Gays and Sex in the Military

Connell’s suggestion that homosexuals in the military might turn the tables on the male heterosexuals, i.e., the gays might make the straights walk the gauntlet. Don’t hold your breath. Like most journalists she completely misses the point.

I never was commissioned, but I wore stripes in the Army (WWII), the Navy (Korea), and the Air Force (Vietnam), and just the thought makes me chuckle. If a sergeant were so meek as to permit himself to be groped in front of his troops he would lose all effectiveness as an NCO. He may as well pull off his stripes and put in his papers. And just turning in the groper doesn’t cut it. That’s not how it’s done. Things like that are settled on the spot out behind the barracks. An NCO carries himself in such a way that nobody would even think about putting a hand on him.

I can’t believe that commissioned officers of the U.S. Navy, in uniform, permitted themselves to be groped and that they then went on to destroy the careers of other officers because they didn’t settle it themselves. If they can’t face down a drunken groper in a hotel corridor, how can they command troops in combat?

GEORGE H. McCARTY

Highland