By Patrick Appel
A reader writes:
I am a commissioned officer in the USAF who went to Penn on an ROTC scholarship and have served for over 22 years on active duty. Having schools such as Harvard, Columbia, and other elite institutions have ROTC active on their campus is a benefit to all and especially those that want to repeal DADT.
The argument that a school like Columbia or even Penn benefits low income students well enough that ROTC is not a good trade off is incorrect. My scholarship was more generous than anything the university would have given me. Moreover, my experiences at Penn helped me realize that being discriminatory toward gays is wrong. I have argued in favor of dropping DADT to my contemporaries in the military for many years now. I believe it will be repealed in the near future because it is not beneficial toward good order and discipline, let alone discriminatory. Having officers educated at schools such as Columbia is a great leveler in an organization that is already overwhelmed by conservative, southern, Christianist elements. ROTC provided an opportunity for me and others to go to a school that we otherwise would not have been able to attend and it has made a profound difference in my life and my career in the military.
The Dish 