Posted on Jul 9, 2015
Social Change in the Military Community: Why It's Vital We Don't Fight The Tide
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We've entered a time of turbulent social growth and change in the United States. We can dislike it all we want based on our personal morality or politics, but change is happening and it is, in point of fact, completely inevitable. However, do changes to the needs of the basic Joe or Jane really make as big of a professional impact as many seem to take it? Big DoD seems to be taking a lot of these changes in stride, and a fair amount of the fire over say, homosexual men and women serving in the armed forces. As marriage equality spreads across the U.S. these issues will ultimately be decided by Supreme Court Order once and for all in the very near future. So is marrying and having families in the armed forces really so alien? Does a gay couple really want anything very different from a straight couple? The wide answer is a resounding no, and it's more or less becoming the common feeling with the active forces.
The problem we're really running into from my ground eye-view is, with us veterans and retirees on the other side, we're all nasty, crusty and mean. Some of us are older than dirt; some of us are the salt of the Earth. However we are letting our comrades down. Every time a female Veteran is asked where her husband is when she walks into a Legion post or a VA hospital, that's a problem. If parts of our community violently scorn and reject our homosexual, trans, and even female brothers and sisters, that’s a problem. These days there are already high casualties amongst our ranks just as Veterans - from mental wounds sustained in combat, the stresses of the civilian world, or whatever it may be. Harassment, marginalization and being cut off and left alone are certainly well known vectors for life ending drastic measures. These measures are not something we as a group can allow to happen for any of us.
Even if you can't get past that you sure wouldn't leave any of them on the other side of the defensive fortifications, exposed and alone to their fate, that's what we do when we exclude, expel and otherwise eject our brothers and sisters from our communities. They might get by…one group or another will pick up the bag - or not. Shouldn't we be there first though? If that one gay guy from motor T did a ride along, and got blown out of his turret, are you going to jump for him and pull him into the Humvee so Doc has a shot at keeping him alive long enough for a CASEVAC bird to get there? Would you hesitate, if they were the ones looking at you, needing a brother or sister to save you? I don't presume to speak for Chief Beck, or any trans or homosexual service member, but based on her record, based on the people I know, they wouldn't even blink. Because that's what family does for family. If you wouldn't do that for someone wearing the uniform, no matter what their deal is, maybe you need to reconsider what brotherhood, camaraderie and standing together, being willing to fight and die for each other without a word of reservation means to you. You won't stick out your hand or hesitate to fight back against the enemy within that is slaughtering so many of us. Are you really my brother or my sister?
It's not about beliefs. It's not about morality. It's about saving lives and standing together. It's just us. We're cut off and alone, and only we can help and save each other, and we have to do it without hesitation or restriction, without forcing people out of our special clubhouses. We are the special club. Why do you need more of a qualification than honorably serving, just like the rest of us? Is it right to remember our fallen by declaring a small group of us, who did nothing different than any of us, don't count?
The problem we're really running into from my ground eye-view is, with us veterans and retirees on the other side, we're all nasty, crusty and mean. Some of us are older than dirt; some of us are the salt of the Earth. However we are letting our comrades down. Every time a female Veteran is asked where her husband is when she walks into a Legion post or a VA hospital, that's a problem. If parts of our community violently scorn and reject our homosexual, trans, and even female brothers and sisters, that’s a problem. These days there are already high casualties amongst our ranks just as Veterans - from mental wounds sustained in combat, the stresses of the civilian world, or whatever it may be. Harassment, marginalization and being cut off and left alone are certainly well known vectors for life ending drastic measures. These measures are not something we as a group can allow to happen for any of us.
Even if you can't get past that you sure wouldn't leave any of them on the other side of the defensive fortifications, exposed and alone to their fate, that's what we do when we exclude, expel and otherwise eject our brothers and sisters from our communities. They might get by…one group or another will pick up the bag - or not. Shouldn't we be there first though? If that one gay guy from motor T did a ride along, and got blown out of his turret, are you going to jump for him and pull him into the Humvee so Doc has a shot at keeping him alive long enough for a CASEVAC bird to get there? Would you hesitate, if they were the ones looking at you, needing a brother or sister to save you? I don't presume to speak for Chief Beck, or any trans or homosexual service member, but based on her record, based on the people I know, they wouldn't even blink. Because that's what family does for family. If you wouldn't do that for someone wearing the uniform, no matter what their deal is, maybe you need to reconsider what brotherhood, camaraderie and standing together, being willing to fight and die for each other without a word of reservation means to you. You won't stick out your hand or hesitate to fight back against the enemy within that is slaughtering so many of us. Are you really my brother or my sister?
It's not about beliefs. It's not about morality. It's about saving lives and standing together. It's just us. We're cut off and alone, and only we can help and save each other, and we have to do it without hesitation or restriction, without forcing people out of our special clubhouses. We are the special club. Why do you need more of a qualification than honorably serving, just like the rest of us? Is it right to remember our fallen by declaring a small group of us, who did nothing different than any of us, don't count?
Morals
LGBTQ+
Leadership
Transgender
Command Post
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 12
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Well said, LCpl (Join to see). At the end of the day, I don't like many of the people I work with, and I could probably count my truly close friends in my unit on one hand. I disagree fundamentally with most of them about most things, politically, socially, religiously, in what music we like... and it doesn't make a single ounce of difference. At the end of the day, they're brothers and sisters in arms. We put on the uniform, and the rest has to stop mattering. We do what we have to in order to accomplish the mission, win the fight, and come home, and we do it together.
