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Military Experts: Trump Pentagon Likely to Abandon Social Experiments for Core Mission Under Mattis

posted by n1 on Friday January 13 2017, @09:02PM   
from the what-the-experts-say dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

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

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Original Submission

• Re:military - what else needs to be said? Re:military - what else needs to be said? (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14 2017, @12:41AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 14 2017, @12:41AM (#453634)

  We aren't generally "socially acceptable" people. Military men and women aren't always included in social functions, in Hollyweird, or the state or city governments around the country. I invite all to read some Rudyard Kipling, maybe starting with 'Tommy'.

  You - the great plural "you" including all of society - don't like the military very much. You use us, you abuse us, you blame us for your own failures.

  Oh, Dear God!!! I'm going to vomit!

  Puhleeze!!! Put away your persecution complex. It's most unbecoming of one who had once worn the uniform. While I have never served in the military, I have worked as a civilian employee of the USAF for about ten years now. I know for a fact that our nation's soldiers do "socially acceptable" just fine, thank you very much. In fact, I must admit with a bit of chagrin that more often than not the military men and women I interact with daily frequently display better manners than I do. (Working on that) And I've also noticed that civvies do like our military members just fine. If you are finding that people don't like you or disrespect you, it may be YOU, specifically, they don't like, not your military service. Just sayin'.

  Good military officers have been cashiered by the Obama administration, because they wouldn't sign on to this whole gay marriage bullshit. Any wise leader would have accepted that his military commanders just STFU and don't sound off on issues they disagree with. But, instead, good officers have been thrown out of the military because they couldn't give vocal, enthusiastic support to an inane policy. Worse, a policy that has no real military application.

  This is just plain stupid. No one is being asked to "sign on" to anything. The Obama administration has now allowed same sex couples to collect the exact same benefits that heterosexual couples get. While I am not a supporter of SSM, I can see why the Obama adminstration would do that. Beyond that, it really isn't any of my business who my co-workers, military or civilian, spend the night with after the work day is over. Why should you care?

  Gender confused people like Bradley Manning seem to believe that the military owes them gender reassignment surgeries and treatments. Well - Mannin, a dishonored, convicted traitor, foregoes anything the military DID owe him. But, the military does NOT owe people whatever elective surgeries they might choose to have. The military has it's MEDICAL CORPS, it has no elective procedure corps.

  I checked wikipedia here [wikipedia.org] and I didn't see anything about the military's medical corp giving him any sort of "gender reassignment" surgery, although I did see discussion of being given hormone treatments and allowing him to wear "feminine" undergarments. Perhaps you have overstated your case by just a bit?

  Whatever else you may believe that O'Bummer has done right, or done wrong, he has done this nation a disservice by trying to force the military to change so drastically, so quickly.

  Change? Drastic? Quickly? What specifically are you referring to? About the most drastic change I have seen in the USAF since I started working here about ten years ago is regular mandatory training sessions on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR). Also, some training on what I would call "soft skills" management (e.g., health and wellness, work/life ballance, etc.) While I don't really care for these mandatory training sessions, myself, I would hardly characterize them as "drastic".

  Any military that loses it's customs and traditions, has lost it's bearings. A military with no bearings is no military at all. Eight more years of Obama policies may well have destroyed our military.

  Oh, Nooooooezzz! Our military people are being trained on what to do when they witness or are told about sexual assault in the workplace. Our military traditions are being destroyed! Our service members will surely become unmoored from their esteemed traditions! How will our service members ever be able to function?!?

  I don't really expect the average civilian to understand all of that. It may well be gibberish to most of you here. But, that doesn't change the facts.

  Fear not, we understand you just fine. We just think you are spewing bullshit. Again.

  The military is not, can not be, a social experimentation playground.

  civilians need to make their experiments work out here in the civilian world, and only after their policies are PROVEN to work, should they ASK the military if those same policies might work in a military environment.

  I will just note that people said almost exactly the same thing when Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 [wikipedia.org] which abolished racial discrimination in the US armed forces. Let's face it: if we followed your druthers, we would still be living in a racially segregated military. And, most likely, all of the rest of the country would still be racially segregated as well.

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• Re:military - what else needs to be said? (Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 14 2017, @12:51AM

  by Runaway1956 (2926) on Saturday January 14 2017, @12:51AM (#453641) Homepage Journal

  Gay is not the new black. Now please, if you're going to vomit, go to the toilets. None of us wants to see, hear, or smell you. And, if you're not going to vomit - go to the toilets with your own bullshit.

  --
  Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.

  Parent