Times article re US military

[mcduffy]

Donald Trump to kick transgender troops out of US military

www.thetimes.com/article/1d5c0dd6-fb79-4e02-b542-171541881529?shareToken=ef33896de57008046bca3589b35f12e6

This type of combat is becoming a thing of the past compared to how wars were fought during the Falklands. Look at the Ukraine war and Gaza these types of engagements are not the norm. What you are saying is true but as combat changes there are more roles that can be done easily by men and women.

Of course, to go through officer’s training though, women will have to do exercises and certification. And as junior officers there is a chance they will be deployed to action.

As far as weight limit lifting management is concerned, I believe that is managed by load sharing with women taking only as much as the designated limit. The rest is managed amongst the group.

My understanding is that while on exercise the group will only progress at a rate safe for the slowest in the group. Because I have asked friends about this in the past. This is the policy that I believe some country’s military training follows. Even then, I know that some women end up with injuries. It can be quite hard to manage.

I don't know.......but ultimately it will be about what he does, rather than his motivations for it. Maybe the announcements so far are predicated on which people he has in place and their primary agendas?

@Helleofabore I think it because Pete Hesgeth keeps saying it and he's going to be Defence Secretary? He said "I'm straight up saying we should not have women in combat roles" fairly recently, which seems unambiguous. I think I read somewhere it's actually one of the core beliefs of his Church.

You may know more though, maybe Trump will overrule that bit. I'm not in the US so am outside looking in.

I suspect that for him to successfully do this, will require him to convince a great many people which would require evidence rather than his personal belief. And he would have nothing to stand on in regards to Navy and Airforce personnel, I would hazard a guess. Army / Marines I think would also think will take some convincing. He might be successful in a few roles, but I doubt he would be successful in a blanket ban.

However, I look forward to seeing just what he has that he feels is going to be convincing.

How would that even happen, an infantry officer is going to have to start as a Jr officer, and so will be in a position of being in charge of troops on a battlefield.

No one skips all that and just becomes a CO.

CO stands for commissioned officer not commanding officer

I think a "commissioned officer" is just called an officer.

Certainly in Canada CO is commanding officer.

But in any case, any officer in the combat arms is actually going to have to do their job and go into the field with the NCOs during their career, they aren't hanging around in an hq or something.

Ok - having done some internet searching, it seems that, as I thought, it's also commanding officer in the UK and the US.

Ironically it's both your CO is your commanding officer but when talking about NCOs and COs it's non commissioned officers and commissioned officers (just to be confusing to civilians) the terms date back to the time whe a commissioned officer could/would buy their commission from a retiring officer (yes you would actually pay to be an officer) whereas NCOs were members of the rank and file who earned their rank but could not sell that rank on

Having been an NCO myself for many years I am aware of that, thanks.

If being misgendered is akin to genocide, all enemy forces would have to do is chant “you’ll never be a woman” and the US forces would crumble.

I fully understand that in a stream such as infantry, this may be different. However, the military exercises etc in other areas of the military will not necessarily require female officers to match male lift capacities etc.

But, no. I know that people will not be promoted to commanding officer levels without having been through the junior officer ranks. And yes, they certainly have to complete specific levels of training and exercises at the very least. I have not said that they would.

Thank you. This is helpful info for the lay person trying to follow along.

It blows my mind how much I've learned about all sorts of things by being on this MN board.

Now the military declared that women and men have to reach the same physical standards.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/pete-hegseth-women-combat-army-fitness-test

As some people here mentioned earlier, some things aren't physically possible for women (the marches with maximum luggage that men carry), which means that much fewer will be left.

It might be that this is about his goal to keep women out of combat.