The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report today (January 21, 2011) that shows it cost the American Taxpayer nearly $200 million to discharge gay and lesbian service members during the last 6 years of the ill fated Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy initiated during the Clinton administration. From 2004-2009 the military services discharged a total of 3664 personnel for being homosexual as the military prefers to call gay or lesbian personnel. The cost of discharging these 3664 service members was based on estimated costs to recruit and train them but failed to account for the time invested in investigating the alleged gender preference or the administrative burden on processing the discharge paperwork.
Critical Skills Lost Due to Intolerance
The financial cost also came with a loss of critical skills that could possibly have had an impact on America’s ability to gather intelligence, prevent terrorists attacks or to operate the costly equipment that makes America’s military so effective. Among the discharged gay and lesbian service members were 21 crypto-tech/linguists, 36 nuclear power plant operators, 66 health care providers, 11 air traffic controllers and 61 computer and communications technicians. The military services also discharged 23 military members who held critical language skills and of this amount, 11 or nearly half had more than 2 years of service.
Personal Costs
While the military incurred coats of nearly $200 million, the personnel discharged had their own costs as a result of the discharge action. Of the 3,664 people discharged, only 2084 received an Honorable Discharge that entitled them to various benefits. Even those who received an honorable discharge also lost benefits because many military, veteran and federal benefits of military service are based on successful completion of 3 or more years of service.
With many who were discharged with less than three years of service this means that the discharged service member lost veterans employment preference with the federal government and many state governments. They also lost some or all of their GI bill educational benefits which could impact the gay veteran’s ability to earn a living for the remainder of his or her life.
With President Obama recently signing legislation that ended the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy it is expected that this waste of fiscal and human resources will come to an end. Although the military has yet to fully implement all aspects of the new legislation, the discharging of gay and lesbian service members has come to an end. Left unanswered is the policy toward the thousands of gay and lesbian personnel who were discharged from the enactment of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and their ability to enjoy the benefits of their service to the nation.
Mark Butler - Mark Butler is a Navy veteran and the author of The Coffee Break Guide for Veterans Seeking Federal Employment.
Join the Conversation