Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said on Newsmax Thursday that being transgender should disqualify people from military service, citing concerns over readiness, discipline, and accountability.
Speaking on "The Chris Salcedo Show," Shaffer, now president of Project Sentinel, responded to a question about whether transgender people present a hurdle to military performance.
"This disrupts good order and discipline, which is the key factor to a good, strong military warrior ethos," Shaffer said. "The idea that you have to have drugs to maintain a certain status of stability is not compatible with military service."
Shaffer referenced conversations with former military colleagues who have served with transgender people.
"I can tell you that 80% of their experiences is bad," he said. "A lot of the folks — I'm going to be blunt — the transgender folks generally do not show up for duty. They constantly use their status as a way of getting out of things. It's disruptive."
He said transgender troops are often treated as a protected class, which complicates discipline.
"They are not treated fairly because they are a special class. You can't hold them accountable," Shaffer said.
He cited the case of Chelsea Manning as an example of what he described as the incompatibility between gender dysphoria and military service. Shaffer called Manning "a kid with dysphoria who leaked all sorts of classified information," whose "status was unamicable to service."
"There are certain disqualifying physical, mental features, statuses that you cannot serve. You can't serve in the military if you have diabetes.
"The bottom line is we are not a social petri dish. We are not an adult day care."
"We are supposed to fight the wars, break things, kill people on call. That's our job. We need to get back to that."
Shaffer's comments came amid a major policy shift at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the removal of transgender troops who do not voluntarily separate from service by June 6, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.
The directive follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the week that cleared the way for the Trump administration's ban on transgender people in the military to take effect.
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