National Geographic

The Washington Post is tweeting that the Pentagon has revoked the U.S. Navy memo granting permission for chaplains to perform on-base same-sex marriages. This comes after two days of intense anti-gay lobbying on the issue by House GOP members working under the orders of the Family Research Council.

Just posted to the Pentagon's official YouTube channel.
(Tipped by JMG reader John)

Today the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified before the House Armed Services Committee to report that they foresee no problems with the implementation of the repeal of DADT.

"We've not seen issues," said Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps. "There's not been anxiety over it from the forces in the field." Amos had been one of the strongest opponents of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell, the 17-year ban on gays in the military. Last year, he said his men would be distracted - possibly fatally - by allowing gays to serve. But testifying alongside the chiefs of the Navy, Army and Air Force on Thursday, he told the House Armed Services Committee that training of the rank and file was going smoothly. "There hasn't been pushback," Amos said. Army Gen. Norton Schwartz said he was "more comfortable than I was" last year about the new policy.

The compulsive liars at the anti-gay Moonie Times report today's hearing differently, citing the "skeptical" words of one congressman in their headline.

Still lots of discrimination here, thanks to DOMA.

The U.S. Army has posted a number of DADT-related guidelines on its official site where it notes that due to DOMA "there will be no changes to eligibility standards for military benefits and services." Meaning no on-base housing for gay couples and no medical care for spouses.

Here's the Army list "Top Ten Things Soldiers Need To Know" about the repeal of DADT.

1. Accessions & Separations Policies: Upon repeal, the Army will no longer separate Soldiers solely on the basis of homosexual acts, a statement that a Soldier is gay, lesbian or bisexual, or marriage to a person of the same sex. Statements about sexual orientation or lawful acts of gay and lesbian conduct will not be a bar to military service or admission to any accession program. Sexual orientation will continue to be a personal and private matter.

2. Standards of Conduct Apply Equally to Everyone: All Soldiers will be held to the same standard of conduct. All members are responsible for upholding and maintaining high standards of the U.S. Military at all times and in all places.

3. Personal Privacy: Commanders may not establish practices that physically segregate Soldiers according to sexual orientation. Commanders do have the discretion to alter billeting assignments to accommodate privacy concerns of individuals on a case-by-case basis where it is in the interest of maintaining morale, good order and discipline, and is consistent with performance of the mission.

4. Moral and Religious Concerns: There will be no changes regarding any Soldier's free exercise of religious beliefs, nor are there any changes to policies concerning the Chaplain Corps and its duties. The Chaplain Corps' First Amendment freedoms and its duty to care for all will not change. Soldiers will continue to respect and serve with others who may hold different views and beliefs.

5. Benefits: There will be no changes to eligibility standards for military benefits and services. The Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the Federal Government from recognizing any same-sex marriage, so same sex partners do not qualify as dependents for many military benefits and services. A same-sex partner should be treated the same as an unrelated third party (e.g. girlfriend, boyfriend). All Soldiers will continue to have various benefits for which they may designate any beneficiary regardless of relationship.

6. Equal Opportunity: Sexual orientation will not be placed alongside race, color, religion, sex and national origin as a class under the Military Equal Opportunity Program and therefore will not be dealt with through the MEO complaint process. All Soldiers, regardless of sexual orientation are entitled to an environment free from personal, social, or institutional barriers that prevent Soldiers from rising to the highest level of responsibility possible. Harassment or abuse of any kind, including that based on sexual orientation, is unacceptable and will be dealt with through command or inspector general channels.

7. Duty Assignments: There are no changes to assignment policy. All Soldiers will continue to be eligible for world-wide assignment without consideration of sexual orientation. Soldiers assigned to duty, or otherwise serving, in countries in which gay and lesbian conduct is prohibited will abide by the guidance provided to them by their local commanders.

8. Medical Policy: There are no changes to existing medical policies.

9. Release and Service Commitments: There will be no new policy to allow for release from service commitments for Soldiers opposed to repeal of DADT or to serving with gay or lesbian Soldiers.

10. Collection and Retention of Sexual Orientation Data: Sexual orientation is a personal and private matter. Commanders will not request, collect, or maintain information about the sexual orientation of Soldiers.

After Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) suggested cutting Pentagon sponsorship of NASCAR events, she received the above fax.

"We alerted Capitol Police this morning after we got the fax," Maria Reppas, communications director for McCollum, said. "We leave it to them to determine the threat level for pieces of correspondence such as this." McCollum's proposal seeks to ban the military from spending taxpayer money on racing sponsorships. Currently, the Army sponsors a car in the NASCAR's Sprint Cup series to the tune of about $7 million per year. McCollum contends that money -- which NASCAR says helps boost Army recruiting -- is wasted. Since announcing the proposal, McCollum's office has received more than a few calls from irate NASCAR fans upset at what they perceive as a slight against their sport. "We've had calls," Bill Harper, McCollum's Chief of Staff, told TPM. "Lots of Mississippi people, North Carolina people. We had a Florida person." Asked what the callers say, Harper replied, "'Get your hands off my NASCAR', mostly."

Abolish funding for the arts, abolish the Department of Education. But if you dare take a $7M sticker off NASCAR vehicles, you deserve to die. Everybody got that?

The Marine Corps has issued a memo declaring that May 31st is the deadline to complete its training for the implementation of the repeal of DADT. Six months from repeal to the completion of training is a timetable with which we should all be satisfied, yes? OutServe has the full (and all caps) memo. An excerpt:

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION DEPENDS ON LEADERSHIP, PROFESSIONALISM, DISCIPLINE, AND RESPECT, WHICH MUST CONTINUE TO BE PRACTICED AT ALL TIMES AND IN ALL SITUATIONS. LEADERS AT ALL LEVELS MUST SET THE EXAMPLE AND MUST BE FULLY COMMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) INTENT TO SUSTAIN UNIT EFFECTIVENESS, READINESS, AND COHESION. IN THE PROFESSION OF ARMS, ADHERENCE TO STANDARDS OF CONDUCT IS ESSENTIAL, EACH SERVICE MEMBER MUST BE TREATED WITH RESPECT AND DIGNITY, AND LEADERSHIP IS KEY TO CREATING AND SUSTAINING SUCH AN ENVIRONMENT AND COMMAND CLIMATE WHERE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ADVANCE AND ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IS AVAILABLE TO ALL.

(Tipped by JMG reader Justin)

Servicemembers United is pleased:

"The Repeal Implementation Plan prepared for the Secretary of Defense lays out a comprehensive and deliberate path forward for implementing this policy change throughout the force," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former multi-lingual Army interrogator who was discharged under DADT. "In typical military fashion the plan is quite thorough and some steps may seem unnecessary or redundant, but overall we believe this plan continues to show a good faith effort on the part of the Department of Defense to swiftly move forward with training, certification, and repeal."

Here's the entire implementation plan. As noted above, it appears quite exhaustive. Does anything noteworthy jump out at you?