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LCpl (Join to see)
Roger that sir. I see it as pretty simple. We just gotta do the job. Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, you put the uniform on, that's your mark of our covenant, and you should be looked after as such. Male, female, gay, whatever. Kin's kin and until you do something egregious to hurt our several million strong family or one of it's four family lines, there shouldn't be a single doubt that you will be taken care of.
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LCpl (Join to see) I've always been about change and I agree there will be different generations of veterans and retirees that won't understand all the changes that are coming at a very rapid pace throughout the military and civilian society as well. I embrace change for the good, the bad, and the ugly. I definitely don't have al the answers to all the issues that are yet to be introduced, have been already, and are being debated. I will always support veterans and brothers and sisters in arms, but at the same time we as senior leaders are driven by mission (brain washed), so COL (Join to see) has some valid points as well. I think you both do and that is the great thing about the military and leadership, we agree to disagree and disagree to agree and in the end we can meet somewhere in the middle. I look forward to changes whatever they may be, even though they don't affect me personally because of my retirement status, but they do affect those that I still have a relationship with in the military (that I still coach and mentor). Therefore, I need to stay on top of these issues and understand them. That is what is important to me (understanding and processing the changes). Good post, but keep an open mind to us old Colonels - we bring a little value to the table as well when it comes to focus, mission, and capabilities.
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When we stop focusing our attention on the capability required to fight and win America's war, we weaken our ability to accomplish our mission. So, while we are focused on social engineering of the military and including people to provide sex change operations, provide equality, or become more progressive/politically correct in our standards, we are not focused on our mission and capability. Now, if we can move the discussion to standards and capability for members in the military and away from sexual orientation, sexual identification, sexual preference, having sex with others, etc., then we are focused on the right topic.
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LCpl (Join to see)
Colonel I'd say that's what we are doing. Trans individuals, homosexual individuals, these people are with us because they want to be, and they meet our standards. I go back to my standard reference to Senior Chief Kristen Beck, tell you what sir, I couldn't in a million years meet the standards she has. When we impose standards on Joe and Jane about their lives, then put them out in the cold for getting help when they need it, we're making it our discussion when at most it should Joe's business, and if something comes up the unit takes care of it like anything else. We lost the ability to say we're focusing on the wrong subject when we made it our subject. Standard of living, quality of life, and proper support from command is a vital part of troop welfare, which as I said in my article, is the job. It's that old saying about moving troops at a rate of march so they can actually be effective when they get into combat. Same deal now, we take care of Joe, we train Joe, and Joe's more effective then a trained, pissed off Joe who hates the Corps or hates the Army because he's getting fucked in the ass constantly.
Just like government Colonel, the less we regulate and legislate the personal lives of soldiers then the better off the body of the unit's going to be.
Thank you for your response sir.
Just like government Colonel, the less we regulate and legislate the personal lives of soldiers then the better off the body of the unit's going to be.
Thank you for your response sir.
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COL (Join to see)
I'm not sure I agree. If we are focused on standards, then we don't need to 'accommodate.' Our attention needs to be on the coming conflicts, our current and future enemies and how to build or maintain the capability to defeat our enemies. We are being distracted with social issues when we are losing politically, economically, and diplomatically. We look like Rome (western empire) in its final days.
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Cpl (Join to see)
I agree with COL (Join to see). "The less we regulate and legislate the personal lives of soldiers..." is an oxymoron. Isn't telling soldiers to accept something they find questionable regulating soldiers? The standards have to be established and maintained. And when I say that I mean open the job to men and women, if women can't meet the same standards for the MOS, they don't get the job, period.
I do not agree with the idea that they all just want to be in the military. Some transgenders will want to be there for the hormone treatments or reassignment, period. During a time of cutbacks/austerity, why would you cut back only to introduce new overhead? I guarantee some would lie about that, even though that is their goal. And if anyone calls bulls... I'll ask "how many lied about their high school/college drug usage?"
The point is team and the quickest way to break up team cohesion is to introduce unknown variables. Trust being the major player in team, I personally would not trust someone who is part of a community that has extremely high rates of depression and/or suicide. And yes, I will concede that there have been gay and pre-op transgender members, but they did it in silence and they didn't disrupt team cohesion. Finally, Manning was a punk traitor and his "feelings" do not trump the ability to reason nor national pride and security.
I do not agree with the idea that they all just want to be in the military. Some transgenders will want to be there for the hormone treatments or reassignment, period. During a time of cutbacks/austerity, why would you cut back only to introduce new overhead? I guarantee some would lie about that, even though that is their goal. And if anyone calls bulls... I'll ask "how many lied about their high school/college drug usage?"
The point is team and the quickest way to break up team cohesion is to introduce unknown variables. Trust being the major player in team, I personally would not trust someone who is part of a community that has extremely high rates of depression and/or suicide. And yes, I will concede that there have been gay and pre-op transgender members, but they did it in silence and they didn't disrupt team cohesion. Finally, Manning was a punk traitor and his "feelings" do not trump the ability to reason nor national pride and security.
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Cpl Brett Wagner
Since the time America had a military there were many things that would preclude people from serving in the military. Things like one leg being shorter than the other, having more digits than the usual 10, 20 if you could toes, many things that would not necessarily prevent someone from being able to function. There have always been special cases where people with special skills get waivers from boot camp one example is the Marine Corps Band, not the Drum & Bugle Corps that is different, members joining the band typically do not go to boot camp. Today you cannot enlist if you have ADD or admit to having it or have a record of being treated for it. Why? Are you telling me people with ADD cannot perform in the military? Hell I bet they are some of the best performers. The military is not a labortory for experiments. The basic job of the military is to kill and break things. The bottom line is "Life is NOT fair get a helmet."
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