TRANSGENDER MILITARY: QUESTIONS ABOUND
Transgender people are the latest to be welcomed by the U.S. military and social action agency.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the new policy Thursday, according to the Marine Corps Times, despite reservations by some senior military leaders, who questioned the impact on readiness.
No one knows how the rank-and-file force feels about the politically sensitive issue, because the Pentagon did not conduct surveys to gauge their opinions.
Since the announced policy is that the military — taxpayers, in other words — will pay for health care support related to gender transitions in cases where a military medical doctor determines it is necessary, the military may become the new place to be if someone wants to change who they are.
By July 1, 2017, the policy says, transgender people can enlist as long as they meet required standards and have been stable in their chosen genders for 18 months.
Whether men becoming women will have to adhere to the less stringent standards women face or women becoming men will face the tougher standards to which men are subjected was not clear.
That was only one of the muddy issues that worried military leaders, who said not enough specifics were announced to guide commanders who will have to make decisions about people in their unit. Among their concerns: how unit-level commanders should address issues related to transitioning troops with deployments, job assignments and training; at what point a commander should consider moving transgender soldiers into alternative barracks; and when a transgender service member will begin adhering to a different gender’s grooming standards and uniform-wear rules.
Carter acknowledged that the health care of transgender persons likely would run an extra $40,000-$50,000 over the lifetime of the service member but noted it was “an exceedingly small proportion” of the overall military expenditure.
But what’s $350 million ($50,000 multiplied by the possible 7,000 current transgender troops) more, though, where the country’s defense is concerned, eh?
As one active duty Marine noted, at a time when basic allowances for housing are being reduced and raises are always in flux, “If you want to exercise your rights [to change genders], go for it, but do it on your own dime because I’d rather my taxes go to something that I believe is more important to me, my family and the future of this nation.”
Stable transgender persons can serve well in various places in the military, but when individual transition is primary in a force where thinking and acting alike in crisis are mandatory, it gives one pause as to whether the new policy has been thought through.