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“There are very few members of my career field with this experience, and in the event of a large-scale contingency, it would be difficult to replace the level of experience that I bring to the table,” said a serving US Air Force non-commissioned officer, who preferred not to give their name.
Paulo Batista, a transgender analyst in the US navy, said that a ban would not only put a premature end to his career, it would also cause upheaval across the forces.
“I have four years left on my contract,” he said. “But you take 15,000 of us out — there’s more but that’s the number that is always mentioned — that’s 15,000 leadership positions, every one of us play a vital role.
“There are junior enlisted personnel to high-end officers. You pull one of us out, that means others have to cover. These jobs could take months or even years to fill.”
Batista dismissed another argument made by those opposed to trans people serving in the military: that the Pentagon had to cover spiralling costs of gender dysphoria treatment.
“There is no money being spent, it’s just continued care,” he said. “People enlisting are just slightly hormone deficient, but the bigger picture is how many other people are going to be affected. Kicking out the 15,000 would affect the whole fleet, the whole battalion. It’s everyone.”
Trump’s spokesmen were contacted, but declined to comment.
https://archive.is/JvAz2