# According to Sen. James Inhofe, soldiers are unwilling to fight and die for gay soldiers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449 "2010-05-14T17:13:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/41 "2010-05-15T02:19:03Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > You agree that Inhofe’s position when applied to the current military is wrong? You just wanted to come into this thread and be unnecessarily difficult? What are you, new? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/42 "2010-05-15T02:19:24Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Seriosuly, this is like the most insulting thing you can say about a soldier, it seems, tha they cannnot put aside their personal prejudices for the good of their fellow soldiers, the military and the nation. I’m sad to say that to a certain extent Imhofe is correct. I would venture to say that after DADT is repealed the number of re-enlistments will decline by a good bit. For time immemorial, starting with Day One, military members have been told that homosexuality is incompatible with good order and discipline. Add to that the natural biases of a large percentage of the population and you can bank on the military being fragmented over this. Not that that’s a bad thing in the short term, mind you. It’s bound to happen sooner or later, and I can’t think of a reason why it shouldn’t happen sooner. I suspect it will resemble what happened in 1947 when Truman integrated the Armed Forces. The bigots will either accept it and get over it or they’ll get out, and in due course they’ll be replaced and life will go on. [QUOTE=Bricker] Inhofe is right. That is, when he served in the Army, in the late fifties, I believe the culture was exactly as he describes, and I believe that attempting to permit openly gay soldiers to serve would have been disastrous. But he’s fifty years out of date. Today. most young men don’t really care. Sure, they may call each other ‘fag’ in a way that’s not exactly A+ graduate material in sensitivity workshops, but at the core, they don’t really care about the issue in a big way. So Inhofe is wrong about today’s military, even as he’s right about the Army he served in. [/QUOTE] No, I don’t think he’s wrong. I think he knows exactly what is going to happen if they repeal DADT. But even so, so what? It’s an inevitable consequence. We might as well get it over with. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/43 "2010-05-15T02:21:43Z")
Wait a minute. Inhofe was in the military when they still used flintlock muskets and he claims that he knows how 21st century soldiers feel about having gay comrades? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/44 "2010-05-15T02:24:28Z")
> [@Indyellen](#): > > I _am_ disgusted, but I don’t have the vitriol to come up with a particularly good rant. However, the main problem (besides the homophobia) with his view is that he assumes DADT actually WORKS and that neither he nor others he know haven’t ALREADY served with gays. I can almost guarantee he has, he just didn’t know it. If that is true, then . . . DADT actually works. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/45 "2010-05-15T02:31:45Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > You agree that Inhofe’s position when applied to the current military is wrong? You just wanted to come into this thread and be unnecessarily difficult? That’s what he said in his first post in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/46 "2010-05-15T02:42:50Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > For time immemorial, starting with Day One, military members have been told that homosexuality is incompatible with good order and discipline. Really? Why? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/47 "2010-05-15T04:23:10Z")
Gay servicemen have to go home and change if somebody else shows up at muster in the same fatigues. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/48 "2010-05-15T04:54:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You mean there are gay _Jews_? Well, don’t that beat all. I heard there was a gay Texan once, but he moved to New York City. I thought Kinky Freedman moved back to Texas to run for Gubner? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/49 "2010-05-15T05:12:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You mean there are gay _Jews_? Well, don’t that beat all. I heard there was a gay Texan once, but he moved to New York City. No, she moved to Edmonton so she could get married to my cousin. She didn’t feel welcome in Texas. Funny, I’d heard its denizens were all friendly and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/50 "2010-05-15T05:13:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Please tell me they don’t make fun of the skinny kid who has the sweet and tender story about something he misses doing with his mom back home. They can’t make fun of him because he’s always going to get killed in the second round of auction, right before the company jerk sacrifices his life to save the good looking guy. No! Nooooo! He won’t get to bid in the third round for the elephant lamp! Why, God? WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYY? -Joe, gimme my Oscar ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/51 "2010-05-15T20:19:01Z")
