Filed under Things we already knew: Openly gay servicemembers are not harmful to unit cohesion.

Duh. We already knew that over 70% of the military is just freakin’ fine with serving alongside gay people. We also knew that gays have been serving openly in the UK and Israel (our BESTEST FRIENDS!) for years. But now we have a study (PDF, in case your computer doesn’t like them) implemented by retired military officers that confirms it, again:

WASHINGTON – Congress should repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law because the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win, according to a new study released by a California-based research center.

The study was conducted by four retired military officers, including the three-star Air Force lieutenant general who in early 1993 was tasked with implementing President Clinton’s policy that the military stop questioning recruits on their sexual orientation.

“Evidence shows that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline or cohesion,” the officers states.

To support its contention, the panel points to the British and Israeli militaries, where it says gay people serve openly without hurting the effectiveness of combat operations.

Duh.

Also duh, one of the study’s findings is that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell actually can UNDERMINE unit cohesion, a fact that will make Elaine Donnelly’s homophobic peaskull explode. Box Turtle:

“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell” has forced some commanders to choose between breaking the law and undermining the cohesion of their units.” The authors hinted at this in their first finding. Here, they explored the problem more fully:

The Study Group heard from a heterosexual officer who returned recently from a tour of duty in Iraq. He told the group that one of his best non-commissioned officers was probably a lesbian, and that if he had been presented with credible evidence of her homosexuality, he would have been forced to choose between following the law and keeping his unit intact. For this officer, unit cohesion was marked by the need to retain a qualified, meritorious lesbian service member. When asked which choice he would have made, he said that he would have opted to break the law. Experts in military law attested, “The statute makes it mandatory to follow up if told.” Yet, a former non-commissioned officer confirmed, “There were times I should have said something. I didn’t. I helped people manage their career.” He acknowledged, “I was breaking the law myself.”

Another finding, also from Box Turtle:

“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ has caused the military to lose some talented service members.” Between 2003 and 2006, more than 800 people with mission-critical skills have been dismissed under DADT. During the same period, the military recruited 4,230 convicted felons under the “moral waivers” program. They cited a UCLA study which found that 4,000 people would have retained each year since DADT was established in 1994 — about 1,000 on average were discharged each year, and 3,000 more left on their own who would have stayed if they could serve openly. In contrast, only 2% of servicemembers said they wouldn’t have joined the military if gays and lesbians were permitted to serve openly, which also amounts to about 4,000 per year. This means that repealing DADT would be a wash, recruitment-wise.

I would add that, as social attitudes continue to become more and more progressive on this issue, repeal of DADT will go from being a “wash, recruitment-wise,” to being an outright boon to recruitment and retention.

Box Turtle has analysis of all ten findings in the study, which, from what I can tell, is pretty much the last word on this issue (or should be).

I guess Elaine Donnelly should update her resume and brush up on her interviewing skills…