NAVAL STATION GREAT LAKES, Ill. — Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday said he had “complete confidence” in Navy leadership’s ability to implement changes when he was asked by a sailor how boot camp will change when transgender recruits will be allowed to enlist.
Carter spent Thursday morning at Naval Station Great Lakes, where he visited recruits in their barracks and asked why they were joining the military. He was near the end of a three-day trip that included visits to Cambridge, Mass., and Fort Bragg, N.C.
During a troop talk, one sailor asked Carter a question about what challenges and changes the Navy’s boot camp might face as a result of the secretary’s recent decision to lift the ban on transgender troops serving openly.
Carter did not address challenges, but said he has “complete confidence” in the service to implement the new direction. “I am giving them considerable latitude and time to do that, but I have complete confidence they’ll do it,” he said aboard the USS Whitehat, a ship within a building on the naval base.
This summer, Carter announced that the ban on transgender troops serving openly would be lifted. The new policy takes effect on Oct. 1 and will be phased in over a year.
Carter stressed that transgender troops are already serving well in the military and that the military needs to ensure it is “tapping into every pool of talent” for the best people, regardless of gender or sexual preference.
“They’re there and they’re serving well. Their commanders are dealing with this issue without guidance from the department, and that’s not fair. That’s not fair to the commander or the service member,” he said.
