Pentagon delays recruiting transgender troops for six months
Chief Tango sends a link to the Washington Post which reports that the new Pentagon chief has decided to delay recruiting transgender troops for six months.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has delayed a plan approved by the Obama administration a year ago to begin allowing transgender recruits to join the U.S. military, providing the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a six-month reprieve that they requested, the Pentagon said Friday night.
The decision was made on the eve of a deadline set a year ago by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. The services can now delay processing transgender recruits until Jan. 1, following another review of accession plans and providing information about how doing so will affect the military and its lethality, Mattis said in a memo. Details about that review must be provided back to Mattis by Dec. 1.
The defense secretary said in the memo that the delay “in no way presupposes an outcome,” but after consulting with top generals and other senior defense officials, he determined more time is needed before making a decision.
The folks at the Palm Center emailed me to let me know that delay will somehow affect readiness;
For the past year, transgender troops have been serving openly and have been widely praised by their Commanders, as is the case in 18 allied militaries around the world including Israel and Britain.
[…]
In light of the success of transgender military service, the extensive research confirming that inclusive policy promotes readiness, and the sad history of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ loyally-serving transgender troops deserve to know whether Secretary Mattis stands by the claim he made at his confirmation hearing that LGBT troops can indeed serve in a ‘lethal’ military. Stonewalling on full inclusion will, just like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ compromise military readiness.”
You know what “comprises military readiness”? Focusing on things that have nothing to do with readiness. The current crop of transgender troops serving openly began their careers by lying, that’s not a thing that enhances readiness.
You know what else compromises military readiness? Throwing taxpayer money intended for defense down a dark, bottomless hole to pay for elective treatment by transgender people who will demand that their condition be classified as a service-connected condition and that it must be treated at no cost to them. Not to mention that they bring a whole new slew of psychiatric problems to their units while we are in the midst of a world-wide war against terror.
Someone who can’t wait six months for a decision by the Pentagon isn’t going to do well during a year-long deployment.
Category: Big Pentagon
That should give the fukkers plenty of time to rehearse their show tunes.
Only that stinking pathetic excuse for a human being obama could come up with this CRAP!
“Defense Secretary James Mattis explained his July 30 decision to delay Obama’s plan for six months, just before it was to begin operating:
Since becoming the Secretary of Defense, I have emphasized that the Department of Defense must measure each policy decision against one critical standard: will the decision affect the readiness and lethality of the force? Put another way, how will the decision affect the ability of America’s military to defend the nation? It is against this standard that I provide the following guidance on the way forward in accessing transgender individuals into the military Services.”
Adults in charge.
As a retired SFC I would very much like to hear these ‘praises’ from various Commanders but not from Commanders at a senior level looking to kiss up to other senior Commanders and politicos. I want to hear from the ground pounding Company and below first line leaders. I suspect they may have a different tune.
I second your motion about hearing the ‘praises’ of our field level commanders. No generalities, no vague references…I want specifics.
Solider/Sailor/Airman/Marine ‘X’ did ‘Y’ in the face of what enemy in what location at what time?
I can’t imagine more than a handful are willing to serve. All the interviews with transgender kids/young adults that I’ve seen on TV they don’t seem the sort to make it thru boot camp. If you’re going thru that much personal turmoil, that 3:30 AM wake up call by your friendly neighborhood DI/CC is really, really going rock your fucking world.
That is probably because every single one of them is freaking unstable. And while I have not met every homosexual out there, the vast majority of the ones I have met would not be at all a good fit into a military society where they are not the be all, end all of that society, where they must be bigger than themselves, and sacrifice routinely for something that ain’t them. Add to that the fact that military service is not a right, it is a priviledge and they don’t get to do it simply because they like the pretty suits.
I’d venture to guess that one George Soros is a very generous contributor to the Palm Center
The transgender debate is a squirrel to keep us focused on transgenders while ignoring the non-transgender gayz, who are far more numerous and as detrimental to unit readiness.
