Introduction
The transgender policy was created through a comprehensive and inclusive process involving the leadership of all armed services, members of transgender services, medical experts, advocacy groups, and the Rand Corporation (Defense.gov, 2017). It was to serve members openly so that they may no longer be discharged, and isolated from the military because of being transgender people. Moreover, the policies were to be implemented in stages by addressing the needs of the present service members, commanders as well as the whole force, and ultimately, the forces were to recruit based on transgender.
PART A
The paper is to address the experiences of the gays and lesbians that are serving in the military of the United States. Therefore, a few have focused on the capability of active work of transgender groups. Moreover, transgender persons disobey the binary conception of the gender by contradicting the norms of the societal gender that are connected with sex at birth (Dentice & Dietert, 2015). Consequently, the Department of Defense has put in place some policies as well as standards that can reflect the binary conception of gender while focusing on the conformity.
PART B
Formation of rules for public utilities such as restrooms, and showers. According to the senior defense officials, the commanders will be provided with a wide latitude in order to make decisions regarding their best facilities for the transgender services. The defense officials realized that this could be simple just like setting up new privacy curtains in similar bathrooms and specific showers for different kinds of troops. However, some facilities, especially in the common training locations, may get a look for some extra changes. On the other hand, some of the changes were challenging in the sense that the communal showers were still existing on several installations. That is it was not clear how such issues will be handled because some costs are associated with the opening of the military to transgender service (Lamothe, 2016). The officials from the department of defense will recoup some of these funds by not discharging the services of transgender members who have been trained. Additionally, the commanders will not seek for the most expensive fixes required.
The most serious issue that the senior officials from the department of defense have been weighing over the previous years was whether to admit transgender persons in the military after changing their gender. As a result, both Army and Marine Corps were for making potential recruits within two years after the stability of the transgender individuals have been determined by the doctor. Similarly, the Air Force and Navy thought that a year was appropriate for the recruit of the transgender people. However, there were some challenges to this issue. For instance, it was the military to decide on how to handle each transgender person it determines to join the military to have a transition of gender treatment covered by the military benefits.
The entire service members are to meet all health standards to join the military for 180 days after enlisting. This includes being stable in the new gender. But, such cases will be few and, however, far between. According to some studies conducted by the Rand Corporation, about one hundred twenty-nine service members are likely to seek some transition-related care every year. Additionally, the advocates have also pointed out that there are some ways of obtaining transgender health care covers. For example, some companies such as Kroger have started to provide coverage in the past years.
PART C and Discussion
Managing the requirements of physical fitness.
There have been several distinct rules in the U.S military that govern the problems such as grooming as well as usage of uniforms for both men and women. Therefore, it is believed such issues will be easy to address since if a soldier has been identified as a man, he will be expected to adhere to the male standards (Lamothe, 2016). On the other hand, if one is identified as a woman, she will be required to adhere to the female standards. This might be challenging in some occasions because handling physical fitness requires more specifics. For instance, a male soldier is expected to complete a minimum of three pull-ups, fifty crunches, and a three-mile run in twenty-eight minutes in Marine Corps. Additionally, a woman has to hang from a bar for about fifteen seconds instead of completing pull-ups but completes three miles in less than thirty minutes (Lamothe, 2016).
Deployment strategies.
The foreign forces and commanders that have gone through gender transition are performing their duties effectively. Some studies are also suggesting that transgender may be a complicating issue particularly for those in the infantry and other units that do not easily access the needed refrigeration for specific medications. It may also be necessary to restrict deployment of the transitioning persons to severe environments where their health care needs cannot be fulfilled. Therefore, restrictions on deployment may also be needed where some individuals are seeking for medical treatment. This is inclusive of those that are seeking for hormone therapy and surgical treatments. But as in other aspects of transgender military service, the problem has been solved previously on the basis of the case by case.
Determination of transgender service in Tricare.
The families of the U.S troops mainly receive health care through the military health systems. These are inclusive of hospitals and clinics on the installations in the United States. However, some troops are receiving medical care via Tricare, the health care plan for the active troops with their families, retirees from the military, and the employees of the Department of Defense. Consequently, the military hospitals will offer gender transition surgery as required. Those that are seeking for surgeries based on gender transition through Tricare will experience problems. That is it is not allowed by the Tricare. However, the Department of Defense have been advocating for the amendments, and this will require the involvement of the Congress (Lamothe, 2016).
Recommendation
According to the Randy study, the service defines particularly when a member of transgender service must fulfill the job requirements for their new gender. Moreover, some Canadian and Australian evidence suggest that the transgender personnel should be exempted from the testing physical fitness requirements during transitions. But after completing the transition, the service member may be expected to attain the standards of the required gender. The gender discrimination in the military workplace regarding transgender service members should be addressed sufficiently in the U.S armed forces.
Conclusion
Matters that surrounds how transgender individuals should be treated in the military must be a priority for the Department of Defense. Historically, the recognition of the discriminatory led to the affirmative and initiative actions signed into law. Therefore, the exclusion of transgender persons is clear in the sense that there is extra work to be done before the leaders of the military can truthfully say that their organizations are fulfilling the needs of the quick changes as well as the increasing military population of active duty service personnel. Moreover, the recruitment and retention should the key areas of concern. Similarly, the present strategies that restrict transgender individuals from enlisting as well as serving must be removed. Therefore, the U.S military will be able to learn by making a consideration on the implemented procedures by other militaries around the globe that have allowed transgender people to serve the military openly.
References
Defense.gov. (2017). Special Report: DoD Transgender Policy. Retrieved 4 January 2017, from https://www.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/0616_transgender-policy
Dentice, D. & Dietert, M. (2015). The Transgender Military Experience: Their Battle for Workplace Rights. Academia.edu. Retrieved 4 January 2017, from http://www.academia.edu/23637381/The_Transgender_Military_Experience_Their_Battle_for_Workplace_Rights
Lamothe, D. (2016). 5 issues the U.S. military must still address about allowing transgender service. Washington Post. Retrieved 4 January 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/07/01/5-issues-the-u-s-military-must-still-address-about-allowing-transgender-service/?utm_term=.00f6beb4b012
