Tag: don’t ask don’t tell

I got another email from a somebody who worked with my father. He wrote:

Charlie took me to a book party where he introduced me to Colin Powell. On the way out Charley and I were speaking about DADT and I suddenly realized that he thought that it was going to a permanent solution to the issue. DADT was a godsend for Clinton, solving a problem that was threatening his presidency. But that is a political issue and DADT was a political solution and therefore subject to opinions, not permanent facts. I had the impression that he eventually agreed with me, but I took it as yet another sign of his eternal optimism.

Also, Charley and I once traveled to Ft Polk where he interviewed soldiers. This was Charlie as his best: he made the lowest rank soldier feel that his opinion was as important as any generals’. He did the same with me. He once called me and said, “I am meeting with Pres Clinton on affirmative action. What do you think I should tell him?”. Wow, this was certainly elevating my rank. He also called a few weeks later to tell me about his discussion! … It was just his nature to respect others.

I have tried to use that as a guide for dealing with others, but I am a poor imitation of your father.

Or, as my father liked to (jokingly) remind me of what his grandfather told him, “You’ll never be half the man the old man is!”

Lady Gaga wants “don’t ask don’t tell” repealed. That should settle that once and for all!

I’m pretty sure my father (AKA: Charles “Who’s James Brown?” Moskos) would have no idea who Lada Gaga is.

I received a very nice email from Rob Levinson, Lt Col, USAF (Ret). In 2007 he may have been the highest ranking active-duty officer to publicly come out against “don’t ask don’t tell.” He had kind words about my father (it says something that so many of my father’s opponentswrite me with kind words to say about him).

After mentioning his disagreement, Levinson writes:

But none of this should diminish the importance of your father’s innovation. Not only a wise political compromise, it was indeed revolutionary thinking. Prior to DADT many asserted or believed that there was something innate about homosexuality that made gays unfit for service. No doubt rooted in religion, culture and traditional notions of “manliness.” Your dad changed all that by saying it wasn’t a problem with them, but a problem with us and our own discomfort. As society has changed and this discomfort has lessened, we can change the policy with I believe minimal disruption. Your dad’s innovation was an important step along this path and one that did much to acknowledge the common humanity of all of us. This certainly extends far beyond the military sphere.

I have an op-ed in today’s Washington Post about my father and “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

It’s got absolutely nothing to do with policing.

I was the first critic of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” It was 1993, and I was home on break from college. My father, Charles Moskos, and I were watching TV and drinking ouzo.
…
My father … came up with the concept and coined the phrase [“don’t ask don’t tell”]. He had lots of crazy ideas. But this one, I declared, was “the stupidest idea you’ve ever come up with.”

A few months later … “don’t ask, don’t tell” was the law of the land.
…
Today … I am convinced that my father would support the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Read the whole thing here.

Of course I can’t be 100%certain that my father would support repeal… but with 100% certainty I do know he would have loved that I got a Washington Postop-ed out of this!