By Capt Joseph R. John, September 15, 2017: Op Ed # 368

We encourage you to review the below listed position paper by the Center for Military Readiness, then to contact your Congressional Representatives encouraging them to oppose the Amendment proposed as an attachment to the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  
 

The irresponsible Amendment is being proposed by Senator Susan Collins (R-Me) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) insisting that Obama’s transgender policies remain unchanged as a part of the FY 2018 NDAA. 

 

Obama’s transgender policy has been a destructive social experiment forced upon the US Military requiring the recruiting and retention of personnel who suffer from a psychological condition called gender dysphoria has been the most “Destructive Policy” that has ever been forced upon the US Armed Forces in its 242 year history.  
 

Service in the US Armed Forces is not a Constitutional right.  Many Americans who desire to serve in the Armed Forces have flat feet, poor eyesight, are overweight, have hearing problems, are too short, have substance abuse problems, have been convicted of crimes by law enforcement, or have psychological problems that would make them unreliable in combat, endangering the lives of others in combat.  Those are some of the many reasons certain Americans are precluded from serving their country in the US Armed Forces. 
 

It has severely complicated military leadership from the Commanding Officers level down to the Unit Petty Officer/Squad Leaders level, and has required the US Armed Forces to spend many millions of man hours in awareness training that should have been spent on improving combat skills, and has also severely degraded, the “Morale”, “Unit Cohesiveness”, “Combat Effectiveness” and “Readiness” of the US Armed Forces.   

 

Copyright by Capt Joseph R. John.  All Rights Reserved.  The material can only posted on another Web site or distributed on the Internet by giving full credit to the author.  It may not be published, broadcast, or rewritten without the permission from the author.   

 

 

 

 

 

For Immediate Release 

September 13, 2017  

Contact:  Elaine Donnelly, CMR President

 

(734) 464-9430 

  

Irresponsible Senate Move re Transgenders Would Harm Military Readiness

 

On September 11, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced their co-sponsorship of an amendment to the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would force the armed forces to retain and recruit persons who suffer from a psychological condition called gender dysphoria. The following comments may be attributed to, Elaine Donnelly President of the Center for Military Readiness:

 

"It is regrettable that two senators who have consistently demanded social experiments in the military, while disavowing negative consequences of their own misguided policy demands, would try to cut off at the knees both Secretary of Defense James Mattis and President Donald Trump on an important national defense issue: transgenders in the military.

 

"Senator Gillibrand keeps raising alarms about increased sexual assaults in the military, which are of concern to everyone. But she cares nothing about military women living in close-quarters who are being forced to accept biological males in female-designated showers and private facilities. Nor do the senators care about doctors and nurses being forced to approve or participate in treatments that many consider contrary to medical ethics or personal convictions.

 

"Taking a 'Ready, Fire, Aim' and 'Don't Confuse Us with the Facts' approach, Senators Collins and Gillibrand demand that Secretary Mattis produce a report that fits their expectations, even before confirmation of the official nominated to head the Pentagon office designated to handle the issue.  

 

"The senators' amendment implies that the military is nothing more than an equal opportunity (EO) employer. On the contrary, there is no constitutional right to serve in the military. The armed forces exist to defend the country, and being "qualified" for military service involves more than personal desire or physical strength.

  

"Gender dysphoria is one of several psychological conditions, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, chronic air- or sea-sickness, or claustrophobia, which affect personal readiness to deploy. Transgenders can serve our country in many ways, but prolonged absences associated with expensive, gender-denying "transition plans," hormone therapies, and surgeries make them one of many groups that do not meet military qualification requirements.

  

"It seems that the senators want to rely on Obama holdovers and misinformation produced in consultation with LGBT activist groups, including the often-quoted 2016 RAND Report. CMR has prepared a two-page CMR Summary citing several reasons why this pre-determined polemic (not a "study") cannot be considered a credible source for understanding negative effects of Obama-era policies:

 

Restore Military Strength and Pre-Obama Transgender Mandates 

 

"On August 25, President Donald Trump supported the troops by formally directing the Secretary of Defense to reinstate policies regarding transgenders in the military that were in effect before June 2016. The Presidential Memorandum continued Secretary Mattis' suspension of Obama orders to recruit transgenders, and halted the use of DoD funds for related surgical procedures.

  

"At least fifteenDoD and military service directives, instructions, and training manuals, which the Center for Military Readiness analyzed in a 27-page CMR Special Report, would seriously undermine readiness while offering no benefits in terms of combat effectiveness.

 

"The Senate Armed Services Committee has had zero public hearings on these controversial directives,all of which endorsed the reality-denying, unscientificLGBT delusion that gender is "assigned" at birth and can be altered by changing a person's appearance and "gender marker."

  

"According to leading experts, human "sex change" is biologically impossible. Gender is identified at birth, not assigned, and every person's gender-determining DNA chromosomes exist in every cell of his or her body.

  

As stated in the Presidential Memorandum, all military personnel policies should improve military effectiveness, lethality, and unit cohesion, and not put unnecessary burdens on military resources. The President's initiative to return to pre-Obama policies deserves full support.

 

         

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The Center for Military Readiness is an independent public policy organization that reports on and analyzes military/social issues. More information, including official documents linked in this summary, is available on the CMR website, www.cmrlink.org. To arrange an interview with Elaine Donnelly, call 734/464-9430.

 

Center for Military Readiness | P. O. Box 51600 | Livonia, MI 48151 | 734-464-9430