Are we now? Please do enlighten me as to how that is?
“To keep us”… are you active duty/reserves/guard (i.e. currently serving in some sort of capacity?)
If the 0bama administration decided to do this, why can’t the Trumpminator administration revoke it?
I thought elections had consequences. ..
Here’s hoping that six months turns into forever.
I’m pretty sure the services have already met their quota of crazy people, even without transgenders.
If they aren’t already TG’d, they should not be accepted.
Shouldn’t be accepted anyway, because even if transitioned, they possess a chronic medical/mental condition that must be maintained and monitored and we don’t have longitudinal studies on these patients yet, let alone any idea about that condition superimposed over the demands of a military occupation and all that goes with it.
Currently that condition also carries about a 45% suicide rate. FFS
Nobody seems to be calling this for what it actually is, an effort by Broadway Barry and his boy Ash Carter, neither of whom ever served in uniform, to flip the finger at the military as a parting shot. It was petty and vindictive in the same way the appointment of Eric Fanning as Secretary of the Army was petty and vindictive.
Still, you’ve got to give credit for the clever way Obama and Carter went about implementing the transgender policy. Make the grandstand play of announcing it, but time implementation so the next administration has to suffer the bitter consequences. Sort of like how a Vung Tau bar girl might give you a dose of VD but it doesn’t show up for awhile.
Especially when she knows you are going back to “the world” in a week. (Not implying that happened to anyone I know)
As long as they’re not confused about who the enemy is and can shoot straight, I could care less what’s between their legs.
That’s a gross oversimplification of the reality.
The way that thinking was taught to me is:
Can they shoot straight? Will they stick around and -fight- when the shooting starts?
The second part is the tough one. “Ate up by age”, for example, can overcome the strongest will and the bravest heart, as can other conditions or choices.
I agree with what you say in premise. Realistically, it’s an easy attitude to form when the only responsibility you have is your own personal responsibility.
However, if you’re in the military for any significant length of time and gain a leadership role, readiness, performance, unit dynamics etc. become a responsibility beyond simply the perception of a single person’s own. Occupy a management role, then you understand a lot more of the big picture.
I just don’t see it any differently than gays, women, minorities, immigrants, felons, etc.
I suppose if you were creating a dream recruit you’d want them growing up with mom & dad on a serene farm with older brothers to emulate and dad teaches them how to hunt & shoot and they say their prayers and take their vitamins.
That isn’t what recruit training gets. Everyone brings their own baggage.
“gays, women, minorities, immigrants, felons, etc.”
None of them have the demands I previously outlined, but you’re entitled you your opinion.
Why don’t we take people with metal heart valves? They just have to take blood thinners regularly.
Why not take type II Diabetics? Their meds are easily managed, especially if they control their weight.
There are many physical/mental disqualifiers that are enforced now, many that don’t require the same investment, maintenance and inherent risk of TGs.
“I suppose if you were creating a dream recruit you’d want them growing up with mom & dad on a serene farm with older brothers to emulate and dad teaches them how to hunt & shoot and they say their prayers and take their vitamins.”
There’s really no need for sarcasm or ad hominems to the point of reductio absurdum.
I’m speaking from a point where I had to be personally involved with the maintenance of medical readiness at and above the battalion level. I’m currently employed in training troops to go into harm’s way.
Where does your expertise fall when evaluating medical readiness and its impact on operation readiness?
Sarcasm is a condition I cannot avoid. I didn’t mean disrespect. The point I was making is that our military should be representative of the country it serves, and sub-optimal recruits are part of that.
I separate a medical condition from other reasons. I am concerned a blanket ban was not based on universal medical assessment but discrimination. I’d defer to your experience on conditions necessitating denial of service to individuals. But, if someone wants to serve their country, I think they should have the opportunity to get that medical assessment before being denied.
