Trans military members on hormone treatment can avoid deployment for nearly a year
According to a Department of Defense memo, soldiers on hormone therapy may need up to 300 days for clinical stabilization.
Unsplash.
Those soldiers who are receiving hormonal treatment to change sex in the Womack Army Medical Center (WAMC), located in Fort Liberty, North Carolina, can avoid military service for almost a year, according to a memorandum issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) and signed by Army Col. David Ross Zinnante.
"Most military members will need up to 300 days to stabilize on mixed hormone therapy, and will remain in a temporary nondeployable state during that time," the DOD notes in its brief.
However, soldiers undergoing these procedures must agree on the timing of the treatment with their superiors, with the aim of "minimizing the impact on readiness." What they cannot do is "deny medically necessary care."
Medcen Memo 40 517 Care of Service Members Who Identify as Transgender_Voz Media by VozMedia on Scribd
In its document - published in February of this year - the DOD clarifies that the time needed by soldiers undergoing sex-change hormone treatments will depend on the treating physician's decision. That is, when the hospital states that they are "clinically stabilized."
The Biden Administration authorized transgender individuals to serve in the Army in April 2021, Breitbart reported.
Various taxpayer-funded clinical procedures
After those 300 days of hormone treatments, soldiers can request to undergo different surgeries, although not all of them can be performed at Womack Army Medical Center. Those that do include those classified as "upper," i.e. mastectomies or breast augmentations. These are funded with public money allocated to the Department of Defense.
So-called "bottom" surgeries -hysterectomies, oophorectomies and orchiectomies - can also be performed at the military medical center, but are not covered by federal funds. The same applies to facial and body contouring operations.
According to the memorandum, the WAMC does not have the capacity to perform laser hair removal, voice change or genital reassignment surgery. They also cannot freeze eggs or sperm.
LATEST
