Nathaniel Frank's blog

As I step away from ten years of researching and speaking about "don't ask, don't tell," questions swirl about the fate of a policy that mandates deception in the name of morale; that has wasted the talents of thousands of badly needed personnel while filling shortfalls with ex-convicts and drug abusers; and that's been a needless and undeserved indignity to a group of American citizens who simply want to serve their country like millions of others who proudly wear the uniform.  read more »

As a Pentagon working group studies how to end discrimination against gay troops, one of its focuses is the military's broader experience with diversity: how has it met the challenge of transcending old barriers and replacing them with a commitment to putting the best and brightest in key positions of leadership?  read more »

And yet the approach of the Pentagon's new Working Group is basically a reset. While its leaders insist it is about how, not whether, to lift the ban, everyone knows that any concerns it raises will be used by political opponents to say it can't be done. That tactic has already started, with Rep. Buck McKeon leading the charge.  read more »

Remember the major poll taken of enlisted personnel asking them if they felt like invading Iraq?  read more »