“..if someone wants to serve their country, I think they should have the opportunity to get that medical assessment before being denied.”
I agree with the spirit of that statement, but we already deny people based on existing criteria rather than excluding people individually. To suddenly do otherwise would be extremely costly.
There are many ways to serve the country besides being in the military, some have much less stringent standards.
No, it shouldn’t. It should be composed of the best possible war fighters it can get. Roughly 40 percent or so of this country is comprised of self absorbed pieces of useless and borderline unstable shit not worth the round it would take to put them out of their misery.
I don’t think people with medical conditions that disqualify them from service should join.
I am not aware that all trans people have such a condition akin to diabetes. I am certainly not an expert.
To be trans they must surrender to a medically induced endocrine disorder.
The process has not been approved as necessary by any majority in the medical community.
Its long term effects are unknown.
If we suggested administering anabolic steroid in boot camp the public would be outraged, but in this case that is precisely what is being done and with no more certainty of the results.
things that are known such as the 45% suicide rate are also being ignored as is the diagnoses of Gender Dysphoria which still exists as a diagnosable disorder in the DSM-5 and the ICD-10 manuals. As a matter of political agenda it is simply being ignored and thrust on the Armed Forces without consideration of the realities.
Trans as in “cross dress” and such? or Trans as in “surgical and chemical transition of gender”?
-Huge- difference in terms of impact, eh?
Post-transition folks need ongoing support, and ongoing treatment that is barely understood for long-term consequences, but -does- have a track record for undesired side effects.
You will not find too many people on this forum that are -more- “live and let live” than me. Even -I- can see that accepting trans folk into regular military service has some bigtime problems for readiness and capability.
When it gets to the (currently just SciFi) “done in one” stage of gender-transition medicine, -then- we can look at “fairness”. But people who need ongoing shots just to function properly are in a world of hurt on an FTX, let alone -combat-. And if you -start- in a world of hurt, you are -not- helping the team.
Military Service is -not- about the -self- in first place!
“Be all you can be!” Sure. But first “Be all the -Army- need you to be.”
transvestic fetishism is a completely different entity. Most transvestites are heterosexual white males that have no desire to live life as women.
True dat. They just have highly developed fashion sense.
It also is not the military’s responsibility to pay for the monstrously expensive self mutilation they want to do to themselves.
It is the same reason we don’t let 55 to 70 year olds enlist, no matter how fit and motivated they are. Although, the services might benefit from their wisdom and life experiences.
I agree it is simplistic.
I also was -highly- surprised to hear it (or something very similar) from senior NCOs with CIBs. it just seems Edson out of place with the items. I infer from your statement you do -not- hear this much. Noted.
Context then was mainly about skin-color, but there were at least two conversations where it was one senior/leader telling another not to ask too many questions about a third party’s off-post activities almost-sufficiently far from the flagpole.
..
I note the -vast- change of opinion of the under-25 crowd on certain topics, compared to what I remember from 1987, and wonder how long before that cohort greatly changes military thinking. Then also, how that thinking would actually hold up in a war.
I remember what things were like thirty years ago. I have trouble keeping up with current. In 2047, I am going to be a freaking -Martian- compared to the average FNG of that year.
Nanu Nanu
Gah. This iPad hates me.
“This seems -entirely- out of place with the -times-.” not “Edison …. items”.
I swear this thing auto-corrupts after I hit the “post” button”……
auto-corrupt sucks. My posts often come up with modifications too. At least out posts aren’t graded for credit.
*our…dammmit
Ok. -that- was -funny-.
Thanks needed the laugh.
And I -definitely- get the need to differentiate between “this is a -weird- person” and “this person required elaborate medical support”.
Find the autocorrupt feature on your toys and turn it OFFFFFFFF!
That will keep your blood pressure from screaming at your tablet.
Sadly, I type badly on a good day. I have a choice of manual or automatic mangle styles, but …. sigh. Life is not designed to be “fair”.
