A Defense Department memo from earlier this year covering the “care of service members who identify as transgender” has been leaked to the public, showing a vast array of medical services and special privileges for self-described transgender individuals in the military.

Included in the memo are instructions for taxpayer-funded procedures regarding speech and voice therapy, voice feminization surgery, cross-sex hormones, laser hair removal, facial and body contouring, breast and chest surgery, genital surgery, and psychological counseling. 

Service members identified as transgender are considered “undeployable” for up to 300 days or longer as they receive interventions, which often carry lasting effects and require further treatments. The policy also allows the service members to receive unlimited physical fitness standard waivers.

The Sentinel spoke with two former service members to ask how the leaked policies would affect national security. Davis Younts, a retired lieutenant colonel who served as an Air Force JAG, said that the policies are a “clear example of military leadership putting a radical political agenda ahead of military readiness.”

“Because recruiting and retention numbers are already falling, our nation needs service members who are fit and ready to deploy,” he continued. “We put our national security at risk when we place a higher priority on politics and radical social change than on readiness and the fighting ability of our personnel.”

Another veteran of the Air Force, who wished to remain anonymous, called the policy an “absolute waste of military resources” and taxpayer dollars.

“As if COVID wasn’t a big enough waste of time and money for the military, we received official emails regarding pronoun use in our email signatures,” the veteran continued. “To top that off, we’ve allowed ‘transgenders’ to exist in our military at the taxpayer’s expense. Our taxpayers are paying for their expensive surgeries, post-op care, mental health care, and the ability to dodge deployments, while they simultaneously are receiving easier physical fitness standards based on the members’ chosen ‘identity.’”

President Joe Biden reversed former President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military days into his administration, claiming that “transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries.” Since the reversal, the Biden administration has chosen to pursue increasingly radical policies and recently celebrated “Pride Month” by featuring a male service member who claims to be a woman in an official Defense Department article.

Recruitment have indeed continued to fall: the Army suffered the worst last year, falling 25% short of its goal. Leaders of each branch spoke before the House Armed Services Committee earlier this year, revealing that they again expect to fall short of their quotas.

The Biden administration has nevertheless continued to laud transgender service members, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claiming last month that “who you love and how you identify has nothing to do with how bravely you can fight for your country.”

The former service members who spoke with The Sentinel meanwhile said that forcing the transgender agenda in the military places national security at risk. “The military absolutely can discriminate,” said the Air Force veteran. “They need people fit to fight, not a bunch of alphabet warriors who demand conformity in order to hold a place among the ranks of our service members.”