You Have Got to Love Allen West....

Allen West Delivers Stern Lesson on DADT Repeal: Isn’t the Military Rife With Rules?

Posted on April 21, 2011 at 9:55am by Jonathon M. Seidl

Allen West was discriminated against while he was in the military. He was too short to join an elite infantry group. But, he says, he was okay with it because the military is rife with rules that serve a greater purpose, the insinuation being that there is a reason for the military‘s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.

That’s the point West made during a Hill hearing yesterday on implementing the repeal of DADT. The hearing featured the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and during it West questioned almost every one of them about the certain standards each branch has that prima facia might seem discriminatory.

For example, he asked if the Army still has a minimum height requirement for an elite infantry group and if the Marines still require soldiers to pass physical fitness tests. The answer, “Yes.”

In the beginning of his comments, West summed up his position like this: “The military exists to win the nation’s wars and I think when we get to the point where we are starting to discuss about how the military conforms to accommodating individual behavior that’s what I get concerned with.”