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The Pentagon could be poised for a rapid about-face under the Trump administration, with the Obama administration's push for social reform surrendering to what could be an old-school emphasis on combat readiness and the spirit of the United States military, experts told FoxNews.com.
Under President Obama, the military sought to integrate transgender persons into the ranks, allow women into special operations forces and purge the nomenclature of gender-specific words, adopting what some critics say was a "politically correct" liberal agenda. That's a contrast to the traditional U.S. military approach.
In addition, some Navy ships have been named for civil rights activists. And while the Obama administration has taken an inclusive approach on some issues, it has also worked to minimize expressions of Christianity in the ranks. For example, several officers have been disciplined for displaying Bibles or gospel verses in their quarters.
Veterans and military experts told FoxNews.com that, while some of Obama's civil rights advancements may be locked in, neither Trump nor his choice for secretary of defense, Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, are likely to make social experimentation a priority.
Source: Fox News
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 13 2017, @11:46PM
I don't think allowing gays or whomever into the military or combat roles or anything Obama did in that vein necessarily degrades effectiveness. If the training remains solid, if your non-coms are solid and remain ready to train up combat-ready recruits, you'll be OK. Other things like stop-lossing people who long ago thought they had fulfilled their duty hurts. Driving out your best soldiers because you keep them on constant rotation in conflict zones, and then don't pay them enough when they can make orders of magnitude more working as mercs for Blackwater, hurts. Starting wars you don't need to fight, hurts. Blowing billions on weapons systems that don't work, hurts. Bush & Cheney started that kind of nonsense and Obama continued it because his will was weak and his foreign policy was desultory.
It's really unfortunate that some are trying to cast hyper-masculine, aggressive posturing as the way to bring the military back to peak readiness. It won't. We've been down that road before and it was a huge mistake that we're still paying for. The confrontation with China is coming. We need to be firm and smart, not brash and stupid.
Washington DC delenda est.