0:01

The question we're going to as today

0:03

is. What? Is the purpose of a

0:05

military. What? Is a military here

0:07

do here in the United States of America? I

0:09

guess in many ways you would say well they

0:11

need to be ready to defend us against. Enemies

0:14

both foreign and domestic. Are.

0:17

They should be fighting ready for

0:19

whatever you know is happening. Now.

0:22

There's a lot of reasons that people decide

0:24

to join the military and I would guess

0:26

at the heart of it's not always so

0:28

that they can rush into battle a war,

0:30

but a lot of times they lack options.

0:32

They lack options to potentially a go to

0:34

university and in order to do that to

0:36

come from where they're at they see this

0:38

is an opportunity. If they join the military

0:40

then they will have the option to perhaps

0:42

go to college and and move on to

0:44

other things are the rest of their lives.

0:47

But. What if you met someone that said

0:49

you know I'm join the military, I

0:51

want to get a breast augmentation surgery.

0:53

You be like ah. Don't. The

0:56

that's why would join the military plane not a good

0:58

idea or like a face lift. And we

1:00

could even say that you know I've had Reza like

1:02

I just want to get in better shape, I

1:04

want to work out and therefore I did. The

1:06

military would do well, would certainly do that. but don't

1:08

you think after a couple years now that you're

1:10

all rip to be like? But what are all

1:12

the other reasons were here? What?

1:14

If you're going to join the

1:17

military to get a sex change

1:19

operation. The. Department of Defense

1:21

is estimated to be one of the

1:23

country's biggest employers of trans people. Staff

1:26

Sergeant William Alan Role is one

1:28

of over fifteen thousand transgender people

1:30

believe could be serving in the

1:32

United States Military. Or doctors

1:34

will treat them men in, give

1:36

them that medically necessary treatment According

1:38

to the protocols they provide a

1:40

path for those in service for

1:42

medical treatment, gender transition and recognition

1:45

in one's self identified gender. And.

1:47

They seek to protect the privacy of

1:50

all service members and to treat them

1:52

with dignity and respect at all times

1:54

Outside the military we're doing every week

1:56

and return to trying to rid of

1:58

all the barriers. The gate keeping

2:00

that has occurred in Trans Health. And

2:03

I feel like and the military

2:05

it's We still have those and

2:07

barriers requiring a brigade commander to

2:09

have proved my medical treatment plants.

2:11

transitioning is a lobby be that

2:13

is as a leader and I've

2:15

gotten rid of the distraction of

2:17

worrying about and. Concealing were

2:20

really was gender reassignment surgery will hurt

2:22

our medical readiness. I'm and you can

2:24

even deploy if if you're back if

2:26

you're not vaccinated properly or you don't

2:28

have the proper dental records in place.

2:31

so how are we supposed to deploy

2:33

people in keep our war fighting stance?

2:35

Is somebody to said gender reassignment surgery

2:37

insert taxpayers be be paying for them.

2:41

You. Know really good questions and

2:43

at the heart of this story

2:46

is one of our tug considers

2:48

for the High Wire. Great writer

2:50

Tracy Beans she's also the editor

2:53

in chief of Uncovered D. C

2:55

C put out an article that

2:57

has gone absolutely viral. Military doctor

3:00

says transgender surgery uptick paid for

3:02

with Us tax dollars. Celeste.

3:04

That beat around the bush on this

3:07

conversation. As. My honor pledged to

3:09

be joined by the one the only

3:11

Tracy. Beans. Tracy. All right, I've

3:14

what wanna say is just tell

3:16

me that this isn't true and

3:18

just you know I won't be

3:20

clear. I'm not against if transgender

3:23

people or gay or bi or

3:25

whatever you know, sort of. however

3:27

you identify if you're ready to

3:29

serve of military needs and perform

3:31

all the functions that are necessary.

