The Pentagon buys time

After a series of tweets and after yet another executive order aimed at banning the military service of transgender people — and, of course, the two lawsuits that immediately generated — the Defense secretary has basically issued a big nevermind for now.

Remember, of course, that this policy didn’t bubble up from the Pentagon. No, it came from the same fever swamps that President Trump seems intent on appeasing — what he perceives as his “base.”

So after Trump issued his eveof-the-Hurricane order, it was left to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to sort it out. Tuesday Mattis issued his own statement, saying he was setting up a panel of experts from within the Pentagon and Homeland Security “to provide advice and recommendations on the implementation of the president’s direction.”

Then following their report and his own consultations, “I will provide my advice to the president concerning implementation of his policy direction. In the interim, current policy with respect to current serving members will remain in place.”

A look at the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit points to why Trump’s directive is so problematic and why the military itself is not so eager to jettison service members who have already served for years with distinction — many of them in silence prior to the 2016 Obama era directive.

They include: Petty Officer 1st Class Brock Stone with nine years of service in the Navy, including a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan; Staff Sgt. Kate Cole, 10 years in the Army, including a one-year deployment to Afghanistan; a senior airman with six years in the Air Force.

All ready, willing and able to serve — as they have been throughout their careers — until they became pawns in a larger political game. Now that game heads to court as Mattis buys time.