A retired general is adding his voice to the growing consensus of military leaders who oppose transsexual soldiers serving in the military.
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn criticized President Barack Obama’s decision to allow mentally ill men and women with gender disorders to serve openly in the armed forces.
“Too often, way too often, our troops are instead are distracted by trivial matters, the general said at the Republican National Convention in Ohio on Wednesday. “My God, war is not about bathrooms. War is not about political correctness or words that are meaningless.
The military’s new guidelines allows “extended leave” for those soldiers who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria at least 18 months earlier to “transition” to their stereotypical image of the opposite sex.
The policy is expected to cost the military over $4 million per year — money that critics argue should go to treat veterans.
“Transsexuals suffer from more psychiatric pathologies than the general population, and active suicide ideation and major depression episodes occur more frequently within this group,” said retired Army officer Robert Maginnis.
“Hiring a medical staff to provide ongoing treatment for these people robs precious money better used for treating our war wounded,” he said, adding that the policy is “the worst waste of Defense dollars ever.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry said allowing transsexuals extended leave to mutilate their bodies undermines effectiveness.
“At least some number of transgender people require hormone therapy, which requires regular lab tests and also requires refrigeration,” Thornberry told the Heritage Foundation. “If you have those requirements, whatever your situation, you have been non-deployable.”
Current military policy bans diabetics and people with mental disabilities from serving in the armed forces because a certain level of physical fitness and mental readiness is required for national defense.
“I support gay marriage,” wrote retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. “But my tolerance ends sharply when it comes to national defense. Anything that reduces our ability to defend our country and its citizens plunges beyond the limits of my tolerance.”
“Why is Obama doing this?” he asked. “Because he can. He and his comrades in the White House … employ social engineering to change a country they resent and to neuter the military they distrust. And the president, as commander in chief, can order the military to do what he desires.”
“Through vicious social engineering, the president is disarming freedom’s best hope,” he wrote.