3:33

I. Have no judgment there. But.

3:35

Always say that while you're in the

3:38

military that you can be set up

3:40

and that we're going to pay for

3:42

you to get. As. A sex

3:44

change operation. I would tell me that isn't true.

3:47

I wish I could. Absolutely. At his

3:49

trail. Unfortunately, I'm about a year

3:52

ago. the deal deep. Put. Out

3:54

a new. Policy. That explains all

3:56

of this kind of working conditions. You

3:58

need to be a. You apply

4:00

and be granted one of these surgeries in

4:03

the Us military and you need to be

4:05

serving for at. Least one hundred and eighty

4:07

days before you can go through this process.

4:09

They've invested a lot of money into working

4:12

group and health groups surrounding this issue within

4:14

the government and basically what this policy says

4:16

as you go when. They. Give you

4:18

a waiver if you can't get the care you. You

4:20

want right then and there on a military

4:23

I add on a military base our military

4:25

of facility. You get a

4:27

diagnosis of gender dysphoria. And. Then

4:29

you go through a process within

4:31

the military of getting your medicine

4:33

been on hormones i'm living real

4:35

life experience as they call it

4:38

as the opposite gender and then

4:40

you are eligible for or or

4:42

gender reassignment surgery along with a

4:44

whole host of other procedures that

4:46

would always be considered elective for

4:48

force, even active. Duty service members

4:50

were not I transgender So you're looking

4:53

I would know to what about what

4:55

you mean by that. I was using

4:57

those people that want surgery that are

4:59

not transgender. like what kind of surgeries

5:02

would they not yet of they're not

5:04

transgender. Let's. Say a woman

5:06

who wants a facelift. Okay, Her.

5:08

An eyebrow left or a breast

5:11

augmentation or liposuction. Or at least

5:13

Er. Heller. I'll either hair or

5:15

mobile. Those procedures are covered underneath

5:17

his policy for transgender people who

5:19

are going through transition while in

5:22

the Us. Military. And I

5:24

was already be shall not. Those would

5:26

be denied. Any one that's just a

5:28

woman that wants to get those things

5:30

or man there was a good as.

5:32

But as long as you say I'm

5:35

transgender suddenly this whole grocery list of

5:37

the types of plastic surgeries and you

5:39

know enhancements you want to get or

5:41

now available to you. Correct.

5:44

That is correct Unit the worst problem is the

5:47

way you started. The show was perfect because it's

5:49

true. You know, if you were getting the

5:51

military? fine more. Power to you serve

5:53

your country with honor. However, A

5:55

lot of people are get your not

5:58

deployable after this down you cannot. deploy.

