Transgender Navy SEAL, Warrior Princess
OK, you guys wore me down. I’ve been avoiding this subject since last night when someone sent us a link, but I’ve been getting a couple of “tips” every hour about Chris/Kristin Beck who wrote about his journey from Navy SEAL to woman. Yes, according to Don Shipley, Beck is indeed a former SEAL. Shipley’s exact words were “Only in the Navy….” So I figured that since I have nothing constructive to add to the discussion, but you guys seem eager to discuss it, here’s your opportunity. From the Washington Times;
Chris Beck served for 20 years on SEAL Team 6 — the same unit that ultimately raided bin Laden’s compound. He retired six months before the bin Laden raid, but nonetheless still went on 13 different deployments during his military career — seven of which sent him to combat areas — ultimately earning a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, the Daily Mail reported.
But something was amiss.
“Chris really wanted to be a girl and felt that she was a girl and consolidated that identity very early on in childhood,” said Anne Speckhard, who helped the soldier write a book, called “Warrior Princess,” the Daily Mail reported.
Just so long as he doesn’t do like Autumn Sandeen and starts wearing a female Navy uniform in public. By the way, that particular link comes with warning about how things you’ve seen can’t be unseen.
Category: Who knows
@39 FatCircles
My brother and I were discussing a subject similar to this earlier today. My brother is an MI officer and we were discussing Bradley Manning’s trial, how his lawyers are spinning up some crap about Manning feeling disenfranchised due to being a gay soldier in an Army that didn’t accept gay people. Something about being motivated to release classified documents, blah blah blag, gay soldier yada yada yada. Anyway, my brother is now wondering how long it will be before the DOD starts considering gay soldiers to be a security risk, since Manning’s whole defense is based on being a disenfranchised gay soldier. Not sure if something like that would ever happen, but when a TS clearance is on the line the DOD doesn’t like to take any chances. How long before being gay presents the same type of security risk that being heavily in debt does, or having close family that lives in Russia does, or any other of the dozens of seemingly mundane reasons the DOD has for denying clearances. Just something that was thought provoking…..
@49 rather….
I look at it as a SEAL who served his country selflessly for 20 years, got out honorably, then followed his desire to be a woman on his own time and own dime. Somewhere after the fact, he publishes a book. I don’t see an agenda on his part, but I see it as potentially being a soapbox from Hell for those that are pushing an agenda.
I actually see it a success story of someone who had values different from the military, yet was able to coexist and make it work until he had the chance to get out and he did not discredit the service or use it to fall on his sword for *insert sexual rights of the week*.
IMO, dude can do what he wants to his lil’ guy and live his life as he sees fit. He ain’t in the military now.
I’ll save my commentary and opinion. There’s enough of that already going around. I’ll just say I’m glad I’m a guy and I like women and my life is difficult enough just given that basic dynamic that muddling about in vaginas and penii (plural?) attached or unattached to willing or unwilling people is way too much to deal with.
I can barely make toast without burning it and it’s nothing short of a miracle I’ve not managed to get myself killed yet, so at the end of the day, there’s so much other crap on my plate to worry about that this topic ranks a solid 0.00001 on my give a **** meter.
Here is Brandon Webb’s perspective at SOFREP. Brandon states he knew Kristin from his time at SEAL Team One.
http://sofrep.com/21525/breaking-the-first-female-navy-seal-kristin-beck/
Also, there is no way Kristin served for 20 yrs as a member of SEAL Team Six. From what I gather his total time served in Navy WAS 20 yrs. Assuming he was accepted immediately into BUDS (including SQT & probationary period) he would have had to wait about a year and a half abouts to pin on his trident. Much as with Army’s Delta wanting talented, mature, and combat tested soldiers, its virtually impossible for a noob to be accepted into Team 6…you have to prove yourself for a few years in a conventional SEAL Team – before you MIGHT get an invitation to try out. Brandon states Kristin did a tour in Team 6 (probably 3-5 yrs) which is reasonable. Operators from Delta/Team 6 get burned out (not to mention marriages) after a few short yrs of extremely demanding work & constant deployments. 20 yrs? Unimagianable.
