Tuesday the U.S. Department of Defense released its long-awaited study on the impact of repealing the military policy “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The goal of the report was to understand how allowing openly gay soldiers to serve would affect the military, particularly in terms of its readiness for combat.

The group tasked with the report surveyed active and former members, both gay and straight. Over two-thirds of respondents said lifting the ban would have positive, mixed or no effect on the military.

To analyze the results and what the report means moving forward, Eight Forty-Eight spoke to John Lynn. Lynn is a distinguished professor of military history at Northwestern University.