6:00

And as a matter of fact, you

6:02

can't even deploy technically under the rules

6:04

and regulations that are on the

6:06

books now with a diagnosis of

6:08

gender dysphoria. It's a mental health condition

6:11

that requires counseling. You cannot deploy and

6:13

be overseas in the middle of a

6:15

desert somewhere and need therapy once every

6:17

week or once every two weeks or

6:19

once every month. The limit for therapy

6:21

that the government provides is once per

6:23

quarter max. And as you're going through

6:25

this terrible, you know, period,

6:28

in my opinion, where you're medically

6:30

transitioning from one gender to the

6:32

next, the counseling requirements for that

6:34

are very, very intense. So you're

6:36

not deployable then you have this surgery,

6:39

you're not deployable after and most of

6:41

these folks, I venture to

6:43

guess, will end up with a

6:45

medical discharge and then the US taxpayer will

6:47

then also be paying for their health care

6:49

for the rest of their lives, which is

6:51

intensive. It's not just, Oh, I'm just going

6:53

to go in for this little surgery and

6:55

come out and be fine. The rest of

6:57

their lives are on hormones. The rest of

7:00

their lives, they need surgical checkups. They

7:02

need constant medical care. So it's a big

7:04

issue in our, in our military. Let me take it

7:06

back because I want to make sure that we're not

7:08

misrepresented this or, or just to

7:10

clarify, when you say they have a

7:13

mental disorder, obviously that's the big argument

7:15

going on right now around this conversation

7:17

is, is this sort of gender dysphoria,

7:19

a mental disorder or not? But does,

7:21

how does the military determine that you

7:23

should be eligible? Like, you know, is

7:26

it, I mean, when you say it's

7:28

a mental disorder, why are you saying

7:30

that? How do they determine that? Because

7:34

in our own words, that's what they call

7:36

it. The US military uses the DS five,

7:39

which is the American psychiatric kind of

7:41

rule book for mental illness. And that's

7:43

literally what it's called. So, you know,

7:45

right on point with that comment, what

7:48

the conversation we're having greater in civilian

7:50

world out here in culture is that

7:52

this is absolutely normal and there's no

7:54

problem with it, but the US military

7:57

itself uses, They open up

7:59

the manual. Save a D S

8:01

Five on Mental Disorders The go Okay

8:03

definition of gender dysphoria. Tell me about

8:05

yourself, yet you fit that bill. You're

8:07

right in here in the book on

8:09

mental disorders. Therefore, you qualify for now

8:11

we putting you on hormones. For what

8:13

you say, they have to do hormones

8:15

for six months to a year. Something.

8:18

Like twelve months a year. they gotta act

8:20

like the other gender now and the and

8:22

I get would do. They have like people

8:24

monitoring that's and then once they've gone through

8:26

all of that now they're eligible to get

8:28

a As surgery and have body parts removed,

8:31

are added on and and and the rest

8:33

of it. Correct.

8:35

And it's very important you heard in that

8:37

intro video the use of the term medically

8:40

necessary. That term is used and abused in

8:42

my opinion of the Us military out well

8:44

because I've had friends who have been in

8:46

the military and he did heart surgeries dell

8:49

and we're not. Granted those heart surgery is

8:51

being told they were not medically necessary. They

8:53

were basically telling my friend, go get another

8:56

ablaze and you can't have the special procedure

8:58

that will save your life. It's not medically

9:00

necessary, but when it comes to this, they

9:02

have an entire division. To expedite

9:05

these claims, these. Waivers and their

9:07

granted the weavers by using the

9:09

term medically necessary in the definition

9:11

is very vague, almost the same

9:13

place as they say that vaccines

9:15

are safe and. Effective They use the

9:17

term medically necessary when it suits them.

9:19

What's really are you know And and

9:22

by the way, this is a very

9:24

expensive as set of surgeries. Usually it's

9:26

more than one. Ah, Loss of

9:28

revisions I can be needed in of

9:31

course all the drugs trying to handle

9:33

it's trying to make sure that whatever

9:35

you know you've added are taken away

9:37

that your body. sort of. Except that

9:39

massive change. So all that's incredibly expensive,

9:41

which is a deterrent for a lot

9:44

of people getting these surgery. So it

9:46

seems to me. That if

9:48

your you know you're in this

9:50

community that was a sex change

9:52

operations and you don't have a

9:54

way to pay for it. Seems

9:56

like the military literally just opened

9:58

up. You. Know. The say if

10:01

you need you know assertions operations.

10:03

the best way to do that

10:05

is com join the military. Ah,

10:07

We're here for you. I mean is

10:09

that the goal or mean are we

10:11

just that desperate for military that hey

10:14

there's a whole transgender you know community

10:16

that will come rushing in of we

10:18

pay for the sex change operations. Sell.

10:21

Never be able to serve. Probably ninety five

10:23

percent of them will never be able to

10:25

serve in the Us military under the qualifications

10:27

that are there. Now you know I have

10:30

the eye A doctor friends that came

10:32

to me with S and said there's been

10:34

this ridiculous uptick in the surgery. that military

10:36

hospital I'm seeing it on the the all

10:39

of them have been female to male transitions

10:41

that this person has seen and the interesting

10:43

thing about that is one of the requirements

10:46

After you go through this process through the

10:48

military's you need to change your gender within

10:50

the military. System. So you came and female

10:52

and you transition surgically to mail you need

10:54

to then be a male. In.