@4: Yep
@55: Yeah, that was probably the reporter, or whomever wrote the article, leaving that bit out. We all know he didn’t do 20 in ST6, so I won’t bag on him/her for that.
There are two levels at which to view this story. Most here are dealing with it on a personal one. That is, if this former man is now happy, and no one is harmed, then that’s that. We should exercise some compassion for this once-tortured soul whose profound conflict we can’t imagine and, while we’re at it, buy her book. In that regard, the secret life of SEAL Beck was important only to the extent that keeping the secret allowed her to do what she wanted to do. Now that the objective has been reached and the retirement secure, it’s show time! TV appearances, radio talk shows, and other book-hawking efforts are doubtless in full swing. Of course, none of it is for the money, we will be told. It’s really about those she left behind and those to follow her. They should not suffer as she did. They should not have to lie and hide what should have been a career-ending mental affliction. Bunk.
The other level is much greater in scope. It is the institutional perspective and from it, Beck’s personal story is irrelevant and her inner conflict inconsequential. The gays are openly in the military now, what was the last bastion of normalcy (i.e., heterosexuality). And now we have this, the poster child for the LGBT movement, intentional or not. I suppose it is what it is and anyone who didn’t see this coming is blind and, like me, stupidly hopeful that the America we once knew will one day return. But it is institutions, not individuals, who are the foundation of this society. When the institutions fall, so too does the society. For several years now, our institutions have been under deconstruction—usually quietly and, when not, presented in the gift wrap of equality, fairness, and compassion. This story, to me, is another in a long line of those not-so-quiet efforts. I don’t like it.
@49 – negative. He had not acted on those feelings. Ergo, there was nothing to blackmail. He didn’t begin to transition until he left the service. If thinking “unhealthy” thoughts or being uncomfortable in our own skin should be a disqualifier for military service, most of us would have probably not met the standard.
He did nothing to disgrace the service or embarrass it in any way, and kept himself in check until he left. I don’t see a problem here.
And by the way, apparently it’s no longer a disqualifier for a clearance anyway. We have two very obvious transgenders working where I do. In a SCIF.
@57 Once the NAMBLA types get their way it’s the final curtain call, every empire that has allowed men to f$ck male children has gone away quite quickly…most empires now dissolve quietly, some in the past dramatically with barbarians at the gate.
In modern times the likely scenario is a continuing intellectual and physical decline resulting in the loss of engineering and sciences professionals and blue collar heavy industry where intellect without advanced degrees is required to operate and understand complex manufacturing equipment.
The inability to innovate and the lack of discipline to manufacture at a profit what one innovates kills nations that were once supreme.
When we are more concerned with the feelings of every fraction of the society than the whole of those assembled fractions, there can be no unified, successful nation. When we accept as a natural course of things the increasing division and fracturing of the whole into ever smaller parts in a nonsensical effort to provide tolerance without context and the results of that are already evident in the nature of our current culture.
That last sentence should read:
When we accept as a natural course of things the increasing division and fracturing of the whole into ever smaller parts in a nonsensical effort to provide tolerance without context, we create our own endgame with decreasing wealth and opportunity for the majority.
The results of that are already evident in the nature of our current culture.
Too little sugar and caffeine to start the day…
Now we’re saying homosexuality = pedophilia? Come on, people! We’re better and smarter than this!
People support gay marriage and homosexuals serving in the military because being gay doesn’t hurt anybody. Paedophilia will never be acceptable because it is monstrously harmful.
Support for one is not support for the other.
Nicki: There is no question but that the majority of child molestations are committed by heterosexuals. The reported raw numbers say so. Equally undeniable is that gay males engage in sex with children in numbers hugely disproportionate to their (gay males) percentage of the adult US population. So, make of that what you will, but it is—given the percentages—not stupid to recognize the correlation between homosexual males and pedophiliacs/pederasts. It is, however, terribly politically incorrect to do so.
