In the Navy, Anchors Aweigh for Gender

tony perkinsBY Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, September 20, 2016

It’s been a long time since Americans read a headline about the U.S. military that actually had to do with national defense. And thanks to the Navy, that’s not about to change any time soon. While Congress has yet to weigh in on the administration’s push for open transgenderism in the ranks, Navy brass are making it clear that it’s full steam ahead on President Obama’s radical social policy that threatens to unravel whatever unit cohesion the military has left.

Starting November 1 (a week before an election that could help end this nonsense), all sailors will be required to undergo “transgender behavioral education.” According to Navy Chief of Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke, the training will include everything from multi-hour briefings to discussion groups about how to best coddle gender confusion in the ranks. Supervisors will be taught to be “on alert” for signs of mistreatment of people who identify as transgender and deal with offenders appropriately.

“Training for sailors will be conducted by command triads via mobile training teams or DVD with a facilitation guide if the unit is in a remote area and unable to receive face-to-face training. There will also be webinars for COs to ask questions prior to delivering training to their commands,” explained a branch spokesman. At a time when our troops could use real reinforcements, the Navy is even dispatching special mobile units for the sole purpose of indoctrinating sailors on transgenderism!

Barely two days removed from another terror attack on U.S. soil (and two other attempted bombings), it’s good to see the commander-in-chief has his priorities straight. And unfortunately, the Navy isn’t the only one sinking under the weight of these social experiments. The real war for America is being waged inside all four branches of the U.S. military. And until our leaders stop chasing these politically-correct distractions, we’re giving the enemy exactly the opening it’s looking for. Instead of focusing on mission-critical issues and dealing with the threats at hand, the military is jeopardizing our nation’s security by catering to less than one half of one percent of the entire population!

As FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army-Ret.) points out, every time you make a change to military rules or procedures, a complicated package of paperwork, HR, and personnel management follows to ensure that each policy is embraced and implemented. As a result, hours and hours are wasted teaching transgender etiquette at the expense of warfighting skills.

“Service members are expected to maintain standards of conduct and treat each other with dignity and respect,” Navy officials say. FRC’s Travis Weber, a former Navy pilot, agrees — but only to a point. “The whole commentary from the Navy and activist groups about not tolerating harassment and treating everyone with dignity and respect is a distraction. No one is saying that people should be disrespected and harassed. Advocates for a Christian view of sexuality and marriage, none of us have tolerated that. We always condemn it.” But he also worries that this is a very aggressive agenda that is “being pushed in a very intrusive manner.” “This is unfortunate because our military should be focused on unifying the troops and this is only going to divide them.”

“I think we are going to see the consequences of this playing out through increased discord in the military due to forcing people who cannot in good conscience go along with being told what they need to believe in these training sessions and you are going to see people refuse to sign up for the military or refuse to re-enlist. They are going to choose to get out instead of staying in. We will see long-term consequences that will be quite severe.”

These changes also have a devastating effect on the newest generation of sailors. Think about it. In the last eight years, every young recruit coming through the military’s doors knows nothing but this in-your-face social extremism. The proud warrior tradition, which used to be the common bond of the military class, has faded to the background in this new chapter of sexual radicalism. Now, we’re enlisting a class of soldiers who have no frame of reference, they do not know what a military that prioritize the mission of defending America looks like. Reversing the damage of the Obama administration is going to take time — and a president committed to restoring the honor and might of America’s fighting force. Let’s hope American voters do their part.

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Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

 

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA16I07&f=WU16I03