While the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, the U.S. Army’s priority is on training its soldiers about gender pronouns and when to offer gender transition surgery, according to an official Army presentation obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Entitled "Policy on the Military Service of Transgender Persons and Persons with Gender Dysphoria," the mandatory training was reportedly given to officers last month, along with instructions for training their subordinates on the material. The Free Beacon obtained portions of the presentation from a whistleblower who shared it with the news outlet.
The materials come from an official program "used to train Army personnel on the recent changes to the DoD and Army transgender service policy," an Army spokesman confirmed to the Free Beacon. As per the spokesman, all Army personnel are required to participate in the training by Sept. 30.
The training follows an announcement last June that the Army is changing its policies so transgender soldiers can serve openly. The policy shift is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to make the military more inclusive of transgender people.
Congressional Republicans and some within the military have pushed back, saying the policy changes promote “woke” propaganda within the service.
The Free Beacon reports that, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens to kindle a larger European conflict, military experts and insiders are concerned that the Pentagon doesn’t have its priorities in order.
Tailored for Army commanders and leaders, the presentation states that "An otherwise qualified soldier shall not be involuntarily separated, discharged, or denied reenlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity," and offers several hypothetical scenarios for how soldiers should be treated if they identify as transgender.
"Gender transition in the Army," the presentation states, "begins when a soldier receives a diagnosis from a military medical provider indicating that gender transition is medically necessary."
The Army spokesman who confirmed the authenticity of the materials said that Army service is “open to all” who “meet the standards.”
"We remain committed to treating all soldiers with dignity and respect while ensuring good order and discipline," the spokesman said. "Soldiers who meet those standards can serve openly in their self-identified gender."
Dakota Wood, a Marine Corps veteran at the Heritage Foundation, said the Army presentation uses progressive language.
"A telling phrase in the presentation—'assigned [male or female] at birth'—reveals that whoever developed the presentation material, and the policy being implemented, accepts the argument that gender is an artificial construct rather than a biological reality," Wood told the Free Beacon. "This is a highly controversial argument promoted by the progressive left and rejected by the conservative right."
The new Army policy threatens to erode cohesion among soldiers, the Marine added.
Forcing soldiers "to accept the premise — that one can choose their gender and therefore change how they are to be treated — creates frictions within organizations that are dependent on unity and cohesion to be successful in combat," he said.
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