@61 I did not make that claim, I made a claim that there is an organization (NAMBLA) seeking to normalize pedophilia in response to the poster @57 who had a concern that our institutions are being deconstructed. I associated a successful effort by pedophile groups with the decline of successful societal empires throughout history. My comment was off topic, but a response to another comment. Nothing more.
To infer that I would associate Kristen Beck or any TG/homosexual with pedohpilia would be inaccurate at best and grossly misstating my position at worst….
My point was that an ever fractured society will eventually cease to function as a cohesive assimilated one, nothing more.
You drew your own inferences that I equated the two, I would disagree with your assessment.
Unless you weren’t addressing me, in which case never mind my response and my apologies for not understanding whom you were addressing.
Um…Good Game?
@61, I was always under the impression that at least prior to the repeal of DADT homosexuality was considered a security risk first due to it once being classified as a mental disorder, then, under the no gays/DADT years, someone who was gay could have that held over their head as blackmail by a foreign agent.
Even now with the left happily thinking that every gay service member is serving openly ,which I doubt, it could still be a security risk if someone serving has made the choice to stay in the closet for whatever reason, is threatened with outing to family or their service mates.
Imagine a closeted soldier working in a SCIF who feels no need to advertise they are gay and a foreign agent learns of it and threatens to out them, what could be compromised? Alot.
@58: I disagree with a couple of things. If he/she entered the military before the implementation of DADT, then they had to lie to get in. Then they had to lie to gain a security clearance for the job, which would make them a security risk because of the lying i.e. what else did they lie about, or will lie about in the future? Since they have lied a couple of times already; can they be trusted in the future?
As for who you serve with now, that doesn’t affect this conversation because gays can openly serve.
#63 – the number of homosexuals is very small, so of course the percentage will be higher. But fact is homosexuality is not the cause of pedophilia. Correlation does not equal causation.
#67 – OT, no one said this guy was gay. From what I gather in his own words, he didn’t feel comfortable with who he was. This has nothing to do with DADT
I say thank you for your service. Now please don’t let the LGBT lobby use you as a poster child for whatever future harm they attempt to do to the military.
@68: Well, if he wants to be a woman; doesn’t that usually constitute that you like guys? That’s the whole progression of wanting to wear high heels; no? It kind of negates having a sex change to be a woman for the sole purpose of being a lesbian after the change; right?
The smartass part of me claims that I’m a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.
@27 and @21: Ha, I was wondering how long it would take before someone mentioned Schroer. Cannoncocker, Schroer was an SF officer. I can verify that because he/she was my battalion commander (3/3 SFG) from about October of 1993 until I ETS’d in early 1996. He was not well liked within the SF community, though – he was a very conventional ‘by the book’ kind of officer (IOW, haircuts, boot shines and no A7A Cargo Strap belts, even when we were deployed to Haiti in 1994-95 for OUD.)
I’m a lesbian trapped inside a man’s body and I’ve served honorably. Do I get a book deal?
@70 OT
Yeah, Rachel Maddow knows all about being trapped inside a man’s body. Narf.
Nothing but respect for Kirsten Beck. A person that served 20 years served in combat, bled for their country and was awarded medals for valor has earned the right to tell their story.
I’m sure lot of people will use Becks story to fit their agenda, but overall you can’t take anything away from her( formally him)
@74: I don’t disagree with what you are saying. However, if there’s still junk in the trunk, he’s still a dude. I refuse to call someone a “her” while the twig and berries are still dangling.
@68. No, no, no. I guess I wasn’t clear. The number of homosexuals is small but they commit a hugely disproportional number of child molestations.
I have so much respect for him serving our country. I am beyond thankful to be an American citizen, and I am so glad that God placed me here. However, I am a follower of Jesus Christ first and foremost. I love this fellow, and I am not judging him, because are far below perfection. People try to change their bodies ever day through plastic surgery. His choice seems a bit more concerning than a face lift or breast augmentation. I know I may get boo’d, but Ii think that is going against God and how he fundamentally made you, female or male, not just cosmetic. I agree he has served my country and I defend his rights, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.
