The Marine Corps' "top" general suggested Tuesday that allowing gays to serve openly in the military could result in more casualties because their presence on the battlefield would pose "a distraction." "When you're out in the field fearing for your life, sexual release is often sought to relieve stress - well, that and alcohol and drugs - shit, you might die and you know that. So when your life hangs on the line, you might find yourself wanting to let something else hang out, and that might be a problem" said Gen. James F. Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, "and we don't want anything distracting Marines from their mission, which is I remind you, to kill people who do not do what we, meaning the people who own America, want them to do. We can counter contra-band, but we cannot counter body parts belonging to our killers . . Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines' lives."
In an interview with newspaper and wire service reporters at the Pentagon, Amos was embarrassed when pressed to clarify how the presence of gays would distract Marines during a firefight. "You know, some guys start beating off when shit starts blowing up all around them. They just flip out. Where, exactly, do you think the term 'skull fucking' comes from?"
He cited a recent Defense Department survey in which a large percentage of Marine combat veterans predicted that repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" law would harm "unit cohesion" and their tight-knit training for war.
"That's of course their false consciousness expressing itself in socially acceptible forms. It isn't like we can honestly tell them that effective killers are those whose stress levels dispose them to act viciously when provoked. The Marines came back and they said, 'Look, anything that's going to break or potentially release suppressed libido and have us lose focus and cause any kind of distraction may have an effect on cohesion. It reminded me of the Marines who died in Korea because they kept glancing at the black Marines we had to let be Marines instead of keeping their eyes on the Yellow Horde that was the real enemy' " he said.
"I don't want to permit that opportunity to happen. And I'll tell you why. If you go up to Bethesda [Naval] Hospital . . . Marines are up there with no legs, none. We've got Marines at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] with no limbs. Bad enough we have to blame the Afghanis and Iraqi's who just want us to get the fuck out of their country because we have no goddamn business being there, but now we'll have to blame the bone smokers and carpet munchers too. You want that?"
Amos had said previously that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly could cause "distractions" and "risks" for combat units. But his remarks Tuesday were the first time that he or any other senior military leader has suggested that repealing the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law could directly endanger troops and cost lives.
The Marine Corps - which prides itself on its macho image - and its leaders have been more resistant to overturning the law than other branches of the armed forces.
The Defense Department survey, released last month, found that 58 percent of those in Marine combat arms units predicted that repeal would negatively affect their ability to "work together to get the job done."