Pentagon delays action on transgender ban
The Military Times reports that the Pentagon is delaying action on the transgender ban that the previous administration had scheduled to lift on July 1st.
It’s unclear how Defense Secretary Jim Mattis eventually will rule on the matter, though in the past he has cast doubt on whether such moves ultimately advance the military’s principal national security objectives. In early May, his deputy distributed a memo to the services’ top leaders affording them an opportunity to raise concerns about the policy’s implementation. As first reported by USA Today, the memo was carefully crafted to explain that plans would proceed “unless they cause readiness problems that could lessen our ability to fight, survive and win on the battlefield.”
A Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, would not address the prospect for delaying transgender accessions, saying only that there’s been no change to existing military policy allowing transgender troops already serving to do so openly. “And,” he added, “just like their fellow service members, [they may] receive all medically necessary care.”
Like I’ve said, the only policy changes that Pentagon should consider are those policies which affect our ability to kill the enemy in large numbers. This one doesn’t do that. It’s unnecessarily a burden to an already strained budget and does nothing for readiness. Even the discussion about lifting the ban on new transgender recruits is a waste of resources on such a small demographic.
Category: Big Pentagon
No doubt a few folks will get their panties in a wad over this nonissue.
There you go again, assuming everyone’s gender.
Some may get their boxers in a twist, maybe some in SOCOM don’t wear undergarments at all (‘cuz they’re going commando…)
How do perverts in the military help promote the military? It is a sickness just like drugs, they want everyone to be twisted like they are imho!
There are some instances in which the US Armed Forces must have what can be considered a discriminatory policy. Sight, height, weight, mobility, age, IQ, chronic medical conditions etc.
IMO this is another case, because there is no advantage to having people brought into service with what equates to a chronic medical and psychological condition or keeping them if they desire the necessary procedures and support for making such changes.
It was a purely political decision in the first place.
If they’ve already made the change, I have no issues with their being in service. But military medicine is not a free ride through the medical/psych stuff, and in a crowded setting like a ship, I do NOT think chicks with dicks belong in the women’s head. PERIOD.
If the TGguys don’t like that, tough bananas.
“I have no issues with their being in service”
Can you imagine having even just one of them though as something like a platoon corpsman?
As a Battalion chief I wouldn’t be able to use him in a MEU workup. I’d constantly have to try to work around his appointments for thises and thats. And what about guys on estrogens and their bone densities? Put him on a force march or drop him out of plane and you’re risking pathological fractures.
Having one of them in a unit that deploys basically means the other corpsmen are going to have to deploy more often to free him up to be the man/woman/whatever he/she/it aspires to be
Once there it then has to be maintained. There are already arguably more manageable chronic medical conditions that preclude continued service, especially if the member has less than 18 years in.
This just seems to me like it’s unnecessarily bowing down to an egocentric desire.
I understand your concerns, IDC_SARC, but bone density in women has more to do with genetics than hormones. My mother had the bone of death. She fell down the basement stairs in her 70s, got a bruise out of it, and went on about her business. I got her bones (thank you!) and as many falls as I took off horses and in ice skating, you’d think I’d be on crutches by now. The worse thing that ever happened to me was smashing both knees on the ice, two different falls, hurt like hell because I wasn’t wearing my kneepads. No broken knees, however, just sore knees. And smashed nerves take a while to grow back.
But in regard to guys taking estrogen doing jumps, please meet Dilys Price. She’s a skydiver. She’s 82.
http://www.shape.com/fitness/trends/meet-dilys-price-oldest-female-skydiver-world
We aren’t talking about women/men. We’re talking about people on HRT. It’s not an exact science.People in civilian life suffer adverse effects from HRT and it’s not nearly as overzealous as what physicians must do to creating their Transgendersteins.
Dilys price isn’t jumping combat equipment or using a round chutes.
Comparing Hollywood ram-air chute jumps to the rigors of military training that must be done where and when scheduled is apples and oranges.
My applause and respect nonetheless to Ms. Price.
I understand your concerns, but I took HRT until the study on cancer related to conjugated estrogens was released. The statistics were intimidating and even though there is zero history in my family regarding cancer, I told my doctor I was dropping HRT. I still don’t have any broken bones.
And for the record, taking conjugated estrogens didn’t do a thing to stop the heat waves, but ice skating for 3 to 5 hours daily before and after work did help.
I understand your view of it. It just seems to me that if it’s already a done deal and the people in question are dealing with it properly, it should not be a bar to serving if they are sincere about it. Let them pay for the HRT themselves. It doesn’t cost much, depending on the brand. I took Premarin, which is now $165, but with the co-pay for me it was $20.
Nale hormone therapy costs about $195/month, including an estrogen blocker.