10:56

Their system and meet the benchmark

10:58

for men in the military. Tell

11:01

me with have everything else put

11:03

aside how many women. Are. Going

11:05

to be able to meet the benchmarks for

11:07

men for readiness in the military. Is

11:10

close to zero, which is the same argument

11:12

that we're having with women sports right now,

11:14

right? I mean, Ryan or so men are

11:16

so much stronger than women. It's just the

11:18

way it is. it's it's It's from a

11:20

readiness perspective. only forget you know the culture

11:22

part of it. Is a huge aftermath

11:24

to are kind to our country. As

11:26

I've said this I think on the

11:28

show before when I was working on

11:30

the Doctors television show I actually one

11:32

of the jobs I had was I

11:34

will go on the field and suit

11:36

a lot of surgeries over the doctors

11:38

did and I shot of friends are

11:40

transition surgery from female to male one

11:43

or the most outrageous things I've ever

11:45

witnessed in my life. But one thing

11:47

I can tell you for sure is

11:49

that the healing. Process.

11:51

From that is a long

11:53

process. So when we imagine

11:55

being you know you know

11:57

military ready I can imagine.

12:00

What I witnessed in that surgery room

12:02

I can imagine that you would be

12:04

ready to you know, charge a bumper

12:06

sarge into battle, Run into battle. For.

12:09

Several years and I mean run

12:11

into battle, have no access to

12:13

a shower anywhere for days. I

12:15

mean that the sacrifice our soldiers

12:18

milk in the middle of a

12:20

desert, sweating and dirt and sand

12:22

and sleeping on the ground and

12:24

whatever it takes a mean so

12:26

many of us aren't ready boards

12:28

but guaranteed someone that just had

12:30

a massive surgery either adding or

12:32

removing you know, a critical part

12:34

of the body. Adjusts even

12:36

imagine that soon. And you're saying that's

12:38

the case, that no one's going to

12:41

send his be one the field because

12:43

they need two much medical attention on

12:45

a constant basis. Certainly, they must need

12:47

the ability to shower and and clean

12:50

themselves off. Yeah.

12:52

It's it's a big, it's a big problem

12:54

and it will always be a problem. And

12:56

you know we haven't seen numbers and things

12:58

like that yet. Because again, this policy when

13:00

in about a year ago some folks are

13:02

coming up on their year now and that's

13:04

why the uptick. In these and in the

13:06

surgery the other interesting. Thing about this

13:08

dell that really got me was they really

13:10

do a like counseling with folks about their

13:13

loss of fertility when it going on hormones

13:15

or not or if they're going to have

13:17

an operation. Finally this will impact their fertility.

13:19

So they get counseling to say you might

13:22

want to freeze your eggs or you might

13:24

wanna consider what's going to happen if you

13:26

want to have are conceived. As an

13:28

active duty service member. And I know

13:31

from research I've done outside of this

13:33

in the civilian population, there are children

13:35

being placed on the puberty blockers and

13:37

hormones all over the country. I doubt

13:40

they're being advised about the impact on

13:42

their fertility. When they're eighteen. Nineteen,

13:44

twenty years old. Starting. These medicines

13:46

that thirteen. So there is a lot of

13:48

contradictory language in the deal. Be manual vs.

13:50

white, the government will stand at a podium

13:53

and tell you and what popular culture will

13:55

try and tell you. In. In

13:57

you know, the general public sphere. Either.

14:00

I mean, I don't know how big numbers they

14:02

would be, but what you're saying then is this

14:04

just started a year ago, they're all coming

14:06

to the end of that period in which

14:08

they had to be on the gender-blocking drugs

14:11

and walking around as

14:13

the other gender. And

14:15

now this tidal wave of

14:17

its surgery time is coming.

