If Short People Can't Join the Military, Why Should Gays?

[meegbear]

Massachusetts congressional candidate Sean Bielat, after running an ad showing his openly gay opponent, Rep. Barney Frank, doing gay dance moves, has now shared his opinion on gays serving in the military: Short people can't serve, so why should gays?

Here's what how the ingenious Bielat explained things this weekend in a Boston Herald interview:

"There's no absolute right to serve. Men under the height of 5 feet, 2 inches can't serve - I don't see anybody protesting. Where are the people standing in front of the White House, the short guys standing in front of the White House? You don't see it," Bielat said. "We understand that there's no absolute right to serve in all these other areas."

Yeah, where are all the lil' fellas handcuffing themselves to the White House gates in protest? They know they're too damn short to go about warring; why can't gay people realize they're too damn attracted to members of the same sex? Hard to argue with Bielat's logic, as presented.

Except that one group isn't physically able to serve, while the other is. It's not like "gay" means, say, you have zero arms and charcoal for eyes. You just like banging people of the same sex, in your free time.

Or, as even the conservative Boston Herald put it:

Hmm. ... On the other hand, vertically challenged people are not forced to pretend they're tall, then drummed out once it's discovered they're short in spite of their service record.

http://gawker.com/5672745/if-short-people-cant-join-the-military-why-should-gays

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. 5'2"?

I think I could jump over someone that height if they came charging at me. lol

[hlthe2b]

4. what about women 5 foot 2?

I am sure plenty of short men served in WWII... I doubt it decreases their shooting abilities.

Cronus, who is karmically destined to reincarnate as a 4'9" male in his next life. ;)

[AlienGirl]

19. Women have to be 5' IIRC

[MattBaggins]

11. How about if that 5'2" person was a mile away with a rifle

and had no intention of charging you.

[maxsolomon]

2. i wish that Gay folk didn't WANT to serve in the military

i wish that NO ONE wanted to. so much effort, anger and heartache, and in the end, all that will be won is the right to openly serve the Empire.

[oberliner]

24. You wish no one wanted to serve in the military?

What - you want to bring back the draft?

[MineralMan]

3. Well, thats a moronic argument. Uff da!

[Parker CA]

5. Geezus! Fuggin lunatic. These people are absolute trash. nt

[Coyote_Bandit]

6. I suspect that

men under 5'2" are physically capable of filling many, many positions in the military.

Perhaps they should protest.

[itsrobert]

7. Especially if their nickname is

Tripod.

[Obamanaut]

8. According to the charts at this link, people shorter than 5'2" are

eligible to enlist. http://www.military.com/Recruiting/Content/0,13898,rec_step07_hw,,00.html

[Aristus]

14. Yes. I went through Basic Training with a guy who was exactly five feet tall.

The drill sergeants made fun of him, but not much. He was just as tough and ready for training as every other guy in the company.

This is bullshit...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. Errr

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Full of shit

Short people serve

[Arkansas Granny]

12. According to charts at this link, men can be from 5'0" to 6'8" and women

can be from 4'10" to 6'8".

http://www.armedforcescareers.com/enlistmentrequirements.html

[unblock]

17. the charts only go up to 6'8", but taller people can serve as well.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. Because not all gay people are short, maybe?

:shrug:

The military has to have SOME minimum standards for the service but it should be based on physical/mental/emotional fitness and NOT on how some people might be sexually oriented and what (legal) activities they are involved in during their off-duty hours.

Bielat's argument is a total #analogyfail#

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

15. Is it true that someone under 5'2" can't fire a gun?

Isn't that why men join isn't it?








I'll add :sarcasm: for some.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Gay dance moves?

[lunatica]

18. I think short people should be allowed to serve too if they choose it

What is it about short people that they can't do exactly what taller people can?

[jp11]

20. I'd imagine it partially has to do with how the majority of our 'world' caters to the

95 percentile meaning that percentage has little or no trouble using tools/cars/chairs/etc as the tools/devices are made to adjust or just 'fit' them all with little or no adjustment.

In reality shorter people, likely little people would have issues with keeping up or hauling the same equipment, and even using some of the same weapons/tools requiring special adjustments. Example they have 'standard' obstacle courses and times you need to make to pass many of these might not be doable by a little person, or they'd be unable to qualify. Then you get into whatever metrics the armed services uses for hand to hand combat, fighting techniques. Additionally many little people or dwarves have health issues along with being smaller than averaged sized people but I don't think that is what was envisioned when they instituted height requirements whenever they did that, but I could be wrong.

Most if not all things a taller person can do a short person can do but in a different way, this might pose a problem in a combat situation or require special adaptations that can't be expected in all situations. There also might have issues of personal safety being smaller and presumably 'weaker' than other servicemen/women could be a factor but I have serious doubts that is a real issue in the requirement, more likely it goes back to the stereotypical idea that soldiers warriors must be the 'best physical specimens'.

[lunatica]

22. I don't think this is about Little People. They talking about people who are 5'2"

I understand the physical differences that make it hard for Little People to be considered for military service. But there are short people who don't have the same problems they do. They're just short, but otherwise proportionally equal.

[jmowreader]

21. It's because people who are too short can't reach the gas pedal on a Humvee

Now, in the other direction...when there was still a Soviet Union, people over 5'2" could NOT serve as infantrymen or tank crewmen because those were mechanized forces in the Soviet Army (and remain so in the Russian Army, who probably retains the height restriction) and the vehicles were designed around short men. IOW, tall guys couldn't be grunts because they wouldn't fit in the BMPs, BMDs and BTRs.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. Its a phyisical capabilities issue, not related to sexual preference