Osteoporosis is NOT just a women’s disease, you know. I may not get it until very late in life, but the opposite effect seems to be arthritis. That’s life!
you didn’t take HRT to change your sex …it’s not the same thing. They also don’t simply use single agent therapy on these folks.
yes, I know about Osteoporosis. I know the difference between osteopenia and osteoporosis, the pathophysiology behind it, what a DEXA scan is, that men have a higher mortality than women in the first 6 months after a hip fracture secondary to osteoporosis, the pharmacodynamics and phamacokinetics of bisphosphonates etc etc. It’s part of my job.
Yes, and the difference between the TGs and me is that I stopped taking it for a valid reason. They can’t EVER stop taking it.
did you suffer clitoromegaly?
pffft…disregard that my mind zigged whaen it should have zagged….went the wrong way on the hormonal axis.
(SNerrrkkkk! Giggle!)
No, but Premarin does change physicochemistry enough to give you a yeast infection.
Giving a woman T supplements has the benefits of increased libido, but you have to watch for cliteromegaly and decrease the dose accordingly.
A woman going for masculinization will get marked clitoromegaly.
Almost forgot: weight-bearing exercise is extremely important as you age. Ms. Price may not be using or carrying combat stuff, but the heavier the load, the higher the bone density.
Without gravity and/or muscles pulling on the bones, anyone can and does lose bone density. You should know that has been a real problem with the astronauts on their prolonged assignments to the space station.
It ain’t just us girls that face that issue. You will, too, some day, sweetie-pie.
yes weight bearing…that would be to take advantage of Wolf’s principle regarding bone density. But yeah…what do I know.
The response to stress on muscle…that’s Davis’ principle btw 🙂
getting a long white coat requires a lot of work
Oh, come on! I was just answering your answer.
Do you have your nose out of joint now? Want a cookie?
mmm. I like cookies.
Sorry Ex-PH2….it is unfortunate that inflection and such is lost here in the written word. My words were not written with any sort of emotionally charged fervor. Just as more of a team room banter. You’re an intelligent person and I always value your words. I have a certain continuum of knowledge that is in operation daily. I was just trying to convey that.
Well, I have real issues with these women who have put off having kids into their 40s and 50s, and are now taking hormone therapy so that they can start that. At 40, you’re 20-some years from leaving the work world, IF you last that long. Having squawling, puking rugrats with diarrhea at that age is not only an emotional jolt, but the infant is going to be 20 when you’re 60 and you may not live to see your grandchildren, never mind the long-term effects from taking specific hormones to get pregnant.
And then there’s the Down syndrome percentage which increases after the age of 35, which also has long-term consequences that these women aren’t even thinking about.
I hope that some day, people get their heads back on straight.
Just because we can do something doesn’t mean that we should do it.
And -that- bit of wisdom cuts straight to the middle of the “who may serve” debate.
I support everything you say except for the last part. Set a standard, expect everyone to meet it, and separate those that don’t, regardless of sex, gender, orientation, or combination thereof. I didn’t care about any of those before, and I don’t now. I want you to do your job to standard.
BUT: Military parachuting, especially static line mass tactical operations, is far more jarring and brutal than civilian skydiving.
“I didn’t care about any of those before, and I don’t now.”
and you never had to deal with a person going through the transgender process, which mandates completely different situational requirements than any of the other factors, i.e. sex, gender, orientation etc.
It requires by definition special treatment and only detracts from the units ability to fulfill it’s mission or at the very least does nothing to enhance it.
I basically agree with you, but think the TG (real TG) is at best a de-facto chronic medical condition.
I think the REAL TG issue is that these people aren’t happy with themselves, period, and think that physically changing their sex will cure their problems. Well, it won’t. That’s the issue you’re referring to, IDC.
I wasn’t even referring to that Ex-PH2. The fact is, they are in a state that requires constant medication and follow-up.
The fact that the (high)suicide rate hasn’t been show to decrease in the TG population is certainly another significant factor to consider especially if superimposed over deployment/combat tress.
You’re exactly right on that call Hon.
TG people hate themselves and have hated themselves in their own skin for most of their lives.
Such internalized hatred does nobody any good, period.
This is yet another attempt by the left to force their way of life and thinking on the rest of us. If we don’t stop it now, it will eat our entire civilization alive in the next fifty years…
My neighbor is a TG, and he really shows a resemblance to Maxine Waters, the butt fugly libidiot that just won’t shut her stupid mouth…
these poor kids being raised to follow their whim that they are not the sex that was issued to them along with their livers, pancreases, toes and fingers will have an entire lifetime of self loathing that accompanies such an upbringing…
That is about the ultimate form of child abuse and is the worst thing that can happen to a kid…
If you have I would be interested in hearing more about the experience.
However, the Soldier should go through the existing medical evaluation process, which is actually the larger problem here.
We have, for years, carried people that are on permanent profile (or not) and unable to actually do their jobs. I don’t care what the reason is, if they can’t perform they have to go.
