Military going on food stamps and taxpayers paying for gender transitional surgeries?

 What do you think ? --       https://www.facebook.com/reel/616693257116464

I think you're social life is pretty pathetic.  Friday night and you dont have a date or activity beyong scouring Facebook for hate speech?   Damn.   What a sad little man you are.

David Miller asks "What do you think" concerning the Facebook post.  I think:

Another know-nothing talking out of his ass. 

In the first place, the program isn't called "Food Stamps" anymore.  It has been revised, is now SNAP, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, exists to supplement, e.g. assist, persons who meet certain income levels (low or no income) to be able to purchase certain nutritious foods (there is a list, not everything is covered) such as fresh fruit, vegetables, more.  Alcohol, among other things, isn't something than can be purchased with SNAP.  

Active Duty, Veteran, any citizen can apply for this assistance.  Just like the taxes we pay go toward payment for other people's health care, e.g. Veterans health care, Medicare, Medicaid (state programs) etc.  One doesn't "live on Food Stamps."  Military pay while on active duty isn't large.  The wife with children might be able to have more nutritious meals if they qualify for SNAP.   They have to apply, including all sources of income, number of persons in household, etc.  Not the worst use of taxpayer money.

Gender reassignment care and/or surgery is a complex issue.  I'm an old person.  I never would have dreamed this was remotely possible (or desired, for that matter, but clearly times have changed).  Insurance companies have been urged (maybe now required) to include this coverage in their policies.  When I was working at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs a policy came out mandating care (medicine, general other care) of veterans transitioning but not surgical procedures.  This maybe/probably has advanced to where certain Veterans (or Active Duty?) might be approved to have surgical procedures for furtherance of gen reassign as part of their medical care eligibility, again which everybody who pays taxes at all is contributing to.  It isn't a surgery that is routinely performed everywhere, so the patient may be referred to a private hospital that has the expertise, cost still would be covered by the VA or military or whomever.  It is about fairness, seen differently in different eyes.

I don't know everything about this, and I sure wouldn't be addressing a knowledgable panel about it.  But that guy sounds like he knows a lot less than I do.  Ever heard of context?  That guy certainly isn't putting what he tries to sound so knowledgable about in context.  JMHO.

Candy

Candy, it's not a legitimate complaint, either on the part of the jerkwad who originally posted it or our resident asshole who scraped it out of Fakebook's butt. It's just another Bitch and Whine post from David--his fourteenth such post, just today! Obviously, he (and the OP) goes around hunting for things to complain about.

There are criteria for being eligible for SNAP benefits. I see no reason why those criteria shouldn't apply to military and their families. Bitching and whining about it is asinine. End of story.

Gender reassignment surgery shouldn't be prevented or pilloried just because it makes some people feel icky. It's IMHO in the same category as cosmetic surgery--not medically necessary, strictly speaking, but it can greatly enhance a person's quality of life and sense of well-being. So I'm in no way against it, and it should be a routine part of medical care. I know that RepubliQ politicians in red states have been using it as a hot button/red meat issue. Members of the military shouldn't have their lives affected by RepubliQ culture wars. End of story.

Candy- Thank you for your post.  Extremely informative and answered some questions I had on this topic.

Apparently there is an Air Force base in Texas that has a hospital that does the transition surgeries, or the city near the base does.  I saw a video, on Facebook, I believe, where a transitioning Air Force soldier was documenting their transition journey.  They mentioned the various steps and how much time it took between each one.  Besides the surgery, there are also counseling services that are required, as well as recovery which required the soldier to be on lite duty or no duty at all. If I can find that video, I will post it here. 

The whole process seems to take a good amount of time from the beginning to end, spanning a majority of the soldiers enlistment.  This is what stuck with me.  It seems that most of their service time was spent dealing with the transition and not doing their actual military service. 

I'm not saying I am against this, just thought it was interesting that the military, at least the Air Force, was so supportive of transgender reassignment. 

That's a good question, and I have some possible answers:

1) An integral part of military culture is that the Army, Navy, etc. take care of their own--during their service and after. I'm sure you've read/heard about VA hospitals, due to underfunding and other considerations, failing to do that. This could be the pendulum swinging the other way.

2) The availability AND the toleration of gender reassignment surgery and other procedures could encourage some folks to stay in the military, maybe even make a career out of it. This might be a diametrically opposed change to such folks leaving the military because they felt they wouldn't be tolerated.

3) Another aspect of US military culture is that personal skills, honor, dedication, etc. all matter but personal characteristics such as race and gender do not. I concur--I don't care who's flying the plane, I care whether they're good at it. This could simply be an attempt to be more egalitarian.

From what I know of the transition process, a person can work, go to school, etc. during all but a few weeks of the process, so I can't see how it would interfere with military duty other than active deployment overseas.