Frank Gaffney sits down for an extensive conversation with former Commandant of the US Marine Corps, retired General Carl Mundy, about the dangerous potential repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the armed forces.

 

"Neither the Constitution nor the Congress gives any citizen the right to serve. No one today is compelled to do so, and for the past 38 years, all who have chosen to serve have been volunteers who, at the point of enlistment, have knowingly given up certain of their civil rights and have sworn, as set out above, to uphold the laws that deny them certain rights. Not all who apply are accepted, and to ensure the effectiveness of the military in the purpose for which it exists, you give the Services authority to reject applicants for reasons that are unacceptable or less restrictive in ordinary society - age, physical or mental challenges, education, drug use or abuse, excessive weight, and a number of other reasons. One of the long-standing reasons judged by you and your predecessors not to be in the best interests of the armed forces because of its impact on the cohesion and teamwork critical to effectiveness in the unique environment of military service is homosexuality. Seventeen years ago, after extensive debate in a dozen hearings, your predecessors and some of you enacted a law based on reasoning as sound then as it is today, that prohibits those who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces, because, you concluded, their presence "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability." Nothing in this law requires anyone to lie about who they are. Indeed, their enlistment contract requires only that applicants give truthful certification of their understanding and of what they have revealed and that they give their sworn oath of loyalty and obedience. It denies no civil right." 

General Carl Mundy, USMC (Ret.)
30th Commandant of the Marine Corps