There is no such thing as chicks with dicks, only guys with tits….
and those types aren’t really TGs…that’s another facet of the entire situation.
Most never actually complete the process involving all the necessary surgeries. For good reason too, because the surgeries more often than not despite cosmetic appearance, result in (among other things)persistent nerve damage that negatively impacts the person’s sex life
Dude. Did you suddenly turn German today? Why are you explaining my joke?
😛
As the parent of a transgender and a supporter of most LGBT issues, I do not support the integration of transgenders into the military because of the continuing use of and the monitoring necessary for hormonal therapy. I do not think this should be part of military medicine.
I’m guessing that each service chief will be providing their input, with metrics and costs about how much of their budget will go to the few hundred transgender types that might join or be around only to get the military to pay for their surgeries, while they ride that convalescent leave for a couple years.
Along with that, how tough they already have it due to the last CINC’s reduction of force policy that kicked a lot of mid-grades to the curb leaving severe shortages because he tried to, “balance the budget on the backs of veterans”. Lets just let anyone in who wants to serve! That’ll fix the shortage issues!
There are already enough manning shortages without having more personnel unable to complete tasks due to medical issues. I’m sure there would be those that serve honorably, but you could say the same thing about blind and deaf people who can’t join because they don’t meet the physical requirements.
So, if we are going to let them in, we also need to let diabetics, people with high blood pressure, and the people that are dealing with chronic pain managed by narcotics in. The way I see it, if the United States military is going to “buy” One person’s medical problems, They need to buy all of them.
/ half Sarc. Off
This issue was created by the SJW crowd, (the overwhelming majority of whom never have, and never will serve) for no real apparent reason other than they could.
The overwhelming majority of Transgender have issues which preclude them from enlistment in the US Military. Pre-existing medical and mental health issues which cannot be ignored…yet they are, and this despite the fact that anyone not identifying as transgender, would be unable to enlist.
Stop this nonsense. Get back to the Business of defending our Nation, with the most physically and mentally prepared troops possible.
This false notion that the military must be “fair”, is going to get people killed.
“This false notion that the military must be “fair”, is going to get people killed.”
Exactly.
When I sat in on the mandatory transgender brief for the Army, the first slide highlighted that this was “..to reinforce every American’s right to serve in the united states military.” (slightly paraphrased due to memory)
That was excerpted from Ash Carter’s statement about the issue. But the whole thing is absurdly false. We denied and continue to deny initial entry as well as many training pathways due to myriad physical and mental standards.
The brief only got worse from there mandating change without specific guidance and simply put much of it off on the commanders…so their decisions place them squarely at the center of any and all complaints and consequences that are encountered.
Of course it did IDC, you don’t think the SJW’s would put in a policy that would leave them liable / responsible for it’s inevitable failure?? They always deflect, and leave someone else as the fall guy
“Stop this nonsense. Get back to the Business of defending our Nation, with the most physically and mentally prepared troops possible.
This false notion that the military must be “fair”, is going to get people killed.”
Well stated…the Military needs to stop being used as a lab for SJW’s and their agenda.
Word
The SJWs don’t believe in the military, and don’t believe in the nation. Therefore, all the military is to them, is more free shit that they don’t have access to. Like any good parasite, they will latch on and feed until the source dries up/dies/expels them, and then they will go off and find some other source for money/medical care/whatever.
Well said all, this should be treated like the medical and psychological issue it is, one that will without question negatively effect the readiness and capabilities of the units to which they’d be assigned, and as such, like people with any other issues of such magnitude, should not be allowed to serve. It just makes sense (something the SJW howler monkies are seriously lacking in)Thanks God the adults like Mattis are back in charge
IF the US military is going to start “Buying” the medical treatment for this totally elective procedure, don’t they also need to become responsible for elective reproduction procedures like in-vitro (sp?) fertilization ?
I don’t think any of this should be paid for by taxpayers. It’s elective, not medically necessary, and as has been pointed out elsewhere, is frequently NOT the answer to the individual’s problems.
“It’s elective, not medically necessary”
They changed that. Seriously, it is no longer classified as an elective procedure. One the proper workup is done and the appropriate signatures made it is now considered necessary.
That’s why prisoners and such are getting their surgeries paid for by the taxpayers.
The lunatics are running the asylum on this one.
No argument from me on that. I just don’t think it’s right for us to pay for something like that.
The only thing I’d like is to turn the physiological clock back about 30 years and not have creaky joints. It’s that whole business of realizing you dropped at least one full size, but everything is still going to slide down to your knees, no matter what.
Agreed, but they are now going to be on a slippery slope if they are looking for “fair”,
where does it end?
Currently, it ends along the perimeter of the liberal voter base and their pet projects.
Where does it end? Why, where it always does. The Gulag, and many, many unmarked graves.
