How War Has Changed Since 1776

Joseph Farah
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 21:00:00 -0700
Opinion

Imagine George Washington at Valley Forge. His men are starving, they're barefoot in the snow, some are deserting — and facing firing squads as a result.

It looks like all may be lost.

What does Washington do?
Updated: Wed Jul 06, 2016

Imagine George Washington at Valley Forge. His men are starving, they're barefoot in the snow, some are deserting — and facing firing squads as a result.

It looks like all may be lost.

What does Washington do?

He gets down on his knees and prays to God for strength, deliverance and victory.

Clearly, George Washington didn't have his priorities straight.

According to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Washington should have simply expanded the ranks of those he could count on for his all-volunteer army by actively recruiting women, gays, lesbians and transgendereds. That would have given him the edge he needed.

Instead, what did Washington do? On March 14, 1778, he had the audacity to banish from his camp a lieutenant for attempting to commit sodomy and lying about the incident. Washington characterized the acts as "infamous crimes" and ordered drums and fifers to perform for the humiliating ceremony. That's what it mean to be literally "drummed out" of the Army — never to return.

But Barack Obama and Ash Carter know better.

The latter announced last week that, not only will transgendereds be accommodated in all U.S. military services, but they will also be provided free medical care that will allow them to have the surgical care necessary to live the life they want to live — meaning the life of the opposite sex.

That's literally what happened just a few days before Independence Day, July 4, 2016. Do you think George Washington is rolling over in his hallowed grave? He wouldn't even recognize the insanity that has gripped his beloved country. I suspect he would wonder if all the sacrifice was worth it.

Can you really imagine the U.S. ever winning a war in the future?

I know we have the greatest military men and women in the world, but, we're abusing them. We're humiliating them. We're depriving them of the tools they need to win in battle. We're giving them leaders who are politicians instead of warriors. The U.S. military is now on the vanguard of political correctness run amok.

You think I'm exaggerating?

When confronted with contentious debate about his new edict on transgendereds and its impact on readiness for combat, here's what he said: "The policies we're issuing today will allow us to access talent of transgender service members to strengthen accomplishment of our mission."

He said that with a straight face. Though I can't swear that Ash Carter is straight.

"We have to have access to 100 percent of America's population for our all-volunteer force to be able to recruit from among them the most highly qualified — and to retain them," Carter said.

He gave this order to his generals and admirals and called on them to provide a plan for detailed implementation within 90 days, despite the obvious challenges:

—How in the world will the depleted military health system, that leaves veterans without care, provide it to transgender soldiers, sailor and airmen - including surgery for sex-change operations?

—When will a transgender service member begin adhering to a different gender's grooming standards and uniform-wear rules?

How and when will transgender service members transition to new physical fitness standards?

—When should a commander consider moving transgender soldiers into alternative barracks or berthing quarters?

—How will unit-level commanders address issues related to deployments, job assignments and training that may arise among troops undergoing gender transition?

Welcome to the new U.S. military.

It's not about winning wars any longer. It's about being at the vanguard of social experimentation.

How will the military deal with this confusion? Don't even ask. The confusion is intentional. It's meant to remake the military in the image of people like Ash Carter, not George Washington.

Early in 2017, when Obama is gone, unless these policies are reversed, the services will begin conducting force-wide training about transgender service members for commanders, military doctors, recruiters and the rank-and-file force.

The new policy sets a deadline of one year, or July 2017, for the military to begin allowing transgender recruits to enlist or be commissioned into the officer corps.

Hope you have a happy Independence Day. Enjoy it while you can.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.