The Military Trans-Gender Ban

This article first appeared in Eagle Rising.

President Trump has stirred up another hornet’s nest with his reinstating the ban on trans genders serving in the military. Apparently, it even caught his military leaders off guard. Just another day in the White House. Obviously, the gay community is up in arms although it doesn’t affect gays per se.

There are two questions at issue: Is it right and what will happen to those trans genders already in the military?

On the first count, I think the decision is proper. This has nothing to do with a trans gendered person’s value as a human being. The military should not be subject to social experimentation. The purpose of the military is to be combat ready, fight, and win wars. They should not have to have their time consumed with these issues.

Not everyone should serve in the military. Specifically, people with psychological issues should not because the stress of daily life in the military will only bring those issues out and exacerbate them.

I am leaving gays out of this discussion because that battle has been thrashed out. In addition, some gays have shown that they can fight quite well, whether with their fists or with weapons. I will say, however, that while I was an Army MP in Germany during the 1960s, we had a gay guy in our unit. He never came out and said he was gay, but it was obvious. We accepted it and never bothered him about it or asked him. He was a likable enough guy. Would I have wanted to pull patrol duty with him and go into some of those tough GI bars we had to police? Not really. (I never did team up with him because we had joint patrols with another MP unit at our base.)

Trans genders, in addition to the psychological issues, also have to deal with medical issues connected to their sex change. The last thing the military needs is to be dealing with those. In addition, imagine our military having to waste time, energy and money in order to build gender-neutral latrines. I say leave that nonsense to the universities.

As for those (however many there may be) already in the military, to be fair, allow them to complete their current tours of duty and release them with whatever discharge they have earned. There may be someone who is within a few years of retirement who should be allowed to qualify for that retirement and its benefits.

This is not to trash any trans gendered people who may be in the military. Like anyone else who wants to serve their country, I salute them. I just don’t think our military-especially in this troubled world- should have to sacrifice any time or resources to deal with this issue. Any unit that is involved in accommodating trans-genders and their various issues and having to worry about bathroom facilities is not combat ready.