Don't Ask, Don't Tell Training

In late December, President Obama signed the law to repeal the "Don't ask don't tell" policy that had been in place for seventeen years, which required all military personnel to keep their homosexuality a secret or possibly face dismissal from the military. The final implementation of this repeal will not go into effect until six days after it is determined that lifting this policy won't be a disability to the military's ability to fight. A portion of the decision will come from the current training that is taking place across the board for our troops. All uniformed military personnel, as well as civilian staff, who are in a supervisory position, will be required to undergo this training.

In mid-February, the Army's top generals started the service's training program, and hope to have all their forces trained by mid-August. Officials say the 565,000 active duty Army troops should be done with training by mid-July, and the 567,000 members of the Guard and Reserve will be done by mid-August. The Defense Department has given the various services a lot of leeway as to how they handle the training.

The Marines said many commanders, chaplains, recruiters and military police have already received training, and that they expect the entire force to be trained by late May. Marines coming off of the battlefield will undergo formal training classes to assure that each individual soldier understands the new rules. Reports say that most troops currently in Afghanistan will begin training while they are still deployed, and those that cannot at this time, will receive the training back at US bases.

Both the Air Force and Navy began training in early February, training their experts like chaplains and lawyers, and training teams, and expects to have their whole forces trained by the end of June.

Many service members will receive their training through vignettes, computer based courses, slides and narration, with coverage of frequently asked questions. Part of this training will also include hypothetical situations to assure service members understand how this new law is to be applied in such situations. More than a dozen scenarios have been created that emphasize resolving the problems on the least disruptive solution, keeping in mind not only the new law, but the service member's religious or moral beliefs.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and an avid musician, currently active in two local bands. He is also a lover of books, having a large personal library and squeezes in as much reading as often as he can. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Armed Services Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog site.