The farcical process of authorizing the open military service of gay people is yet to play out, but the outcome of that process is foreordained. The Gay Movement has powerful friends in government and the media. In a year or so, the force will begin to be somewhat different and that difference will grow greater as time passes and gay soldiers become more confident of the security of their position.
Michele Obama says that she cares for military families. I wonder if she understands what military families are. The military (especially the ground forces) are not analogous to an industrial corporation's work force. In industry, the workers are mere units of production and their families are merely an expense to be dealt with as cheaply as possible. In the military the families are part of the force. They are the women and kids who used to follow the wagons when the regiment changed post. The US military is unusual (but not unique) in that it has the long standing cultural pattern of having a large part of the force live on its posts (bases) with their families in married family housing. Most armies do not do that, but the US Army settled the West, often setting up shop beyond the frontier in places where there were no towns. Often the towns were later built around the security provided by an Army post. The Frontier in this sense started very near the eastern seaboard. Carlisle Barracks in central Pennsylvania was a British Army post garrisoned by the "Royal Americans" (now the Royal Green Jackets) and the Black Watch before the new US Army took charge of the place. The pattern was set early and has persisted. In places like Ft. Bragg, Ft. Hood, Ft. Campbell, Ft. Wainright, Ft Irwin thousands of military families live in the security of communities of their peers. The family quarters and community provided are part of the "package" as human resource staff would call it in civilian life. Families wait there while their units are deployed overseas. Some people prefer to live off post, preferring the real estate investment possibilities but I think that they are in the minority. To change this social system will be a major and wrenching experience.
Gay soldiers will have to be given the opportunity to live in married family quarters with their partners. Fair is fair. Nevertheless DOMA establishes the federal government's policy that gay marriage is not marriage. For gay partners to be given married family housing, DOMA must be repealed. If the US Government's future policy is that cohabitation of gay partners married or unmarried is allowed then they, logically, will be entitled to family housing. Most states, and especially the ones with the biggest Army posts do not recognize gay marriage and are unlikely to do so any time soon. Does that mean that gay soldiers will have to be given priority in assignment of family quarters? There are only so many units. Will the House of Representatives who voted yesterday to repeal the DADT law also vote construction money for more housing? Will those denied housing because of a shortage simply be expected to find a place to live in towns "outside the gate?" The realtors out there will be pleased.
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