The MD's Rx by Harold P. DuCloux, Jr. MD
Dr. DuCloux is a retired US Army Medical Officer and currently a practicing physician in the state of Wisconsin. tokenone@mac.com Contact him with questions about your health care and receive a reply.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), My Perspective
"Opinions are like [colons] everybody has one." Or so the cliche goes. So here is my opinion on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays and lesbians in the US Armed Services. First a little background. I served 22 years on active duty in the Army, 1972-1997, with time out for medical school. Half of my Army career was as a military "doctor". By that I mean my primary duty was as a physician in a hospital or medical clinic. The latter half of my career I was a commander who happened to be a physician. My primary assignment was in military units designed to go to war. My two career paths in the Army were very different.
In the hospital setting there were "lots" of openly gay and lesbian service members. Their personal lives had nothing to do with their professional lives. They did their jobs and went home just like in civilian life. The hospital staff, the patients, no one cared about your sexual orientation as long as you did your job as a physician, nurse, respiratory therapist or whatever. The only difference between a military hospital or clinic and a civilian one was that in military clinics, all the staff wore military uniforms.
In the "TOE" (go to war) units where I served, everyone was "macho" men as well as women. By macho, I mean excellence in soldier skills. Sexual orientation was not an issue. The important question was could you depend on your fellow soldier to keep you from being killed? The highest compliment one soldier could give another one was; "I would take a bullet for you." Few said that to each other but it was something that you felt. This is not a death wish but an attitude that is almost required in war that you trust your "battle buddy" to take a bullet for you.
In my last unit, my Command Sergeant Major was a female. She was tall with long blonde hair. Not one of my soldiers made a pass at the Sergeant Major. She was not a woman or man...she was the Command Sergeant Major.
I think that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is like the old military segregation policy toward African Americans. The difference is that the military could target African Americans based on skin color. Gays and lesbians have to"voluntarily" declare their status to be discriminated against. Drop the "DADT" policy and let's stick with the basic policy for military service...are you "Fit to Fight"?
The Health Care Reform Gamble
The health care reform proposed by the Obama Administration is at an extremely critical point. What seemed an easy layup, if not a slam dunk, now depends on a free throw by Shaq, doubtful. The Democrats have committed some pretty serious errors, unforced turn overs, to continue with my sports analogy. In retrospect they almost seem laughable. First they delayed the process so as not to appear partisan. They had the votes in Congress to force feed a health care reform bill but they would have had to steam roll over the Republicans. As the Democrats and the Administration tried to coerce a Republican or two to vote the Democratic version of health care reform, the Republican party took advantage of the delay to build ground swell opposition. Artful bending of the truth made it appear that the Democratic health care reform would take away choice, dumb down services and promote death squads for the elderly. Then the Democrats went to sleep at the wheel and lost Senator Kennedy's seat, losing their 51 vote majority in the Senate. So here we are today staring into the abyss of uncontrolled health care costs, a large portion of the population uninsured or underinsured and an increasing portion of the population at risk for losing their health care coverage.
The proverbial ball is back in Congress' court. There could be a health care reform bill passed in this session of Congress. However, it will take a large portion of gonadal fortitude for that to happen. Change is always met with skepticism and reticence by the establishment. There is a certain comfort with the familiar even though the familiar is unpleasant or immoral. I don't think there are any black people in America today that would turn the clock back to "Jim Crow" times. Although, during the struggle for civil rights, there were many in the black community who were hesitant about supporting the struggle. Change for the positive was uncertain and not guaranteed. Today, the American people recognize the need for change in health care but they don't want things to get worse. Congress must do what we elected them to do, lead. It will be a gamble for many in Congress to support health care reform written by the Democrats. For some it will be political suicide or at least a self-inflicted wound. But that's what we need to happen. The American people need for our Congressional representatives to lead us out of this health care quagmire. The health care reform bill is a start of a journey not the destination. It will take years to see if this Congress' effort was successful in creating a new paradigm for health care. Who could have predicted in 1965 that the Civil Rights legislation would have resulted in the election of an African-American President in 2008?