In a single word, the military has changed. Our fighting force exists not only to defeat foreign enemies but also to help marginalized Americans. The toxic masculinity of National Knuckles is gone. Modern machismo allows a more inclusive federal hand.
A recent leadership conference chose a speaker who was a good example. From February 21st through 23rd, the United States Air Force Academy held its National Character and Leadership Symposium. The theme was “Embrace culture, empower people.” In this spirit, Lieutenant Colonel Bree Fram was welcomed to the event.
Bree, who has a prostate, is a real bigwig. The official website of the officer:
Before recommissioning to the Space Force in 2020, Bree served in various Air Force positions for 18 years. She held a Research and Development Command position and was responsible for overseeing all Air Force security activities with Iraq. Bree has held a variety of positions in the Air Force, including a Research and Development command position and a role overseeing all Air Force security cooperation activities with Iraq. She is one of the most senior transgender officers currently serving in the United States Military.
Bree was presented in this way by a female cadet at the Academy’s Conference:
Col. Bree Fram is an astronautical engineer in the U.S. Space Force. She is also the co-editor of “With Honor and Integrity”: Transgender Troops in their own words, the coauthor of a forthcoming book entitled “Forging Queer Leaders, How the LGBTQIA+ Community Creates Impact through Adversity,” and the host of the podcast, Forged in Fire: LGBTQ+ leadership. She was also the former President of SPARTA, an organization that educates and advocates about transgender service in the military.
A slide is shown in the video of Bree’s lecture.
From Firsts to Future: Why inclusion matters.
Bree is prepared to answer any questions that you may have.
Why is [inclusion] important to us as military personnel? How can we, as leaders, use this to improve mission achievement?
First, it is a fact that the military has been secretly awake for a long time.
Since the Revolution, LGBTQs have served in the military. This is not an entirely new phenomenon. We are simply more open to sharing who we are. Albert Cashier fought in the Civil War…was taken as a POW, escaped, and returned to his unit. He continued to fight. Albert Cashier was one of 400 women born with a gender that they were not assigned at birth, but who still fought for their country. When he was almost on his deathbed, his anatomy was discovered in a hospital. He was then placed in the women’s section. “His unit, still around fifty years later, had him taken out of the hospital… and (later), had him buried with full…honors”
Could a woman have fought with men who didn’t notice? Battlefields.org says:
Albert Cashier’s case, who was born as “Jennie Hodgers”, but with a female gender assignment, is among the most well-known because Cashier lived his life as a male after the war, and it wasn’t discovered until two years before he died. Cashier’s nearly lifetime commitment to male identity led some scholars to consider him a transgender.
Bree is a good example of the Pride-Flag era. It’s located near America’s first Commander-in-Chief:
“Baron von Steuben – a name that is commonly known, one of George Washington’s most significant assistants who wrote field manuals for the Army which…existed for almost 50 years — was just gay.”
How does that increase military power? Once everyone spreads their wings, it seems the sky is the limit.
“All of us know the price of this tax – this tax we pay…when [we] spend a part of our mental energy hiding who we are rather than dedicating it to the mission.”
Note the following key to rampant recruiting:
When we create an inclusive environment not only will people want to join, they also want to stay.”
Maybe that’s not true in the present.
As the Army, Navy, and Air Force have failed to reach their recruitment targets, 2024 will see the USA with its smallest army in 80 years.
The Department of Defense continues to dangle a carrot, just like the soldiers who are “assigned as males at birth.” It might entice the next generation of GIs.