From the halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli I have fought my country’s battles I have faced every enemy \ But please Please Please please please please please Don’t make me shower with a fairy Not a fairy–fairies scare me Cause a fairy might look at my weewee My weewee–it’s so teeny [Fred Small](http://www.jg.org/folk/artists/fredsmall/everything.possible.lyrics.html) ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/52 "2010-05-15T20:31:34Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > This guy is supposed to be pro-military but he thinks that our servicemen are bigots who would let their fellow soldiers die because they are gay. How can someone be pro-military if they think the men and women in the armed forces would be as craven and bigoted as he obviously is and allow a fellow American soldier to die because of who they are attracted to? Seriously? He doesn’t think there is anything wrong with disliking gay people - in his mind he isn’t insulting them. Simple. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/53 "2010-05-16T02:38:19Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Personally, I think the guy would be _more_ inclined to protect my ass if he was attracted to it … That theory made the [Persian Immortals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortals_%28Persian_Empire%29) the elite soldiers of the ancient world for about 200 years! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/54 "2010-05-16T02:57:23Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > You agree that Inhofe’s position when applied to the current military is wrong? You just wanted to come into this thread and be unnecessarily difficult? Can you read? > [@Bricker](#): > > So Inhofe is wrong about today’s military, even as he’s right about the Army he served in. That was in the same freakin’ post in which I said everything else. Remember? Here’s the whole thing to help you: > [@Bricker](#): > > Inhofe is right. > > That is, when he served in the Army, in the late fifties, I believe the culture was exactly as he describes, and I believe that attempting to permit openly gay soldiers to serve would have been disastrous. > > But he’s fifty years out of date. Today. most young men don’t really care. Sure, they may call each other ‘fag’ in a way that’s not exactly A+ graduate material in sensitivity workshops, but at the core, they don’t really care about the issue in a big way. > > So Inhofe is wrong about today’s military, even as he’s right about the Army he served in. There’s nothing unncessarily difficult in that post. Actually, I forgot to whom I was writing. Yeah, for you, I am sure it was unnecessarily difficult. It had multiple paragraphs and words with multiple syllables. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/55 "2010-05-16T03:44:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > That theory made the [Persian Immortals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortals_%28Persian_Empire%29) the elite soldiers of the ancient world for about 200 years! I think you’re thinking of the Golden Band of Thebes. The Immortals weren’t known for their homoeroticism. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/56 "2010-05-16T04:03:04Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Inhofe is right. > > That is, when he served in the Army, in the late fifties, I believe the culture was exactly as he describes, and I believe that attempting to permit openly gay soldiers to serve would have been disastrous. > > But he’s fifty years out of date. Today. most young men don’t really care. Sure, they may call each other ‘fag’ in a way that’s not exactly A+ graduate material in sensitivity workshops, but at the core, they don’t really care about the issue in a big way. > > So Inhofe is wrong about today’s military, even as he’s right about the Army he served in. There always has to be a mitigating factor doesn’t there, **Bricker**? I suppose there does; the first thing you must know in making plans to defeat your opponent is that he doesn’t see himself as evil. Keeping that in mind makes it possible for you to understand him, and understanding him is necessary if you intend to prevail over him. But I’ll point out that not every Pit thread is a strategy session. Sometimes a rant is just a rant. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/57 "2010-05-16T04:28:43Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Manned a c-beam near the Tannhäuser Gate, don’tcha know. But NOT one of those _glittering_ ones! ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/58 "2010-05-16T19:20:27Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > Seriously? > > He doesn’t think there is anything wrong with disliking gay people - in his mind he isn’t insulting them. Simple. Of course, it is insulting to the fact that our professional soldiers cannot put aside thier personal views and do the job they signed up for, at least according to Inhofe. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/59 "2010-05-16T20:14:14Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Inhofe is right. > > That is, when he served in the Army, in the late fifties, I believe the culture was exactly as he describes, and I believe that attempting to permit openly gay soldiers to serve would have been disastrous. > … > So Inhofe is wrong about today’s military, even as he’s right about the Army he served in. I don’t think he was right, even 50, 60, or 70 years ago. Two of my uncles who served in WWII (one in Europe, one in the Pacific) have both said that there were soldiers in their unit who were ‘like that’ and everybody knew it, but it didn’t cause any problems. They were far too busy fighting the enemy to worry about stuff like that. “Only desk-jockey officers safe behind the lines had time to be concerned about crap like that.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449/60 "2010-05-16T20:37:30Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > “Only desk-jockey officers safe behind the lines had time to be concerned about crap like that.” Or elected officials. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-sen-james-inhofe-soldiers-are-unwilling-to-fight-and-die-for-gay-soldiers/539449.md?page=4)