President Trump Overturns US Military’s Policy on Transgender Servicemembers

So much for all the mandatory transgender training the US military has been going through as President Trump has now reinstated the transgender servicemember ban:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a rainbow flag given to him by supporter Max Nowak during a campaign rally at the Bank of Colorado Arena on the campus of University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., Oct. 30, 2016.

President Trump announced on Wednesday morning that the U.S. military would not “accept or allow” any transgender service members.

In a series of tweets, the commander in chief argued that too much is at stake in the military’s current operations for it to be “burdened” by the medical costs of transgender people or the “disruption” he says transgender service members would cause.  [Yahoo News]

You can read more at the link, but I really think this whole policy would have been less controversial if it did not include free sex change and hormone treatment for new recruits.  Additionally controversy only increased when it was announced that transgenders that chose not to undergo the surgery would be allowed to shower with the sex they identify with.

With the end of the don’t ask don’t tell policy I predicted it would be a lot to do about nothing which is what happened.  Gay servicemembers were not demanding special treatment, just the ability to serve openly.  If transgenders were just told they can serve openly and must have any surgeries completed prior to joining the military I think there would have been much less push back on this policy that led to President Trump overturning it.

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Liz
Liz
7 years ago

He is on his way to being on the short lists of best presidents we’ve ever had.
This is huge. I don’t think most people understand how huge this is.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

They change their acronym to LGBQ.

Smokes at Work
Smokes at Work
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

I agree, it’s huge in that I suspect it’s the first major success the military swamp has had in purposefully implementing something they didn’t want to implement in such an assed up fashion that there was no alternative.

Who told them to take on the financial responsibility for operations and therapy?

If I were to try and join the Army with a pre-existing medical condition that required regular medicine forever or expensive surgeries that would have me absent from work for long stretches they’d say “no, sorry”.

If while serving I acquire a condition (not resulting of any official duty) which requires surgeries and never-ending treatment at some point they’re going to medically discharge me.

They did it on purpose to spark such outrage as to cast gloom over the whole thing. Same reason they came up with such laughably in-your-face mandatory training. Same reason every single vignette featured a MTF individual because they know it offers the greatest opportunity to push people outside their comfort zones.

Dumb move on Trump’s part but ultimately my “Fingers of Shame and Blame” are pointed directly at the military swamp. While they congratulate each other over this victory they ponder why they didn’t do this regarding integrating women or non-whites.

Smokes at Work
Smokes at Work
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Sheesh man can’t you just speak your mind on something without referencing some lefty loudmouth? Who gives a F what Sulu thinks?

Smokes at Work
Smokes at Work
Reply to  setnaffa
7 years ago

Here’s the first sentence on Wikipedia of a guy who I can’t figure out why he has a Wikipedia page….
“Darrell “J.R.” Salzman (born 1979) is a champion logroller and an Iraq War veteran.”

Champion logroller? Anyway…

Funny how he calls out people for being insta-experts all the while being an insta-expert on gender identity as noted by this all-too-often used passive aggressive attack: “confused about whether you’re a man or a woman”. Hypocrite. 🙄

I could go on and on but this asswipe seems to love one-sided “conversations” more than Tbone and there’s just too much bullshit to dig through.

In any case, Setnaffa I hereby find you guilty of linking garbage without properly identifying it in advance. Your first tip should’ve been the headline which follows the typical garbage structure of “Person *insert extreme all uppercase verb*’s other thing/person”. Best examples were how the media would report Jon Stewart’s commentary on various subjects:
Jon Stewart DESTROYS Random Dude!, Watch Jon Stewart MOTHER F’ING OBLITERATE 5th Grader’s Belief in Santa!, Stewart EVISCERBLATESMASHES Himself!!!!!!, etc… :hmm:

setnaffa
Reply to  setnaffa
7 years ago

Sadly. Even the best sites are turning into Buzzfeed.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Smokes at Work
7 years ago

“If while serving I acquire a condition (not resulting of any official duty) which requires surgeries and never-ending treatment at some point they’re going to medically discharge me.
They did it on purpose to spark such outrage as to cast gloom over the whole thing.”

