Tag: military

Renaming Military Bases

If we’re not renaming military bases because Confederate generals are a part of our history (although it will be interesting to see if Trump gets countermanded again) … can we start applying the same “it’s part of history, so we need to remember it” logic when naming new bases (or ships)? The generally abysmal lack of historic knowledge probably requires very specific locations for the names to be meaningful if we go with Revolutionary War figures — Fort Burgoyne in the Satatoga area, maybe rename a naval base with Arbuthnot. And of course we’d need a Fort Arnold. But why ignore the last 150 years? Have a Fort Wilhelm II. Fort Minh. Fort Sandino. Or combine base renaming with current-day diplomacy. I’m sure Kim Jong-un will be honored when we unveil Fort Kim Il-sung. It’s all part of our history, right?

On a tangentially related note … how many people have actually stopped to look at a statue? Read the name on the statue? Read the blurb about the person? Gone home and spent an hour researching the individual? Does the fact a statue exists at Gettysburg mean the general population remembers Francis Channing Barlow? Are we really in danger of forgetting who Robert E Lee was if statues aren’t standing in our parks?

Drafts of the non-beer variety

Back when gays were banned from the military, I figured there was either an implied belief that we would never need to draft soldiers again or a big ‘*’ following the ban. Because unless they’re requiring video evidence of your disqualification, I’d happily claim to want to do chicks to avoid becoming cannon fodder. Hell, even if they demand evidence, I would do another chick to avoid being drafted. Became a moot point when the ban was lifted. And then came Trump.

Now trans individuals are banned from the military, can you instantly avoid conscription by claiming to be trans-gendered? The technical definitions I’ve seen are based on internal experiences and feelings – there’s no requirement to undertake reassignment surgery or ingest hormones. Which also brings into question the flimsy “their medical expenses are exorbitant” argument.

Beyond the actual maybe-a-policy-change that has been made, are tweets now considered official statements of government policy?! Or Trump’s got absolutely no intention of actually implementing the policy and just wanted a bunch of bigoted supporters to go back to loving him.