‘Transgender troops’ was first on the list for questions allowed from the cadets.
Air Force Academy cadets had plenty of questions for Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday, including when the Pentagon will accept transgender troops into the ranks.
Carter, in town ahead of Friday’s installation of a new boss at U.S. Northern Command, spent the day touring the academy and addressed the curious cadets in a town hall meeting. Carter said the Pentagon is addressing rules and regulations that will allow open service by transgender troops.
While current Pentagon rules forbid transgender service, Carter said that’s changing.
“The question of principle we have settled – what matters is people’s ability to contribute to our military,” he said. “The only barriers we should erect to that principle should be when there are practical matters we can’t work through.”
Carter doled out plenty of advice for cadets, encouraging them to keep learning long after they leave the academy and be prepared to make bold decisions.
Cadets wanted to know about drones, military benefits and Carter’s view of the national debt.
Regarding the debt, Carter said politicians have been too eager to cut defense spending before considering alternatives, including tax changes and entitlement reform.
“Just do the math, dammit,” he said of congressional budgeting efforts. “It doesn’t work.”
On drones, Carter said the Pentagon is facing such high demand for pilots of the unmanned planes, the Air Force has had to strip schools of instructors to ease the burden on drone pilots. Carter said he hopes to hire contract drone pilots and lean more heavily on Army pilots to take some of the load off the Air Force.
“If you join that career field, I guarantee you, you’ll have lots of action,” Carter said.
Carter ticked off a list of the biggest issues faced by the American military. At the top, Carter listed Russian aggression in Europe, with continued tension in the Middle East and rising military threats in Asia not far behind.
“We don’t have the luxury of choosing among these challenges,” he said. “We have to deal with them all.”