Smokes, who are “They”?
I’ve been to a couple of military leadership conferences in the past year where a portion of each syllabus was to dedicated to the discussion of how to adapt to having transgendered in service.
The last conference was particularly telling because the expert speaker on the transition process was a squadron commander who had (ostensibly) “successfully integrated” a transgendered person.
He proceded to describe the situation: The transgendered person (I will heretofore use the abbreviation TP) was extremely politically active and extremely forward and loud about his views in the workplace. The work environment became intolerable for everyone else as the TP was disruptive to the work environment. The commander helpfully gave the TP a change of duty while the TP underwent hormone therapy, and started “transitioning”.
The commander mentioned that TPs have a far higher likelihood of need for therapy both before and after transitioning, so the TP spent the majority of time either in therapy, or convalescing. That was a success story.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Smokes at Work
7 years ago

Transgenders have only been permitted in the services since about this time last year. If we’ve truly had a deluge of thousands running to the service to pay for their procedures and therapy in the past 12 months, those are people we don’t need.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Personality disorders that are incompatible with service are disqualifying…not because the person with the disorder might not make a good air traffic controller (or insert whatever job here), but because the cost to gains in military effectiveness makes them a bad investment.
Transgenders fit into this category.

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
7 years ago

No more trannies in the military causes Tbone to lose sleep for some reason.

The best part of Trump is he keeps Tbone in a perpetual state of irritation.

TEEHEE!

Smokes
Smokes
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Liz said: “Smokes, who are “They”?”

Like I stated at the beginning, this is just my suspicion. It’s not like Jesse Ventura and I are driving around in a black jeep hunting the Deep State in the back woods of Montana.

“They” aren’t any exact group of people who can be named. “They” are the shifting collection of people who strive to maintain the military swamp.

Throughout history “They” were the ones who said:
“Coloreds!? We dun need none of them coloreds in the military, ain’t worth but a third of a white soldier!”
“Women in the military?! No sir, a woman’s place is the home I say.”
“Brah we can’t have gays serve in the military, they’ll try to hump you in the foxhole!”

It’s discrimination plain and simple, the whole financial aspect is a smokescreen otherwise why don’t they just disqualify transition related medical expenses from coverage? Because if they do that then the only leg they have left to stand upon is this whole “distraction” nonsense.

I’m all for not paying for these medical services, nor am I for someone collecting a paycheck while not actually going to work for long stretches.

If they truly weren’t discriminating then they’d amend the guidelines to something like this: Otherwise qualified TP’s are eligible to serve but should be aware no transitioning or trans-maintenance service medical claims will be accepted. TP’s entering service are responsible for acquisition of and upkeep of their own trans-needs. Any failure to perform normal duties resulting from a TP’s inability or unwillingness to adhere to those responsibilities can result in either separation under general or medical conditions based upon further review. TP’s who have not undergone transitioning surgery prior to enlistment and wish to do so must have sufficient medical leave available and obtain the permission of.. blah blah you get it. 😛 otherwise they can be separated again under Gen/Med. Sheesh this post’s getting too long….

Smokes
Smokes
Reply to  setnaffa
7 years ago

Whoops, slight typo there, here I’ll fix it for you, should read:

“Just because I can only cite extreme garbage clickbait means I’m not to be taken seriously. TEEHEE”.

Smokes
Smokes
7 years ago

Gov. Malloy signs order reinforcing nondiscrimination policies in CT Military Department
http://www.wfsb.com/story/35975396/connecticut-officials-react-to-transgender-military-ban
Interesting… here’s the exec. order:
http://www.wfsb.com/link/790716/governors-executive-order-that-reinforces-states-nondiscrimination-policies-within-the-connecticut-military-department

Wonder how this will play out.

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
7 years ago

This tranny thing is just a distraction… noisy-flashy fluff to occupy the media so they don’t report on what is happening…

…and stuff is happening.

In 3 to 5 hours, it will be more obvious.

In 24 hours, the tranny stuff will be forgotten.

