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Leaders: Make peace with gays in military

ATLANTA — Gays and lesbians will serve openly in the military someday — and airmen had better get used to the fact, seven former top enlisted Air Force leaders say.

The retired senior noncommissioned officers, who all served as chief master sergeant of the Air Force, delivered their matter-of-fact message to a ballroom packed with airmen who must abide by — and enforce — the new law if Congress repeals the military’s controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The former chiefs — Bob Gaylor, Jim McCoy, Sam Parish, Jim Binnicker, Eric Benken, Jim Finch and Gerald Murray — came together Wednesday at the annual conference of the Air Force Sergeants Association to talk about their service and offer up advice for present-day airmen.

An airman brought up the ban during the question-and-answer portion of the roundtable discussion: “How do you see the outcome affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of the Air Force?” he asked the panel.

“If the decision is to repeal, what choice do you have [but to follow the law]?” Gaylor, the fifth chief master sergeant of the Air Force, said. “I’ve seen a lot of decisions made — and I had to do my duty to the best of my ability.”

Parish, the eighth top enlisted leader, counseled airmen not to worry about something they have no control over — he didn’t.

“I trusted leadership to do the right thing,” he said.

Finch, too, talked about the four-stars and what they’re facing.

“They’re trying to work through the second and third order of consequences,” said Finch, the 13th chief.

Parish believes the level of comfort that airmen will have working alongside gays and lesbians will depend on their age.

“It’s a generational thing,” he said. “I would venture to bet that the younger generation will say, ‘Hey, we can work with this.’

“The only thing that bothers me is that we need to make sure all the periphery things [housing, health care, benefits, etc.] are taken care of before we implement the policy,” Parish went on. “If it becomes law, you follow your commander in chief.”

McCoy, the sixth chief, pointed out that the Pentagon wants to hear what airmen think about a possible repeal and that they should fill out a survey if they have strong feelings.

Binnicker, the ninth chief, offered up the strongest answer: “It’s going to happen — deal with it. You will be measured by how you deal with it.”

Benken, the 12th chief, told how he handled a staff sergeant who came out of the closet. Benken tried to get the airman to rethink his decision, but he wouldn’t.

“We’ve existed,” Benken said. “We’ve all known people who have had [homosexual] tendencies, but as long as everybody stayed in their lane, we haven’t had any problems in the Air Force.”

Murray, who served as the 14th chief, was as tough as Binnicker. “Regardless of your personal feelings, if law is changed, if DoD and the Air Force change, then you have failed if it affects the mission,” he said.