There is big news today on the gays in the military front: the Palm Center commissioned the first ever statistical study of whether the presence of known gays in a unit has any impact on unit cohesion and the results are in: “The data indicated no associations between knowing a lesbian or gay unit member and ratings of perceived unit cohesion or readiness. Instead, findings pointed to the importance of leadership and instrumental quality in shaping perceptions of unit cohesion and readiness.”
The new study was conducted by Drs. Bonnie Moradi of the University of Florida and Laura Miller of the Rand Corporation, a think tank with longstanding ties to the Pentagon started after World War II by former military officers. The study is under review at Armed Forces and Society, the nation’s leading peer-reviewed journal of national security and civil-military relations.
And early this morning the study’s language showed up in the New York Times when Owen West, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq wrote used it, in part, to argue that he and numerous other military personnel had “changed their minds” about gays in the military. They now believe the gay ban should end.
As I argue in the Unfriendly Fire, the unit cohesion rationale was the whole basis of the public argument for why open gays could not serve. This study puts that argument firmly to rest.
Here is the study, not yet published.
Cross Posted from Blueprints, the Palm Blog| Feb. 9, 2009 |