The TRICARE Policy Manual, in Section 1.1 (Exclusions), states the following:
Services and supplies related to transsexualism or such other conditions as gender dysphoria (including, but not limited, to intersex surgery, psychotherapy, and prescription drugs), except as specifically provided in 32 CFR 199.4(e)(7) (see Chapter 4, Sections 15.1, 16.1, 17.1, and Chapter 7, Section 1.1).
32 CFR 199.4(e)(7) {Section 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 199.4, paragraph (e), subparagraph(7)} — the federal regulation text that the TRICARE policy on transsexual and intersex related healthcare is based on — states the following:
Transsexualism or such other conditions as gender dysphoria. All services and supplies directly or indirectly related to transsexualism or such other conditions as gender dysphoria are excluded under CHAMPUS. This exclusion includes, but is not limited to, psychotherapy, prescription drugs, and intersex surgery that may be provided in connection with transsexualism or such other conditions as gender dysphoria. There is only one very limited exception to this general exclusion, that is, notwithstanding the definition of congenital anomaly, CHAMPUS benefits may be extended for surgery and related medically necessary services performed to correct sex gender confusion (that is, ambiguous genitalia) which has been documented to be present at birth.
Retired Senior Cheif Kristin Bell won’t be receiving any healthcare related to her transition from male to female that will be paid for by TRICARE.
If the retired Senior Cheif is a disabled veteran and receives her healthcare tratment through the VA, that government agency has a different policy regarding treating transsexual people where she would be eligible for some, but not all, transition related healthcare. The VA wouldn’t cover any genital reconstruction surgery for her, but the VA would cover hormone treatments.
@76 Thank you for that.
Transsexual servicemembers aren’t, by DOD regulation {Department of Defense Instruction 6130.03 (DoDI 6130.03) Change 1, 09/13/2011, Medical Standards For Appointment, Enlistment, Or Induction In The Military Services}, allowed to serve in the military services. And, that’s whether are not they are open about their transsexual healthcare status. From DoDI 6130.03 Enclosure 4, Paragraph 2.: MEDICAL STANDARDS. Throughout this enclosure, ICD, CPT and HCPCS codes are included with most medical conditions and procedures, usually parenthetically, to aid cross-referencing. Unless otherwise stipulated, the conditions listed in this enclosure are those that do NOT meet the standard by virtue of current diagnosis, or for which the candidate has a verified past medical history. The medical standards for appointment, enlistment, or induction into the Military Services are classified by the general systems described in sections 3-31 of this enclosure. From Enclosure 4, Paragraph 14. FEMALE GENITALIA, Subparagraph f.: History of major abnormalities or defects of the genitalia such as including but not limited to change of sex (P64.5) (CPT 55970, 55980), hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism, or pure gonadal dysgenesis (752.7). From Enclosure 4, Paragraph 15. MALE GENITALIA, subparagraph r.: History of major abnormalities or defects of the genitalia such as change of sex (P64.5) (CPT 55970, 55980), hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism, or pure gonadal dysgenesis (752.7). From Enclosure 4, Paragraph 29. LEARNING, PSYCHIATRIC, AND BEHAVIORAL, subparagraph r.: Current or history of psychosexual conditions (302), including but not limited to transsexualism, exhibitionism, transvestism, voyeurism, and other paraphilias. Department of Defense Instruction 1332.14 (DoDI 1332.14) Change 3, September 30, 2011, Enlisted Administrative Separations and Department of Defense Instruction 1332.38 (DoDI 1332.38) Change 2, April 10, 2013, Physical Disability Evaluation speak to discharging servicemembers for medical and/or psychological reasons if they admit to, or are discovered to be, transsexual. The Navy also has instructions that implement the policies of those DOD instructions, and these include Manual of the Medical Department, Navy Medicine P-177, (NAVMED P-117), Change 140, Chapter 15, Physical Examinations and Standards for Enlistment, Commission, and Special Duty and Naval Military Personnel Manual (MILPERSMAN) (NAVPERS 15560D) CH-35 25 Apr 2011, SEPARATION BY REASON OF CONVENIENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT – PHYSICAL… Read more »