed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” have argued that the policy drained the military of much needed talent when fighting two wars. As a result of this new repeal, money, time, and talent won’t be wasted on enforcing this old policy.

This article is essentially journalism, due to the fact that the author reported facts about an old governmental policy and was informing the public of its effects. By stating the changes in governmental spending due to the “don’t ask, don’t tell “ policy, the author is providing information for the public so that they can analyze this and become more independent and self-governing. However, this article is little more biased toward being against the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. By displaying information that seems to only portray this policy in a negative light, and providing quotes that only support it, the article doesn’t show both sides of an argument. On the other hand, the author’s opinion was well supported by the statistics providing by the GAO study. So, despite some slightly biased opinions, this article proved to follow the standard ethics of journalism.

The core biblical truth for creation (Language Arts) states that, “All men are created equal in God’s sight. We are all made in God’s image.” Now it is clear throughout the Bible that homosexuality is a sin, however this issue has nothing to do with this. The policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” removed those in the military who stated that they were gay or lesbian. Forcing these people to leave the military because of their sexual orientation was unintelligent decision. All men were created equal. Therefore, all men are seen as equal, and all men have sinful natures. If one has to leave the military due to a sinful nature, then there would be no military left in existence. Furthermore, an individual’s sexual orientation does not determine or affect their performance in the military, just as gender or race also does not. Every person should have the opportunity to serve their country and sexual orientation should not be a deciding factor in this.