Marine Corps plans for ‘don’t ask’ repeal.......

All of these articles I'm sending can be found in my POW/MIA Veterans newsletter... I had a funny feeling that if anybody was going to ask for the repeal of "Don't Ask- Don't Tell" it'd be the Marines!! :*)


Gypsy
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http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/01/marine-corps-plans-for-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-012911w/
Marine Corps plans for ‘don’t ask’ repeal

By Andrew deGrandpre - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Jan 29, 2011 15:56:20 EST

Marine Corps leaders are developing plans to implement repeal of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting military service by homosexuals, top service officials said in a videotaped message released late Friday night.

The Marine Corps has organized an operational planning team that is working with the Defense Department to “determine the best way forward,” said Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the senior enlisted adviser to Commandant Gen. Jim Amos. The two appear side-by-side in the three-minute video, each encouraging Marines to embrace the service’s cultural diversity.

Watch and discuss See the video at the top of the page. Join the discussion on Marine Corps Times’ blog, Battle Rattle. You can also send us a letter to the editor by e-mailing us. Related reading • Despite DADT repeal, court won’t hold lawsuit

• Pentagon outlines new training on gays It’s unclear from their message what policy changes may be in the works or how they would be implemented. Reached Saturday, the commandant’s spokesman referred questions about the operational planning team to Manpower and Reserve Affairs at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. Officials there weren’t immediately available for comment.

The commandant’s video, said Maj. Joe Plenzler, is in line with his pledge to Congress to “step out smartly” in implementing repeal of the policy enacted in 1993. Amos, he said, “put his money where his mouth is.”

Although short on specifics, Amos and Kent make it clear they will lean heavily on unit leaders throughout the ranks — “from junior Marines to the most senior,” Kent says — to spread word that as the law is changed, Marines must “continue to treat one another with dignity and respect.”

“As always,” Kent says, “engaged leadership will be the key to implementation.”

In the months before Congress voted to repeal “don’t ask,” Amos — like his predecessor, retired Gen. James Conway — repeatedly advised against changing the policy. Doing so, he said, would be a “distraction” for Marines in combat that could cost lives.

“Above all else,” Amos says in the video, “we are loyal to the Constitution. … We’re Marines. We care for one another and respect the rights for all who wear this uniform.”

Adds Kent: “Our Marine Corps is a diverse force and all have earned the right to wear the eagle, globe and anchor.”

Defense Department officials said Friday they expect it will take about three months to prepare the military for implementing the new law. Training materials — including videos and PowerPoint slides intended to facilitate unit-level discussion — should be complete next week.

The plan outlines three levels of training: one for troops, one for their commanders, and one for administrators, recruiters and others who will help implement the changes. This “tool kit” can be augmented by the individual services to reflect their own cultures, officials said. Personnel will have to document that they have completed the training.