Foreign language experts are critical in the War on Terror. But the military's forced out more than 300 foreign language specialists in the last ten years for their sexual orientation. The first ever government study into the cost and warfighting impact of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" came up with the numbers. Of the 322 forced to quit, 54 spoke Arabic.
The Government Accountability Office also found more than 400 more troops had been discharged from "critical occupations" -- Army intelligence, Navy codebreakers, Air Force air traffic controllers, and Marine counterintelligence.
The GAO figures it's cost at least $200 million to recruit and train replacements for the 9,488 troops discharged since 1993 for being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. (Boston Globe)
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