Transgender Soldiers

President Trump tweeted that the USA will no longer be accepting transgendered individuals in the armed forces.  That was the case throughout history, until the policy was shifted during the Obama years.  Trump's tweets indicate that the issue that pushed this decision was the huge cost associated with sex reassignment surgeries for the transgendered soldiers.  As a member of the military, a transgendered soldier gets free medical care which could include the enormously expensive surgeries and the needed care after that surgery.  During the recovery, the soldier would not be available for duty.  The point is that a transgendered soldier could enlist, wait a few months and then get the surgery followed by a recovery period of more than a year.  At that point, most of the enlistment would be over.  It's basically free surgery and recovery paid for by the taxpayers.

I have no idea how many soldiers would try to take advantage of this sort of surgery.  Nor do I have any idea how many transgenders are currently serving in the armed forces.  It can't be too many.  Supposedly, transgenders constitute less than 1% of the population, and I assume that the numbers in the military are even lower.

Without a doubt we will soon see a firestorm of protest from the transgender community and from other gay and lesbian groups combined with the usual anti-Trump leftist groups.  None of those protests matter much.  The real questions are two:  1) should the government pay for these surgeries; and 2) does the presence of trans soldiers undermine the functioning of the armed forces. 

The issue is not the rights of the transgender soldiers.  The real issue is the ability of the military to carry out its mission properly.  We have an army to defend the USA, not to carry out social policies.