After watching Generation Kill, several well done war movies, and read some graphic historical accounts of life in war time, I understand that perhaps what is concerning to conservatives is not so much barracks life, but life in war-time, out in the field.
There is no privacy. You have to **** and sh*t as fast as you can, when and where you can, often or even usually in front of other people, and often very close, even right next to other people with no barriers. Many soldiers soothe themselves to sleep by ************* just because they are lonely and horny, or because it's the only way to come down from being so highly strung and wired. Again, in the field, tents or no tents, they are pretty much ************ next to each other in public.
The thing is, doing these things is not something they'd do back home, in civilian society. Their personal boundaries have had to break in many areas, because of the situations they find themselves in, often for long stretches at a time.
If hetero men can adjust to pissing and ******** and ************ and personal grooming in front of other hetero men, out of necessity, I think they can learn to adjust to doing all those things in front of women, or in front of gay men, our of necessity, and vice versa.
It's about learning to put yourself in another head-space, given set situations. I was a life drawing model, and my mind was fine with it, but my body freaked the first time I got naked in front of a room full of strangers. I've also been in the medical system a lot. Put me in a "normal" social situation, and I want my modesty. Put me in an art class, a hospital or doctor's surgery, and I'll whip off my clothes, spread my legs, offer my breasts, walk around naked, all without self consciousness or feeling any sexual twinges about anything. It's just not sexual, it's art-class, it's health-care. I think soldiers can make the same head-space.