The American military has sadly been steadily declining for a couple decades. Military culture and leadership abandoned a focus on ability, competence, and skill for the hollow goal of diversity. Ironically, the U.S, military that was a meritocracy achieved the most diversity of any institution, but the DEI mob is not really after diversity – their goal is to destroy traditional institutions and values.

The past four years, the American military was pushed over the brink with reckless policies allowing transgender persons to serve openly. Thankfully, President Trump realizes how deleterious this policy was to good order and discipline and promptly ended this madness. Transgender mania among other failures have contributed to a precipitous decline in military readiness. When diversity became the primary objective of the military, they lowered standards to broaden diversity faster rather than pursue excellence and expand the organic diversity previously achieved.

The results of these foolish policies have been devastating for military readiness and recruiting, so President Trump’s orders to restore military readiness by returning to a focus on lethality and war fighting skills is not a moment too soon. However, the loony left is howling how restricting openly transgender persons from military service is just so unfair. OK, so what?

The military refuses to enlist many people with all manner of limitations from mental and physical handicaps to just being too overweight to perform the required tasks. A minimum level of mental acuity, physical fitness, and emotional stability is required for military service with even more specific requirements for certain jobs. It may be unfair, but color blind persons are not allowed to fly or even a modicum of hearing loss can preclude a person from military service. It’s not about fairness; it’s about ensuring the U.S. military has the very best people for each job.

With only about 6% of Americans having served in the military, too much of the broader population does not understand the purpose of the military and the unique requirements for military service. The U.S. military is charged with defending the nation and defeating our enemies; their mission is quite simply to be ready to destroy any enemy with swift lethality. Anything that does not enhance the military’s capacity to rain death and destruction on the enemy in the most expeditious manner possible is frivolous and unnecessary.

The military’s mission to win the nation’s wars is vitally important to our national safety and survival, so anything that distracts from that mission is absurdly dangerous. The American military should not be some grand social experiment. Whenever the military emphasizes anything other than war fighting, they risk losing their edge over adversaries and jeopardize national security.

Military service is a privilege and not a right. Further, military service members join to be part of bigger organization and larger purpose, so they should not join to be an individual in a big organization with their own purpose. The military should not care what or who you are, but they should only care if you can perform your job well.

Truly devoted military service members join to be the best airman, Marine, sailor, or soldier that they can be, and they join to wear the nation’s cloth and serve the country. If a person’s singular purpose is to be some “hyphenated-American,” then they are not suitable for military service. Individuality is appreciated but subordinated to military service. There have always been gay Americans in the ranks, but most served to be identified as a military service member not a homosexual in the military.

Most folks may not realize that military service members voluntarily abrogate their rights to serve. As service members, everything they do reflects on the U.S. military and as such they only have ONE job – defend the nation and defeat our enemies! They have the freedom to vote as they please or support whatever cause, but they are to refrain from activism and politics especially in uniform. It’s a simple choice: do your job within the constructs of the military or go elsewhere.

The American military is very diverse, but individual preferences are secondary to military service. Transgender persons are incompatible with military service for several reasons. First and foremost, transgenderism is a mental illness; they are unstable persons in need of help. Even if one dismisses the mental and emotional deficiencies, their unending therapies and treatments render them useless to military service.

Every job in the military is vital to the mission, so every service member must always be ready to perform when needed. The military provides excellent healthcare and dental care to be sure all members are always fit and ready. The military does not care that anyone has good teeth, but they do not want anyone unavailable because of dental problems. Gender affirming care especially sex change treatments make members unavailable for extended periods, so someone else must do their job. If you want to be a soldier, be a soldier. If you want to change your gender, you are not enhancing the mission, so you need to do that on your own time not in the military.

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are committed to restoring the American military by rightly returning the focus to lethality and war fighting. That does not mean every service member with some fetish should be expelled. Those that want to serve even the weird ones can serve if their priority is to serve, but those consumed and obsessed by their fetishes are not suitable for service and should be dismissed.

The world is an increasingly dangerous place with formidable enemies. The American military can ill afford to indulge extraneous proclivities that only distract from the mission. Our military is particularly challenged to keep up with growing threats, so it’s past time they flush the frivolous fetishes and focus on their only job – win the nation’s wars.

“Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” (Psalm 144:1).

Pete Riehm is a Navy Veteran, conservative activist, and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.