Get ready!

johnnyboy
johnnyboy
Reply to  ChickenHead
7 years ago

Kek’s will be done. Shadilay.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Smokes
7 years ago

The Reserve system and National Guard have an optional civilian (GS system) track.
I don’t know a lot about the Guard, but in the Reserve world they call them ARTs. They even have a Union.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Smokes
7 years ago

Here’s a good read (re: all varieties of “They”):
http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

“There’s a passage in the Principia Discordia where Malaclypse complains to the Goddess about the evils of human society. “Everyone is hurting each other, the planet is rampant with injustices, whole societies plunder groups of their own people, mothers imprison sons, children perish while brothers war.”

The Goddess answers: “What is the matter with that, if it’s what you want to do?”

Malaclypse: “But nobody wants it! Everybody hates it!”

Goddess: “Oh. Well, then stop.”

The implicit question is – if everyone hates the current system, who perpetuates it? And Ginsberg answers: “Moloch”. It’s powerful not because it’s correct – nobody literally thinks an ancient Carthaginian demon causes everything – but because thinking of the system as an agent throws into relief the degree to which the system isn’t an agent.

Bostrom makes an offhanded reference of the possibility of a dictatorless dystopia, one that every single citizen including the leadership hates but which nevertheless endures unconquered. It’s easy enough to imagine such a state. Imagine a country with two rules: first, every person must spend eight hours a day giving themselves strong electric shocks. Second, if anyone fails to follow a rule (including this one), or speaks out against it, or fails to enforce it, all citizens must unite to kill that person. Suppose these rules were well-enough established by tradition that everyone expected them to be enforced.

So you shock yourself for eight hours a day, because you know if you don’t everyone else will kill you, because if they don’t, everyone else will kill them, and so on. Every single citizen hates the system, but for lack of a good coordination mechanism it endures. From a god’s-eye-view, we can optimize the system to “everyone agrees to stop doing this at once”, but no one within the system is able to effect the transition without great risk to themselves.

And okay, this example is kind of contrived. So let’s run through – let’s say ten – real world examples of similar multipolar traps to really hammer in how important this is (snip)”

Liz
Liz
Reply to  Smokes
7 years ago

Smokes: “If they truly weren’t discriminating then they’d amend the guidelines to something like this: Otherwise qualified TP’s are eligible to serve but should be aware no transitioning or trans-maintenance service medical claims will be accepted. TP’s entering service are responsible for acquisition of and upkeep of their own trans-needs. Any failure to perform normal duties resulting from a TP’s inability or unwillingness to adhere to those responsibilities can result in either separation under general or medical conditions based upon further review. TP’s who have not undergone transitioning surgery prior to enlistment and wish to do so must have sufficient medical leave available and obtain the permission of.. blah blah”

That’s still discrimination, Smokes. Case in point, the military cannot discriminate against pregnant women even though their pregnancies impact the mission and their ability to deploy. Surgery is a fundamental aspect a the transition process and if we can’t discriminate, we can’t discriminate.

Liz
Liz
Reply to  ChickenHead
7 years ago

You might be right, CH. But I wouldn’t call it a distraction, this is really important, longterm. I know a lot of commanders and I have not heard a single (true) success story about transgender integration yet. They’ve had a few months as a litmus test to see how it goes.
My spouse spoke with the local LGBTQ community representative, and even he confided that the LGBQ community is about fifty percent split on their opinion of the Ts.

setnaffa
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Frankly it needs to be understood that the needs of the service come first. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to overcome my airsickness and be like some of my colleagues who flew over 10,000 hours in the B-52; but I wasn’t helping the service by being there. And I was hurting my crew, so I changed jobs.

Not all people understand the military is not a 9-5 job. But SecDef Mattis might just be the right guy to convince them.

There are plenty of other jobs that don’t involve trying to mooch off the taxpayer and siphon our defense. Trannies should probably look up CH, not Uncle Sam, for the best places to look for a suitable job.

setnaffa
Reply to  johnnyboy
7 years ago

Great tune, thanks for the reminder!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyb5XDzLM9o

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
7 years ago

I always have a job for a tranny…

Servicing Smokes keeps ’em busy.

setnaffa
Reply to  ChickenHead
7 years ago

They could even wear a uniform and medals, right?

setnaffa
Reply to  GIKorea
7 years ago

Well, it did seem to be a topic of some concern around here… 😉

Liz
Liz
7 years ago

No, he didn’t.

johnnboy
johnnboy
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Maybe George got over FDR locking him and his family up in an internment camp?