14:22

Does your average military surgeon know how

14:24

to do a gender reassignment or are

14:26

they bringing in specialists? Do you have

14:28

any idea how they plan on handling it? Because I

14:30

would think you'd have to know

14:32

how to do those surgeries. It's

14:36

a multidisciplinary team that they've put together

14:38

in all these hospitals. And the person

14:40

I spoke to was at one hospital

14:42

for one branch of the

14:45

military. And there are several

14:47

a week going on. In the case of

14:49

a woman transitioning to a male, a lot

14:51

of the surgery, some of it's gynecological, a

14:54

hysterectomy, and things like that, and

14:56

others reconstructive. So they have plastic

14:58

surgeons, they have people to operate

15:01

on the voice box, they have all kinds

15:03

of different doctors specializing in that, some in

15:05

the military, some they have to contract out

15:07

for. But they're really focused on keeping this

15:09

inside, Del. It's over and over

15:12

and over again in the policy. You

15:14

must have it here unless it's absolutely impossible for

15:16

you to have it here at the

15:18

hospital near you or the military hospital near

15:20

you. And that makes me think that there's

15:22

some sort of a financial component to this that

15:24

we just haven't discovered yet. And

15:26

that's obviously kind of just me guessing at this

15:29

point. But I know too much about how

15:31

the government works to think that this is just

15:33

happening for the sake of being safe about

15:35

it. One thing

15:37

that just boggles the mind, I mean,

15:39

this is really one of the craziest

15:41

stories that I've heard is because, as

15:44

I said before, why join the military? And what

15:46

is the function of a military? I

15:50

just, I struggle to see any

15:53

Value in this for the military. I

15:55

Mean, whatever your personal experience and why

15:58

you're doing what you're doing, that's... Fine,

16:00

But when we are funding our military

16:02

to be able to jump into action

16:04

and defend this and by imagine a

16:06

whole you know line of people a

16:08

sorry I can't be the one jumping

16:11

in there. Even though you've paid your

16:13

pay me to be here in your

16:15

pay for my surgeries, I'm actually not

16:17

able to do that for you. I

16:19

just I just can't imagine what. What?

16:22

Taxpayer would think that this is a

16:24

good idea and frankly like what nation

16:26

would think that this is how. We.

16:29

Sabina. This is a primary goal

16:31

for our military. It's just. One

16:34

of a mean I'm I'm I'm going to

16:36

be scratching my head for days and weeks

16:38

to com. Or Tracy it needs.

16:40

I love the work you're doing. I love

16:42

that you do. And so much of the

16:44

forests. of course. It's obvious now why this

16:46

story has gone viral. You getting any pushback

16:48

images are an argument against your perspective. I'm

16:50

I guess I'd have to ask that like.

16:53

Who's. Who would say this is a

16:55

great idea And here's why. I

16:58

haven't had any pushback which is kind of

17:00

scary I'm I've gotten a lot of people

17:02

from very own various places in the military

17:04

have come to me and said hey you

17:06

might want to see also a look at

17:08

Ces over here because this is. Agency

17:11

Wide and it's Mike's deeper than just

17:13

what we're talking about. Racism into the

17:16

a long series that I'm writing. Because

17:18

it is is something else dell

17:20

and and it's not helpful for

17:22

our defense. On. Are all.

17:24

While. We'll. Keep up the great

17:27

work Tracy! Love the work you're doing for us

17:29

and we'll talk to assume. That. They're going

17:31

to downing us. Or. I have.

17:33

You want to check out all the great

17:35

writing that she's doing for us? Go to

17:37

the High wire.com All sorts of awesome stores.

17:39

Many of them go viral, she's got her

17:42

finger on the polls and go to uncoverdc.com

17:44

Of course we're still a lot of a

17:46

writing one Support. That too.