Today's Military

Im getting ready to begin talking to a recruiter. I have read some articles that have made me go back and forth on which branch to join. There is so much I want to know, and I want to know everything I need to know, want to know, and have to know before talking to a recruiter. The site that has all the answers I have been looking for came from TODAY'S MILITARY, which has informed me about each military service branch of the military---the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard---concerning each requirement they have, their specific duty in the military, the benefits they offer, their brief histories, and what career options they can offer.

This site is possible the best start to deciding whether or not you would like to join the military because not only does it have an abundant amount of information about each branch but it offers you guidelines to make sure that joining the service is really right for you and after reading those guidelines it has motivated me more to join.

The best way of deciding whether or not the military is right for you, is first being informed about what you think you want to do.

Report: Too many whites, men leading military

"Seventy-seven percent of senior officers in the active-duty military are white, while only 8 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 16 percent are women, the report by an independent panel said, quoting data from September 2008."- Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press

This article caught my attention because in my eyes I thought the military was already pretty equal in diversity. I may have agreed with this article 20-40 years ago but in the area I grew up in I have seen an equal amount of ethnicities in the military, that may be so because San Diego is a pretty diverse county. I forget that theres other parts of the United States where the military may be a majority of Caucasians joining. One factor that is believable in the article is that the majority of those who serve in the military are men, it still can not be ignored that the number of women serving has steadily increased over the years. More and More women serve in the military now than they did when I was born, in fact is more accepted for me to be able to join today than it would have been for my own mother to join at my age.

In the article it mentions that the reason that women a majority of women are unable to receive high ranks is because of their inability to serve in combat units. "Promotion and job opportunities have favored those with battlefield leadership credentials"-Jelinek. Do the women who serve have a choice in being in the combat units? or are they discouraged to be? If it is the choice of the woman to not fight in combat for the reason why men still hold a majority of the high ranks received in the military, than isn't that the fault of the women? I not insinuating that men should be the majority of the leaders in the military, but I am justifying the fact that if its because the women are the ones who chose not to fight, than its not the issue of equality. I hope to be one of the high ranking women in the force one day.  

what's DADT?

Don't ask me because I cant tell, and neither can anyone in the military. The current news in the military in the past several months has been the Dont Ask, Dont Tell (DADT) act of 2010. It has been 3 months since President Barack Obama signed the 17 year old "Dont ask, don't tell" policy into law---after first being passed by the House of Representatives in December 15, 2010 and by the Senate on December 18, 2010 with a 65 to 31 vote---but what happens now to the policy and those men and women that are affected by its repeal? First, what exactly is DADT? The policy was first enforced in 1993 where it prohibited openly gay men and women to be openly gay in the military and or serve in the military. The term "don't ask, don't tell" implicates that service men and women are not allowed to ASK if a a fellow service man or woman about their sexual orientation and those men and women who are homosexual and serve are prohibited to TELL openly about their sexual orientation.

The issue is that even though the policy was aimed towards protecting homosexuals serving in the military from being harassed or discriminated against by fellow service members, it also deny's those proud and open to be free and open to serve in the military. You can risk serve America, devote your life to serving and protecting the United States so long as you do not disclose your sexual orientation. Your right to disclose who you are is taken away, a small price to pay to be able to serve your country?

Although the bill has been signed by President Barack Obama, what exactly is the next step? What is the progression of the repeal? Although it has been passed it will not take immediate effect until after a 60 day waiting period before it is formally repealed.