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
7 years ago

Come on, people!

We are over halfway to erasing Tbone like a disgraced Soviet revolutionary.

Vote early, vote often!

Smokes
Smokes
Reply to  Liz
7 years ago

Well; so I guess it isn’t so much about the financial burden for you after all. What are you a politician or something Liz? Just speak your mind please; remember this is a virtual VFW, mouth off all you want until GI starts kicking us out for the night.

Smokes
Smokes
7 years ago

Ok since most seem primarily (or at least are pretending to be) concerned about the financial aspect of this. Initially was my only real beef; it really pissed me off to read about the traitor Manning suing for and winning medical Trans services.

Step outside the whole current Trans issue and you’ll more clearly see the bigger problem.

Pretend I’m General Smokes of the Army and we need bags of sand for our bases. I instruct Installation Commanders to hire local civilian shovelers and to pay $15 an hour to the employees. That’s all, they show up, do the thing and get $15 an hour. Now let’s say Admiral Liz needs bags of sands for her ports and instructs Fleet Recruiting Command to push to recruit em but they’re only going to pay $7 to enlistees. To make up for the low pay they’ll subsidize it with free meals, free housing, free “healthcare”, and other junk.

Here’s the thing though. None of that shit was free; the Navy shovelers took a hit in pay for it and to make it worse:
Free Meals
It’s not like you’re getting a card to “pay” for the meals when you go shopping up to X amount. No, you have to eat when they say you can eat, where they say, eat what they decide to cook. Miss a meal? Well too bad sailor, you ain’t getting reimbursed for it. Don’t like the menu, portions, or service? Yeah go fill a comment card and see that failure of a system work. :hmm:

Free Housing
House is used very vaguely, you ain’t getting a house. You aren’t even getting an apartment. You’re getting a room that you’ll probably have to share. Post getting huge so I’ll cut this one short. 😯

Free “Healthcare”
It’s quoted because these days people think insurance is healthcare, well it ain’t. But that’s what Liz’s sailors are getting, Tricare RokDrop or some junk. Now let’s say you want to actually use your Tricare well first you have to go to PT cause fuck whatever is ailing you ya PoS scumbag shammer. PT over? Ok, now go beg your firstline supv. and the Chief to go to sick call or whatever, be prepared to be shamed some more. Once your there be prepared for some shitass service too cause everyone knows you aren’t the customer, the Navy is the customer cause they’re paying the actual bill. It goes on but alas there it is. ❓

If the shovelers the Army hired through GEN Smoke’s Direct Hire Plan want to spend some of their money they saved from their $15 no one’s going to give a shit, it’s their money. If ADM Liz’s Sailors recruited under the Navy of Sand Plan want to make use of the insurance used to justify that shitty pay rate god forbid! That’s tax-payer money, how dare you! 👿

Don’t subsidize pay with bullshit benefits that aren’t worth what they cost and people are shamed for using. 😡

So… anyone actually read all that? :beg:

johnnyboy
johnnyboy
Reply to  Smokes
7 years ago

Not speaking for Liz, but to me it’s kind of an all of the above situation.

The military already has problems with suicide. Then people want to forcibly insert a group with a high rate of suicide in civilian life into a job that at times is infinitely more stressful.

Next, these guys/gals (and everything in between) will want their operation paid for, their hormone treatment paid for, and will want all post op care that comes with it, as well as collecting a paycheck while being out of the fight for some great deal of time afterwards.

Imagine someone who joined just for the op and treatment signs for a 3 or 4 year stint. What if 2 years of that was spent on gender reassignment, care, therapy, and any negative consequences that may arise? Is that a responsible use of taxpayer money? Is that fair to other service members?

What exactly would any of that add to the effectiveness of the military? I ask that fully realizing that plenty of projects the military pursues don’t meet those requirements, but that doesn’t make it okay to start this project.

A question for anyone who supports transgenders in the military in theory or in practice:

Just when exactly does shit get weird for you?

There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

If not here, then where?

Liz
Liz
7 years ago

Lots of people were harmed during the RIF.
Do they get to sue too?

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