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Can a winning student essay help change a national policy? Col. Om Prakash's piece called "The Efficacy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," written when he was a student at the National War College, might just do that. Published in the journal Joint Force Quarterly, the essay offers a challenge to the 16 year old policy. Prakash writes that "don't ask, don't tell…forces a compromise in integrity" that is "damaging to the unit cohesion its stated purpose is to preserve."

Guests:

Brenda "Sue" Fulton, West Point Class of '80 and Communications Director of Knights Out, an organization of West Point alumni, staff and faculty who are united in supporting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender soldiers to openly serve their country

Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow in the Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara and author "Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America"