You’re In The Army Now!

Or in this case in the military.

There is good news and bad news about the trans people in the military, the bad is that the military will not be accepting trans recruits, at least for now.

It was a short statement from the Department of Defense…

Statement by Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W. White on Transgender Accessions
Press Operations
Release No: NR-250-17
June 30, 2017

Secretary Mattis today approved a recommendation by the services to defer accessing transgender applicants into the military until Jan. 1, 2018.

The services will review their accession plans and provide input on the impact to the readiness and lethality of our forces.

The political fallout depends on which side of the aisle they sit on.

Top Dem: Pentagon decision to delay transgender troop enlistment 'outrageous'
The Hill
By John Bowden
July 1, 2017

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) condemned the Trump administration on Saturday for issuing a delay in allowing transgender soldiers to serve in the military.

Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, called the Pentagon's move "outrageous" and argued it was done "without providing any evidence."

“It is outrageous that the Trump Administration would issue a delay in allowing transgender Americans to serve openly in our military without providing any evidence to support such a decision," Hoyer said in a statement.

"We need to ensure that all those who are talented, driven, and capable and who wish to serve in defense of our country – often in mission-critical positions – are able to do so," he said. "If the Pentagon cannot adequately explain or justify this reversal in the policy implementation, it ought not to pursue it.”

Meanwhile on the Republican side of the aisle,

GOP Congesswoman compares transgender soldiers to North Korea, Putin, and ISIS
Trans servicemembers are a “domestic threat” to the military.
ThinkProgress
By Zack FordFollow
June 30, 2017

Fresh off a committee hearing where she introduced (and withdrew) an amendment banning transgender people from serving in the military, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) called in to the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council Thursday to discuss her concerns. Trans servicemembers, she warned, are a “threat” to the country — a threat rivaling our biggest international foes.

Responding to host Tony Perkins’ softball question about “social experimentation” in the military, Hartzler explained, “At a time when we should be focusing on the threats from North Korea, and Putin, and ISIS, we’re having to deal with a threat here at home — a domestic threat — of allowing transgenders [sic] in our service, which is a real problem because it impacts their readiness, and it’s a huge cost for our military.”

Over the course of the interview, Hartzler reiterated the same concerns she expressed Wednesday night in the House Armed Services Committee, including her completely bogus claim that transgender-related surgeries will cost the military $1.35 billion over the next 10 years. That figure is 16 times more than the highest estimates provided by the RAND Corporation, and Hartzler’s office has still not responded to a ThinkProgress inquiry as to where she came up with that number.

Of course she totally ignored the fact that trans servicemembers from other NATO countries have trans servicemembers and they have had no problems.

Then down in Nevada at Nellis Air Force Base,

New transition for NAFB Airman
By Senior Airman Irene Nelson , 57th Operations Support Squadron
Published June 30, 2017

[…]
Growing up, I knew always liked men and was very effeminate. I was very competitive, but saw other girls as my competition, especially when it came to academics or boys. I always wanted what the girls had, but I was never quite able to grasp why I couldn’t have those things or be treated the same way.

My whole life I had heard that I was a gay man, a very effeminately gay man, so that’s all I ever thought I was and could be. Even my parents had issues with my sexual orientation (surprise), and they took me to a gay conversion seminar when I was about 15 years old.

For a while, I went back into the “closet” and devoted a lot of my time to volunteering at church. I spent endless hours studying the Bible and praying for God to give me clarity as to why I had these temptations or feelings. Why couldn’t he take them away? Nothing is as hard as your whole world telling you that you are wrong. Your existence is wrong.

“…they took me to a gay conversion seminar when I was about 15 years old” that is now banned here in Connecticut.

Eventually, I got enough courage to go to a transgender support group at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center of Southern Nevada. There I met some wonderful people who have shared their life stories with me. I saw that living my life as a woman wasn’t so crazy, and it started to feel right. I had never truly been unhappy with my life, but I didn’t feel fully realized.
[…]
I had my name legally changed in March 2016, and I wanted to start hormone therapy treatments. Due to being ATC, I am on flying status which affects the medications I am allowed to take. Hormones would take me off flying status, but for an unknown period of time.

Why is it that “Hormones would take me off flying status…” does that mean that women can’t be ATC? After all the hormones levels are the same, so why pick on trans people?

I think that the delay in implementing the trans inclusion policy is the death knell for the policy.