I am proud to come from a big military family. I have so much respect for the military because these are men and women who go out there to answer a call within themselves to serve. They risk the ultimate sacrifice. Their families risk the ultimate sacrifice. These men and women are something greater than the rest of us mere mortals. I cannot properly express the admiration I have for them. Everyone should have this same respect for our military.

I could go on to discuss how mistreated this group is, this group that we owe so much to. They get crappy pay, sometimes terrible housing. And that’s while they are active. Afterwards, they struggle to get adequate medical care and often end up homeless. They become forgotten. They may be disabled, physically or mentally or both. They went over to protect our country and the people within it and they don’t get a damn thing in return. It’s awful and disgusting and a story for another day.

People who willing want to serve in the military and meet the mental and physical capacity to should be able to have that opportunity. Isn’t this the type of freedom we’ve been fighting for? People in the LGBT community who want to protect and serve their country should be able to. I don’t understand why they shouldn’t be able to. Especially with military recruitment in a consistent downward spiral, beggars can’t really be choosers. Even a revered General Mattis said of this topic “Can’t they hold a gun?” Is it really more complicated than that?

So when you say that transgender people can’t serve if they want to go under gender reassignment surgery, why not? How much money is actually paid for this type of medical care in the grand scheme of the military budget? Spoiler alert: According to what I read, a lot less than 1%. Not even 0.50%. The budget concerns isn’t the issue. If it were, maybe you should spend that $5.7 billion you want for a wall and put it towards the military so that they have adequate care while they are serving, and after.

Let whoever is capable and willing to serve and protect do that. You could be missing out on a soldier that could go on to do great things, then look back and credit the military for shaping their life for success. That type of story sells itself and recruitment would be right on track. Instead, people prefer to squabble about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or letting Transgender people in the military because of their own personal bias. I don’t throw around accusations like “homophobic” or “racist”, but policies like this are discriminatory. Next, women won’t be allowed to serve because their medical care costs too much and men can’t control themselves not to sexually harass or assault them.

I stand by my military. I stand by any person who wants to serve a cause bigger than the rest of us. I know I don’t have it in me to do what they want to do, so I admire them greatly for it. I don’t care about if they are LGBT or not. They deserve admiration for doing what so many of us are unwilling to, not become the topic of court cases still trying to fight for their rights.