Irony? One of my -other- Army jobs (for which I also had no formal training) was “Battalion Awards Clerk”.
At ~5 WPM. With no spell check on either a typewriter or a Burroughs Lexitron “word processor” (circa 1978).
Oh. My. bOG!
Sorry 2-7 guys, for every dumb-ass typo that missed proofing by three people. Except for you SFC “X”. SFC “T” -ordered- me to add “He is an outstanding Fuckhead” to the end of that second bootleg AAM cert he tricked the BN CO into signing for your retirement award….
Miss you. Thanks for letting me play Army.
Hopefully by 2047 technology will have advanced far enough that we can all spend most of our time in our own reality, because the world is gonna be fucking weird.
It is already “really weird”.
It isn’t even that. It ignores the reality of the situation in total. Social engineering, accepting substandard personnel simply because it is trendy, costing tons of money to cater to their particularly deviancy, on and on and on.
Yeah this needs to be scrapped. Zero reason why a new administration should be continuing disastrous Obama military policy.
Weekend safety briefings will have to include the “CHECK EQUIPMENT” command, unintentional “MAN OVERBOARD” procedures, and stress both condoms and eye pro during sex. They’ll need to account for the potential increase in eye injuries among infantrymen after meeting that adam-appled beauty after a long night at the E club.
Holden
Two words, “Bradley Manning” sets the presidence…
Precedence
Just wondering, which barracks will these trans people live in? Male, female, or none of the above?
Whichever matches the sex registered in DEERS. Same thing with bathrooms and showers.
Transient Barracks?
Right. -Not- helping…
Over the past two weeks at my installation, there seemed to be NOTHING more important than getting all personnel trained on transgender policy.
Daily queries for status reports. Threats of the untrained’s TDY and leave not being approved. Trainer tells class “this is a safe space, feel free to ask questions.” When questions were asked, people got shut down (“your concern/beliefs/discomfort are irrelevant according to current policy”). Senior leader telli at an all-hands meeting “if you don’t like this new policy, you can go find another job.”
Readiness, indeed.
So now the Military will have yet another day of death by power point briefing on transgender crap in addition to already having SHARP, EEO, minority crap, LBGTWREWwhatever,…
Do they have any time for *GASP!* Combat training anymore?
Bingo.
We’ve already been having having it, in all its ambiguous absurdity. Military, GS, Contractors…the whole family.
Why doesn’t someone who is not sexually dysfunctional sue the crap out of these idiots?
The longer this bullshit policy goes on, the more likely it will be that the English language will become unusable for anything. Every word in English can be twisted into a pejorative, e.g., watermelon, fruit, cherry, potato, wiener, weapon, thruster, hump.
It won’t be too long before the completely dysfunctional nature of dysfunctionality replaces order and discipline… or maybe it already has and it passed me by.
Keep firmly in mind, that corrupting the language to be meaningless is seen as a -feature- not a bug by the folks who mean to “fundamentally transform” the USA.
When words become meaningless through ambiguity, no one can object to the Master’s orders, because no meaningful other position could be stated.
How to understand the orders in the first place? They will quit beating you when you get it right.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Your comment was niggardly.
You are so very, very bad.
Both of you.
WHAT???? No Tranny’s??? How in the hell is our military going to function?????
Maybe some day in the future being a “trannie specialist” will have a completely new meaning. Perhaps a new specialty for our own IDC SARC. It is a good thing my dad is not still alive, as he was a Caterpillar transmission mechanic and was called “Super Trannie” by his co-workers because of his technical transmission repair skills.
C’mon, folks. Stop acting like children and Neanderthals and get with the program.
The main character here would obviously fit in perfectly in any US military unit. No issues, no drama, no distractions from military missions, no problems. His mere presence would increase readiness and unit cohesion 1000%. And hell, he hasn’t even finished transition – when that’s complete, it will be even better!
(smile)