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June 27, 2024

Pentagon official: Supporting LGBTQ+ people is essential to military readiness

By Andrea Widburg

“Si vis pacem, para bellum [If you want peace, prepare for war].” – Adaptation of a saying by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

“In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected.” – Sun Tzu

“Speaking softly and carry a big stick.” – Teddy Roosevelt

Those adages all make the same point: A nation that wants peace should bristle like a porcupine when it comes to its military. It shows its peaceful intentions by the fact that it doesn’t seek war. However, it also makes clear to all comers that they will rue the day that they sought to go to war against that peaceful nation. It’s the porcupine or skunk principle: Leave us alone, and you’ll be fine.

That principle says that we should have a strong, well-equipped military that is focused on a single mission; namely, springing to America’s defense should it become necessary. However, ever since Barack Obama, the Democrat party has had a different goal for the American military. They want it to be a social justice redoubt, one in which blacks are encouraged to feel resentful at what was once the most successful, well-integrated meritocracy in America. They also really want people on the LGBTQ+ spectrum are encouraged to feel at home. This post is about that latter goal.

We’ve all seen how the Obama Pentagon, which has been polished to a high sheen under Joe Biden, is all in, very, very in, on Pride Month. Here are some of the entries we’ve seen over the years in the military “Pride” parade:

You may be wondering why the military is so obsessed with homosexuality and the approximately 832,000 imaginary gender identities that we’ve been introduced to over the years. Thankfully, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, the second-highest officer in the Pentagon, stepped up to explain:

The Pentagon’s second-highest-ranking official has outlined commitments over the years to supporting “nonbinary service members” and addressing “unconscious bias,” saying they were key to readiness and national security. 

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks discussed the need to create a cultural change in the military at multiple Pride events, including most recently on June 5. 

During a DoD Pride event for the Association of LGBTQI+ Service Members in June, Hicks discussed listening to the needs of service members, including LGBTQ individuals, as a Pentagon priority vis-à-vis military “readiness,” a term which refers to the ability to deter potential adversaries, defend national interests and ensure that armed forces can meet their missions. 

“We’ve heard concerns about … policies focused on the needs of nonbinary service members. Please know our commitment is resolute, just as it has been over the past three-and-a-half years, to continue our progress in full alignment with our focus on readiness and our focus on the well-being of our people, on which our readiness depends,” she said.

Yup, she actually said that keeping the LGBTQ+ happy is an essential element of military readiness. As the Valley Girls used to say, I can’t even.

I subscribe to the belief that everything after the LG and B in the alphabet soup of the gender identity spectrum is a form of gender dysphoria, which is a mental illness. To appreciate my viewpoint, just think of anorexia, which sees people with skeletal bodies look at themselves and see a fat person. The inability to recognize the reality of one’s own body is not something to be celebrated and cultivated. It’s a problem. People with these problems shouldn’t be at the frontline of defending our country, but, thanks to Democrats, they are.

The problem with focusing on the mentally ill in a nation’s military (along with obsessing about race, not camaraderie and merit) is that it drives away the sane and functional. That is why America is facing a disastrous 25% deficit in its recruitment. No wonder that the Navy has announced that it’s tweaking its fitness standards so that it doesn’t lose people:

The United States Navy continues to face challenges in recruiting and retaining sailors, and it continues to respond accordingly. It has already relaxed some education requirements, including no longer requiring a GED or high school diploma, while last year the U.S. Navy allowed recruits in two divisions “limited access” to mobile devices during designated periods of training.

The sea service will now ease the physical fitness rules for some active-duty service members. However, sailors shouldn’t plan on loosening their belts, nor is the Navy entirely loosening the fitness tests. Instead, the Bureau of Naval Personnel will now allow sailors who fail two fitness assessments in a row to stay in the Navy, and have an opportunity to try again, provided their commanding officer agrees.

Previously sailors could only fail a single physical fitness assessment (PFA) and remain at their post, while a demerit would be marked in the record. Sailors who failed to pass would also be placed in their command’s mandatory physical fitness program, and until their performance improved, they would be ineligible for a promotion. Those who failed two PFAs in a row would receive a failing score and would be ineligible to re-enlist in the Navy.

The new policy, which went into effect on June 18, will no longer result in automatic marks on a sailor’s annual evaluation, and instead, their health will be observed and considered by their commanding officer.

Unless Biden is removed from the White House and the Pentagon is brought to heel, this is what I imagine our military will look like in the future:

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