Duty and the Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Back home, I am a Permanent Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at the Air Force Academy.  I am spending a year on a “deployment sabbatical” so I can better prepare cadets to be the next generation of Air Force leaders.  While preparing to deploy, I reflected on what I wanted to accomplish in the six months I would be gone.  I had not been overseas in an operational capacity in many years and I wanted to add value to the deployed mission.  As I reflected, I recalled a quote by Robert E. Lee, “Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.”  I deployed with simple goals:  Do my duty at all times and make a difference wherever I serve.

I am serving at a rear echelon location leading a wing staff that supports the warfighter.  Our wing executes approximately 30% of the daily Air and Space Tasking Order.  At our morning commander’s update, I see the amazing work our forces are doing around the theater and I am humbled by their courage and professionalism.    

My current duty is much different from my previous duty.  I spent the first half of my “deployment sabbatical” deployed to the Pentagon as the Air Force writer on the SecDef’s Comprehensive Review Working Group (CRWG) study of the impact of repealing the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).  I led the team responsible for writing the Support Plan for Implementation, which is the basis for the Air Force’s Tier I, II, and III training.  Leadership-Professionalism-Discipline-Respect, the Air Force’s themes for repeal training, are spot-on with the CRWG report and with academic research related to organizational change. 

However, these themes will ring hollow if we do not professionally execute repeal.  All Airmen – commissioned and enlisted, uniformed and civilian – must execute repeal with courage, integrity, excellence, and service.  We must do our duty and uphold our commitment to the Oath of Office.  Once DADT is repealed, it becomes the law of the land and we are duty-bound to uphold all laws to the best of our ability.

With the repeal of DADT, our duty as American Airmen to uphold our Oath of Office remains unchanged.  We must do our duty to keep our standards high; create an environment free from barriers that prevent Airmen from rising to the highest level of responsibility possible; and ensure all who serve are able to do their duty without fear of reprisal, harassment, or prejudice.  We must do our duty to protect personal beliefs while honoring and respecting ALL who serve; evaluate others based solely on individual merit, fitness, and capability; and treat others with dignity, courtesy, and respect.  We must do our duty to create a cohesive team able to win our nation’s battles.  We must do our duty to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do. 

We can never do more; we should never wish to do less.

 

By Col Gary A. Packard, Jr., Colonel, USAF

Director of Staff, 379 AEW, Southwest Asia