Note: I served in the U.S. Air Force from 2000-2007. My job code was 3C0X1 (Communications computer systems operator). My highest rank was E-5 (Staff Sergeant), and I received an honorable discharge.
On July 26, 2017, president Trump Tweeted, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or alllow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” The typos are Trump’s, not mine.
This is a bold, historic decision on a philosophically profound topic that is going to cause a lot of heated arguments, and most of them will overlook the nuance of all the issues involved. It’s worth noting that Donald Trump didn’t analyze the same variables most academics would to come to his decision. He just thought it would make his supporters happy and keep his opponents distracted while he does even more absurd things.
It’s sad that Trump made America have this conversation in this way and that Fox News is going to continue to frame the debate in an impossibly unproductive way. To make things more confusing, both sides weren’t both a little bit right, but the biggest problems caused by having transsexuals in the military, exist because of deeper rooted flaws in America’s government and military.
Trump and his generals were right that the logistical cost/benefit analysis of allowing transgender people who are in the process of transitioning, doesn’t add up. There are valid reasons why this is inhumane, but the purpose of the military is to kill people. It’s easier to become an officer with a degree in Engineering, than Psychology. That’s because officers aren’t there to worry about their subordinate’s journey to self-actualization. An officer’s job is to calculate risks, formulate plans and be as emotionless as possible while sending their troops to their deaths. The military already treats troops in ways that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and America’s own employee protection laws. The military views and treats its troops like disposable numbers, not human beings.
Getting your snowflake print panties in a twist over whether or not it’s fair if transexuals can’t serve in the U.S. military, is like being offended that an indifferent, sin-eating death machine didn’t invite you to its birthday party. If you’re just now getting angry that the military doesn’t care about people’s feelings, then you must be too privileged and sheltered to have ever seen the reality of war or how the U.S. military works. If you’re going to be pissed about how the military treats the troops, focus that anger towards the fact that the Uniform Code of Military Justice strips troops of their basic human rights and the military operates exactly like a cult with a Colonial caste system.
Regardless of whether my description of the military is true, and even if it is and could be fixed, war is still a battle of resources, and every decision requires a cost/benefit analysis of how to spend money. Troops cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to train and equip. This is made all the more expensive because troops have access to 100% nationalized healthcare. All of their essential medical needs are completely free, and the more they get hurt on the job, the more free healthcare they’ll receive after leaving the military. You can even qualify for a medical discharge with free healthcare for life, for certain non-service-related medical problems.
Troops are a massive financial investment, which makes them a liability to the bottom line. This is why you have to go undergo a full medical physical before enlisting. The cost/benefit analysis of accepting people with high health risks doesn’t add up. The military budget is already so large it’s bankrupting the country. This is not the time to lower entry standards to accommodate anyone who is more expensive to provide medical care to.
If you’d ever been to a war zone, you wouldn’t think you’re helping transsexuals by opening that “opportunity” to them. War is the most stressful experience a human being can go through. It’s so profoundly difficult, recruits have to be mentally broken and psychologically reprogrammed to accept the absurdity of their actions. Even then, or because of it, the suicide rate of veterans is above average. The suicide rate of transsexuals is already higher than normal as well. The worst place in the world for them to successfully transition their mind and body, is in a war zone, where they’ll be struggling to hold onto their humanity under the stress of constant fear and loss, and living in a totalitarian cult that views them as a disposable liability.
Advocating for transitioning transsexuals in the military isn’t doing cis gender troops any favors either. Every soldier needs to be as clear-headed and focused as possible. Nobody on the battlefield should be on any kind of pill or injection that alters their mind and mood. When failure is not an option, it would be irresponsible to everyone, to allow a transitioning transgender to fight. Keeping them out of harm’s way would be the most humane thing to do for them and everyone else. I would have supported Trump if he said that, but he’s obviously an opportunistic bigot who would throw his own mother under a bus if it got a cheer from a crowd.
Trump raises an interesting point that he didn’t realize. If the best military strategy is to minimize the expense of troops, then it would be more efficient if women were either not allowed in the military or served on segregated bases.
Females medical costs and risks are higher than men. Plus, they’re physically weaker, which means the tax payer is spending more money to put weaker soldiers on the battlefield. Yes, women have proven themselves more than capable in combat, but if we look at women as numbers, you could put more men on the battle field for less money with less risk of having to take them out for medical issues. From that point of view, the cost/benefit analysis of having female soldiers doesn’t add up. So if we’re going to ban transsexuals from serving because of the high cost, the logic follows that we should do the same to women. If we accept the higher cost and liability of female soldiers, then why not transsexuals?
It was completely unnecessary for Trump to ban transsexuals from serving in any capacity in the military. Every base has hotels that are staffed by civilian contractors, who don’t get free medical care. To deny transsexuals the opportunity to change pillow cases at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, is cut-and-dry Jim Crow-style oppression. For this reason, Donald Trump’s new slogan should be, “Taking America a step backwards again.”
We wouldn’t be going down this moral rabbit hole at all if every single American civilian had the same access to healthcare as the troops, Congress and the president. Unfortunately, that solution would be too expensive under America’s current health care system, in which insurance companies have inflated medical costs beyond affordability. However, if the American government passed regulation making healthcare less expensive instead of less attainable, we could easily afford to cover everyone’s medical needs by nationalizing the health care industry completely or by rationing a set amount of free care each year. Then cost wouldn’t be a barrier to transsexuals, or anyone else with medical conditions, serving in the military.
Another reason we can’t afford to provide tax payers with unlimited access to health care is because we’re spending so much money on the military to wage perpetual war in the most financially inefficient way possible. America’s industrial war complex is a cash cow bloated with fraud, waste and abuse. If you’re worried about how much money it costs to send a transsexual soldier to a war zone, you would be mortified to learn how much it costs to send a healthy civilian contractor. Transsexuals are the least of the military’s budget problems. It’s losing money through a sieve everywhere it has boots on the ground. The biggest money trails lead to the blue chip defense companies like Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. So if you’re truly passionate about saving military money and lives, then you should be screaming to get defense money out of politics.