Transgender soldiers can skip deployments and receive cross-sex treatment on taxpayer dollars, according to unearthed Army memo

A newly revealed Army memorandum deems transgender members nondeployable for as many as 300 days, permits waivers for physical training and appearance standards, and uses taxpayer] dollars for gender-affirming surgeries.

The 34-page memo, titled “Care of service members who identify as transgender,” is dated Feb. 1, but wasn’t accessible to the public until The Dossier published it Tuesday.

The memo’s stated purpose is “to establish uniform guidelines regarding the medical and mental health care of service members who identity as transgender.” The guidelines follow President Joe Biden’s executive order allowing openly transgender people into the U.S. military in 2021.

According to the new standards, members who start taking “cross-sex hormone therapy” will go on a T3 undeployable status until a medical professional confirms they are clinically stabilized, which can an estimated 300 days.

Even when stabilized, military members taking prescribed medication are customarily  “deployable with limitations” and can’t deploy outside of the United States.

The memo states physical training, dress and appearance waivers can also be submitted to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for approval.  

During a gender transition, which can take an estimated 9-18 months, these service members can use “self-identified gender standards for uniform, grooming, fitness testing, as well as self-identified gender billeting, bathroom, and shower facilities,” according to Breitbart.  

The memo labeled the following gender treatments as covered benefits:  

• speech/voice therapy 
• cross-sex hormone therapy 
• laser hair removal 
• voice feminization surgery 
• facial contouring/body contouring 
• breast/chest surgery  
• genital reassignment/confirmation surgery  

Most of the medical procedures are to be performed at Womack Army Medical Center providers. If the center is not able to provide the desired care, members are authorized to be treated by an off-post provider. 

The memo is signed by Army Col. David Ross Zinnante, commander of WAMC.