Book Review: Integrating the US military: Race, gender, and sexual orientation since World War II

• Author: John Sibley Butler
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17728043
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

to explore further whether training models developed by scholars of conflict reso-

lution studies inform peacekeeping training practices.

That said, More than Fighting for Peace is the first comprehensive study that

traces the evolution of predeployment training and the political and pedagogic issues

that impact on how peacekeeping training curriculum is designed and delivered. In

this respect, Curran’s book offers an important contribution to the field of conflict

resolution studies, critical peacekeeping/peacebuilding studies, and critical military

studies, in as much as peacekeeping training remains largely underresearched and

undertheorized, despite recognition by policy makers, practitioners, and scholars

that improving training is vital if peacekeeping operations are to progress toward

the cosmopolitan model the UN promotes.

Reference

United Nations. (2015). Uniting our strengths for peace: Politics, partnership and people

(Report of the High-Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations). Author. Retrieved

June 27, 2017, from http://peaceoperationsreview.org

Bristol, D. W., Jr., & Stur, H. M. (2017). Integrating the US military: Race, gender, and sexual

orientation since World War II. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. 246 pp. $28.45

(paperback), ISBN 9781421422473

Reviewed by: John Sibley Butler, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0095327X17728043

Integrating the US Military continues the rich research on military organizations and

the participation of Americans. The strongest tradition around “integration” of the

American military is related to Black Americans. This is because the only racial

group, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, who has ever been legislated

against vis-a`-vis segregation is Black Americans of all colors and shades. White men

and women who were deemed unacceptable, because of sexual orientation, always

served in the military if they hid their sexual orientations. This was also true of Black

gay men and women who served but in racially segregated units. The military has

never developed segregated units for White soldiers who were gay or any other

racial category that was also gay. It is instructive that the “don’t ask don’t tell”

policy was based on behavior and was taken from the military policy on how an

“officer and a gentleman” should conduct themselves. The policy was that there

should be no sexual affairs among married officers. If officers had an affair, no one

would ask and no one needs to tell. This policy was simply applied to all soldiers

who were gay. It was designed to protect a behavior, in both cases, that was seen as

unacceptable. Racial segregation policy was based on race.

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