people are or were born to be. it s nothing bought return to the dark ages of don t ask, don t tell. lieutenant commander steven rogers who was a senior intelligence officer with the navy. also with me admiral john kirby and military analyst mark hurtling. good evening. thank you for your service. the president tweeted this major policy change, apparently with little warning to the military and you wrote an opedjust tonight. first of all it s an affront to the very ideals of the all volunteer force, the force we both joind and served in for a combined 68 years. the central 10t is that young men and women from across the spectrum of american society can choose to wear the cloth of the
through pretty much of a tough time. but so do our men and women who are het rosexual in the military. we come from different parts of the country and there are people who still discriminate and still persecute. but that doesn t make it right. we shouldn t allow that to fester. why are you allowing discrimination to fester just because someone else is uncomfortable with it. someone may be uncomfortable with my blackness in america but that doesn t make me less fit to choose to. it s not discrimination. it s costing money and time. but if a transgender person is not up to the task, they should not serve. if they cannot pass basic training, then they should not be allowed to serve in the military like everyone else, but the qualifications should not be on one s gender. he spoke to the experts. we weren t in the meeting room. he was.
time. president barack obama did the right thing in waiting before all of these questions were answered. president donald trump is doing the same thing. i beg to differ. he s not studying anything. he s just killing it. how do you know he s doing it? without talking to the secretary of defense. they wanted to study this. they wanted to give it more time and they weren t even given that opportunity. he just outright killed it and don t talk to plea about basic training, sir. my son just went through it in the navy. i can tell you it s just as tough. yes, there are more intellectual underpinnings. and more sensitivity training. that s a waste of time. we need combat ready troops. the president of the united states i believe his motive is to do what s best for this country and best for the military. no other motive other than tat. then why didn t he consult
obama was concerned about? combat readiness. a lautd of things need to be answered before you throw a policy into the military. the military is not a place to experiment. what about bathroom facilities, showering facilities. in the navy we were talking about what bunks will they be in etc., etc. so when the president says he is concerned about the combat readiness, i believe that and we have cost factors. i don t think it has anything to do with the ability of transgender people to fight. we re seeing this all over the nation on all levels and once this change in the civilian society is accepted and we know it isn t and it should be, that s when we start you don t think there are transgender people who serve with distinction in the military? i m sure they do. i would never say they don t. i don t know many in the
military. but i would say this i believe the military s decision is about combat readiness. everyone in the military knows that. but just because you don t know them doesn t mean they don t exist? no. and i think the president knows they exist. admiral kirby, is that right? let s remember, the policy of allowing transgender members to serve open lly has been in plac for about a year. there s been no detriment to the operations the military conducts all around the world. it was simply a six month extension so the secretary of defense could study the recruiting aspect. not whether they could serve or not, just the recruiting aspect of it. and now we ve gone from that to a leap ahead, to abandoning them