Open homosexuality undermines the military ethos upon which success in war ultimately depends. Winning the nation's wars is the military's functional imperative. Indeed, it is the only reason for a liberal society to maintain a military organization. War is terror. War is confusion.
War is characterized by chance, uncertainty, and friction.
The military's ethos constitutes an evolutionary response to these factors-an attempt to minimize their impact. To achieve success on the battlefield, military organizations must overcome the paralyzing effects of fear on the individual soldier. Accordingly, the military stresses such martial virtues as courage, both physical and moral, a sense of honor and duty, discipline, a professional code of conduct, and loyalty, and places a premium on such factors as unit cohesion and morale. Philia, the bond among disparate individuals who have nothing in common but facing death and misery together, is the source of the unit cohesion that most research has shown to be critical to battlefield success. Such loyalty to the group is the essence of fighting morale.