America was founded on the heroic efforts of gender-fluid soldiers like Deborah Sampson

Frankly, I don't really care what my troops do on the weekend as long as it's not illegal or immoral. However, I feel like the author is twisting these women's legacies to suit an opinion. A woman using a disguise to bypass social limitations is a bit different than a person desiring hormone therapy and cosmetic surgery to appear as the opposite sex. How many of those women would've continued wearing men's clothes and using male names if it had not been a necessity of the time? We'll never know, but I suspect it would not suit the author's agenda as much as they would like.

Absolutely nothing wrong with people doing what they do outside of duty so long as it doesn't interfere with their obligation to the country (so long as it isn't illegal), but we need to focus on the readiness of our forces as a whole, not the needs of a few. We have traditionally been the driving force behind societal change and progress and this is something we should strive to continue, but the effort, time, and resources required to fill the needs of one transgender Soldier does not equate to facilitating the needs of the military. If a person has already made the change, great-but if a Soldier needs to change their biological gender while still in uniform, the Soldier needs to be chaptered to fulfill their personal needs so they can later return to service once they are combat ready again.

I'm not even going to get into the operational changes that would need to be taken care of - latrines, regulation updates, EO changes and updates, the onslaught of sexual harassment cases, the increased amount of Soldiers reporting to Behavioral Health, the number of concessions for billeting that would be required...all for the sake of a VERY small number of prospective Soldiers who wish to honorably serve their country. I'd love to see the day where we can accept anyone, and I think as a society we are, but the infrastructure and preparation work is far from ready.

I was initially against this because I saw it as an unnecessary distraction during time of war. After it was put into policy and exposed some good battles that otherwise would have probably gone unnoticed or had meshed well enough with their units that it didn't matter. I changed my position I am against the army paying for their surgery, but after Obama exposed these people by lifting the open serve ban, I changed my thinking on it If you have a burning desire to serve and your lifestyle doesn't effect unit cohesion and you are already soldiering, you should be able to continue. We are still battles, I am secure enough in who I am that your lifestyle is up to you.