Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) last week led a group of Senators introducing legislation to repeal the 1993 “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” law under the title. In a release, Lieberman said that with a volunteer military, “if Americans want to serve, they ought to have the right to be considered for that service regardless of characteristics such as race, gender, or sexual orientation.” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the original arguments were not “convincing when it took effect in 1993, and they are less so now.” Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) quoted conservative champion Barry Goldwater who once said, “You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight.” Udall called it an “issue of military effectiveness” because with such prolonged and frequent combat deployments being the norm, “we need all the qualified service members we have to fight.”
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…