I guess no HPSP of USUHS if you're transgendered?

[Shikima]

The real reason why TG is considered; Obesity epidemic at new high, costs $150B a year, hurts military recruiting

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[narcusprince]

As someone who has had to take hormonal therapy. Not for the aforementioned reasons. I can tell you going without your Testosterone or Estrogen even for short period of times causes major psychiatric problems. Can I do my job yes. But would I be a pain in the butt to work with/ live with. Yes. We far far underestimate the power that hormones has over your brain. If you could not guarantee a supply of hormone replacement therapy for these service members they would be a risk in theatre.

 

[Shikima]

If we're spending money on TG and lots of other health projects, then we can recruit fat people and put them in pre-boot camp fat camp. The stipulation for those joining under these circumstances automatically increases the duration of the contract for two years. This would help with stop-gap loss and ensure that there is more payback time from public monies being used.

 

[bengirlxD]

Just your friendly neighborhood transgender FTM chiming in really quickly. I think transgender people should be upheld to the same health standards as everyone else in the military. There's been a lot of generalization on the prevalence of suicide and mental health in most discussions about transgender service members. There should be a mental health check up before enlisting anyone in the military deeming whether they are mentally fit to handle the rigors of the military. I agree that when first starting on hormones, there are drastic physical and mental changes that one goes through but it levels off after about a year of actively transitioning (so I agree that the initial transitioning phase is not a good time to enlist members). There are many able bodied transpeople that can serve our great country and some that are definitely not good fit. Just like there are many able bodied cisgendered people in the military while others should not be there. Thank you guys for the great service you give to protect our country. Peace out.

 

[notdeadyet]

As someone who has had to take hormonal therapy. Not for the aforementioned reasons. I can tell you going without your Testosterone or Estrogen even for short period of times causes major psychiatric problems. Can I do my job yes. But would I be a pain in the butt to work with/ live with.

Sure. Same with folks on SSRIs. But we don't have a blanket policy on discharging folks on them.

I'd have more respect if the powers that be just said they don't like transgendered individuals in their military and not try to talk about phantom arguments like deployabity, which is decided on a case by case basis.

 

[ArmyTiger]

What I find the most amusing about the "but if they're in the trenches" argument is the idea that joining the military puts you in a foxhole in Vietnam. I couldn't get a deployment if I wanted one. The one time I was going to deploy, I was on antidepressants, and nobody cared. They were going to send me with them.
My entire unit and career field is basically nondeployable, and when we do deploy, it's to a fenced-in Burger King in the desert. There are many, many jobs where this would never be a problem.
Where is this assumption that everyone is infantry in 2003 Iraq? Granted, those jobs exist, but they are not the majority of the military's forces right now.

"Oh, no! I'm outside the wire, there's Charlie everywhere, bullets flying over my head, and for some reason, I can't reach into my pocket and take the hormone pill prescribed to me that I brought!"

In reality, transgendered people deployed will probably be more like,

"Oh man, I forgot my SIPR token in my laptop while I was watching bootleg anime. Now I'll have to go back to my dorm to get it during lunch instead of going with the guys to Chipotle."

This is very misinformed. We've never fought the same war twice in a row. Even Iraq and Afghanistan have been vastly different. Our armed forces should be as ready to fight a Vietnam style war as an Iraq one. If soldiers can't be in austere conditions for days or weeks, they should be seperated. It wouldn't be shocking if our next conflict were more like WWII than OIF.

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[astrostellar]

This is very misinformed. We've never fought the same war twice in a row. Even Iraq and Afghanistan have been vastly different. Our armed forces should be as ready to fight a Vietnam style war as an Iraq one. If soldiers can't be in austere conditions for days or weeks, they should be seperated. It wouldn't be shocking if our next conflict were more like WWII than OIF.

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Everything you said is definitely true. What I'm saying is that we can't hold trans people to this supposed standard of "ready to be in a boots-on-the-ground conflict like WWII at all times" when we don't hold our current service members to that standard. Theoretically, yeah, everyone who is in right now should be combat-ready. In reality, if you walk into any support squadron (personnel, finance, e&t, intel even), so many of those people don't meet that standard and have no intention to. Tons of lifers in my unit haven't shot a weapon since basic training, have been riding a PT profile for over two years, have continuous non-mobility codes, need medications to maintain everyday life. I know people that, were a "real combat" situation to arise and they were told they'd be send to Afghanistan, would suddenly find a way out of the military.

But you gotta pick one. Either everyone currently in the military should be ready to go or they should be booted (which is definitely not the case), or we have to accept that people in non-ops career fields like mine (who are mostly overweight desk jockeys) aren't, and have no intention to be, on any kind of front line.

 

[pgg]

As someone who has had to take hormonal therapy. Not for the aforementioned reasons. I can tell you going without your Testosterone or Estrogen even for short period of times causes major psychiatric problems. Can I do my job yes. But would I be a pain in the butt to work with/ live with. Yes. We far far underestimate the power that hormones has over your brain. If you could not guarantee a supply of hormone replacement therapy for these service members they would be a risk in theatre.

And you're serving capably and honorably. They can too.