I don’t mean to bring up the whole mental health aspect, but Gender Dysphoria is a mental health disorder. Last time I checked, mental health disorders were disallowed in the military. At least, those which altered behavior.
Yes, but it has evolved considerably in the DSM-V. Why it did….well the DSM has always been influenced by social and political pressures as well as adapting to evidence.
While it is still a diagnosable disorder it now makes allowance for the investigational findings in the long run that may actually on a case by case basis support sexual reassignment surgeries and procedures as necessary.
That’s an abbreviated summation for a much longer multifactorial process that most gender dysphorics never reach.
The fact that we are even having to discuss this crap sticks in my craw. When I went through boot camp and served, queers, dykes and fairies were a source of jokes and ridicule. If one was found out, he was put out, post haste. Post haste so as to avoid a beating in the barracks if he had come on to another troop. Now we are all suppose to be in the Katy Perry mode of love ’em, hug ’em, accept ’em. Well no, not just no but hell no. They exist so I can’t deny that but I can refuse to accept them as normal, usual or even an alternative lifestyle. Alternative lifestyle to me, is a guy who wants to head out and go tee pee living like a hippie. It’s not taking a 2 by truck and making it into a 6 by truck and calling it alternatively functional. These tools and fools exist and therefore share the same rights under our Constitution as I do. But our country has got to grab its senses and guts and call a spade a spade. If you are not a man because you self identity as a woman then fine, but stay out of the military. A place where the purpose is to remove as much confusion and ambiguity as possible from every scenario and have everyone singing off the same sheet of music when it comes time to ruck up, move out, search out and destroy the enemy. PERIOD. There are enough battlefield physical maladies that arise from simply getting to and being on the battlefield and engaging the enemy, without concerning our Commanders, medics, theater medic stations and fellow soldiers with someone’s gender issues of the day or moment. Everyone must be physically, mentally and emotionally ready to do their job and the lives of those with them depend on this. Combat wounds, mental stresses and the emotional load of ongoing combat are more than enough for any individual or unit without adding the issues of some transgender, mentally confused troop to the mix. I am… Read more »
Progressives believe that if they just had sufficient Authority, they could perfect Man by proper regulation.
Our military, to them, appears to be the lab in which they can “prove” this by issuing their “needed” orders and “holding accountable” anyone who either fails to measure up or who points out any problems that arise, no matter how glaringly obvious are the problems.
At some point, they realize that real people do not seem to become perfected rapidly enough, or -enough- enough, so they inevitably turn to the Secret Police and the Death Camp. Ahem. “Reeducation”.
Your failure to become perfected, and your failure to make their system -work-, to them is all -your- fault.
And eventually, they will nag you to death. One way or another.
There are a lot of medical issues that disqualify you from service. Gender identity issues should be one of them.
The military cannot accommodate the far to fluid spectrum of gender identity.
I do not think being gay makes a difference on your ability to serve and it does not have a large impact on the military.
However, accommodating all the variables of gender identity and gender fluidity is incredibly disruptive to military functions.
A squadron of porcine aviators is revving up on the runway as we speak.
I tend to almost never agree with you, Lars. This time is an exception on the gender identity issue.
At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, something that might be pointed out is that there is an apparent political dynamic that goes beyond the science. An example is that the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. considers gender dysphoria to be little more than a genetic anomaly similar to how some people can lift one eyebrow and others can’t. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, considers it a form of mental illness.
You would think they would both be on the same page.
Spot On Lars.
“Gender-Bending” is something that isn’t a fast, inexpensive or fool proof process.
I want those who serve to be focused on learning the tools of their trade, not trading their tools.
It’s so damn nice to see adults running DoD again.
Yes it is. It will take a while for our military to squash the so called “progress” that SJW’s have force fed the Military over the 8 years.
Not only do policies have to be revisited the ranks need to be purged of those who have been allowed to be promoted and thrive based on these programs and their support and implementation of them, all at the loss of our warfighting capabilities.
Sooooooo….. we were forced to attend that mandatory TG training over the past year for nada?
Not complaining, just laughing about the whole thing.
For the honor of King Barry’s public image…
So if TGs are allowed to enlist/commission and serve openly, surely we’ll see a run on recruiting stations just like we did when DADT was repealed? Everybody remembers that right? All of those patriotic gays and lesbians who claimed that they wanted to serve (or had served and were booted for pole smoking/rug munching) but claimed that DADT kept them out of the military.
Starting to wonder if it’s wise to hold out for 1 more promotion and not just retire instead.
Being that the Military focuses on people aged 18-29 to enlist I’m thinking the number of TG who have completely made the transformation successfully by that time would be minuscule.
I think that the push during the past administration was to open up enlistments for those considering the transformation and let them enlist under whichever gender they choose and start transforming on the military’s dime and on the clock.
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