Washington
President Donald Trump signed several executive orders focused on giving a new look to the US Army. An order signed late at night banns diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the army. Another order was restored to over 8,000 service members, who were dismissed for refusing to take the Kovid-19 vaccine.
The White House said that in the third executive order, the officers have been tasked to make a policy on transgender soldiers. According to media reports, the transgender service member is not immediately banned in this order. The fourth order makes the process of developing a ‘American Iron Dome’ compulsory. It will be like Israeli dome in the Middle East. The order was issued when Trump’s nominated man, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as the Defense Minister to lead the Pentagon. Hegseth has been saying for a long time that he plans to implement major cultural changes in the army. He said a few moments after reaching Pentagon on Monday, “And executive orders are coming.”
What the order says on transgender members in the army
Trump had banned transgender Americans from serving the army in 2017 during his first administration, but then the then President Joe Biden issued an order to cancel the ban in 2021. According to the report, in the executive order that Trump has signed, the army was instructed to make policies regarding the inclusion of transgender soldiers and update any guideline on the subject. Transgender service members will not be banned immediately with this action.
According to the documents published by the White House, the President’s executive order on ‘to prioritize military excellence and readiness’ states that “expressing false ‘gender identity’ separate from a person’s gender, fulfills the rigorous standards required for military service. does not make.” A fact sheet in the White House uses the term ‘trans-aidantifying’ instead of transgender. It is not clear how many transgender personnel in the US Army are serving – although the previous estimates of the researchers have stated the figure between 9,000 and 15,000. The order also states that men will be clearly forbidden from using the features prescribed for women.
Sparta, an organization advocating on behalf of transgender military personnel, criticized the order, saying that transgender soldiers have served in war areas and ‘demonstrated their ability to work in military units’.
