"Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" Critics Say Policy Costs Govt. Millions

Between 1994 and 2003, the Pentagon discharged nearly 250 medical and health professionals from the military under the policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve as long as they abstain from homosexual activity and do not disclose their sexual orientation. Nearly 10,000 people have been discharged under the policy since its inception, including hundreds of highly skilled troops, many of whom were military school graduates.

Many of the discharged service members serving in health care positions attended medical school at the taxpayers’ expense, and such troops are not easily replaced when the country is at war and enlistment quotas are already suffering. Last year the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, released estimates that the Pentagon had paid nearly $200 million to recruit and train replacements for the discharged troops. Although the loss of troops is small in terms of numbers of people, critics of the policy say that the monetary cost of filling their shoes is adding up.

Officials have not provided estimates on the cost of a military education or the cost of training medical personnel. However, the American Medical Student Association, the largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States, claims that the average annual tuition and fees at public and private U.S. medical schools range from $15,000 to over $30,000.

Beth Schissel, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1989 and went on to medical school, was one of the soldiers forced out of the military after she acknowledged that she was gay. "You don't just go out on the street tomorrow and pluck someone from the general population who has an Air Force education, someone trained as a physician, someone who bleeds Air Force blue, who is willing to serve, and that you can put in Iraq tomorrow," says Schissel.

The database of discharged personnel maintained by the Pentagon does not include names, but it appears that about 30 of the medical personnel may have been officers. The number of discharges peaked for a couple of years after the 1999 murder of Pfc. Barry Winchell, who was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier who believed Winchell was gay. About 1/6 of the discharges in 2001 were at the same base where Winchell was killed, Fort Campbell, KY.

Last year Army officials acknowledged during congressional hearings that there is mounting evidence of shortfalls in key medical specialties in the military. Aaron Belkin, associate professor of political science at the University of California at Santa Barbara, asked, "What advantage is the military getting by firing brain surgeons at the very time our wounded soldiers aren't receiving the medical care they need?" Other opponents of the policy say that it exacerbates a shortage of medical specialists in the military when they are needed the most.

However, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, says that troops discharged under the law can continue to serve their country by becoming a private military contractor or working for other federal agencies. "These discharges comprise a very small percentage of the total, and should be viewed in that context," Krenke said. Overall, the number of discharges has gone down in recent years. "When we're at war, commanders know that gay personnel are just as important as any other personnel," said Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military. He added that in some instances commanders knew someone in their unit was gay but ignored it.

Opponents of the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy are backing legislation to repeal the law, proposed in the House by Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts. Bu the bill has only 107 co-sponsors, and it is considered a longshot in the Republican-controlled House.