Is Civil Air Patrol Violating 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'?
by Chad Groening
July 28, 2005
(AgapePress) - A former leader with the Civil Air Patrol in Alabama says the Air Force Auxiliary organization has ignored the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and have allowed homosexuals be become leaders.
In 2003, the Civil Air Patrol's Redstone Composite Squadron in Huntsville was named the Alabama Air Force Association Unit of the Year. Arnold Staton served as a senior member with that squadron from 1995 until 2003. He says in 2002 he learned that the unit had appointed a "trans-gendered" individual to work as an orientation pilot directly with the young people, unsupervised. Upon further investigation, Staton says he discovered that homosexuals have been appointed to CAP leadership positions without letting anyone know about their sexual orientation.
"I started looking and found out there's other instances in other states where openly homosexual individuals not only serve, they're given one-on-one access in leadership situations with young people," he says. "None of the parents [of the CAP youth cadets] were made aware of [the Huntsville situation]," he says, "so they'll let them serve -- and they don't really want anybody else to know what's going on."
Staton believes CAP leaders have an ulterior motive for ignoring the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military. "You almost would think that Civil Air Patrol's allowance of homosexuals and other deviants in these programs is almost a back-door way to root away at Don't Ask, Don't Tell," he suggests -- adding that such undermining of the policy "could possibly lead to openly homosexual individuals serving in the armed forces."
According to Staton, CAP officials claim the military policy does not apply to the auxiliary organization. But he contends that as a taxpayer-funded affiliate of the U.S. Air Force, the Civil Air Patrol ought to have the same standards as the parent organization.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
