Bradley "Chelsea" Manning has had his 35 year sentence to prison for treason commuted by President Obama.
Manning was a punk who worked with high level secret documents in the US Army. Why in the world the Army put such a little shit in control of stuff like that, I don't know. I had a Top Secret Clearance while in the Army and had so little contact with anything of any level of security that I felt it unnecessary. Yet I fully understood the importance of such measures. If nothing else, leaking information to our enemies made it easier for them to kill us.
This meant nothing to Manning. He was in a war zone, apparently, but nowhere near the vicinity of the shooting. No, that was for grunts and DATS, mechanics and drivers. Manning worked in an air conditioned building, was fed freshly cooked food (no rations for him!) and had access to all the things you miss in a combat zone: security from being shot, a real bed, real food, access to a hot shower, the internet, television. But he didn't LIKE being in a combat zone. It was hot. It was long hot hours of work. He couldn't do the things he wanted to do. People gave him orders. People made him get out of bed and get to work. He might even had to have done PT! Isn't that sad? Never mind the thousands of soldiers in the heat of battle, losing legs, parts of their heads, their lives...being deployed time and again to the real war.
So Manning decided, he knew better than the DOD, the officers and senior NCO's over him, etc..and decided he was going to leak documents to the world to show it how BAD the US is. He would be treated with soft gloves. He would be a hero for being a whistle blower. He was so convinced of his right, his ''duty'' to call attention to the things that happen in war. He really didn't care that soldiers were put in danger. Nope, he wanted out of the Army and this was his ticket.
He was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was lucky...we used to hang traitors. Given his crime, I would have been happy to tie the knot.
But prison is worse than a combat zone. He's in a PRISON. With guys who don't like him.
So what does he do? well, he plays the white male equivalent of the race card. "I'm a woman' he says, and puts on a dress to prove it.
Now he claims he's transgender. Is he really?
I don't believe it for a second. People know they are transgender from childhood. If Manning KNEW he was transgender, then he LIED when he enlisted in the US Army. Now I know that being transgender is not the same as being homosexual, but still...if you are enlisting as a male in the US Army, knowing deep in your heart that you are not, then you don't join the Army. When you lie, it's a LIE.
Now it's legal to enlist as a homosexual or a transgender. Unfortunately, you and I are going to have to pay for their re-assignment surgery. Unfortunately for female soldiers, they might end up with a roommate with a penis.
But at the time, it was not legal. So he lied when he enlisted, and that should make null and void anything he might get as a veteran.
But I think he's saying he's transgender for many reasons. He doesn't want to be in prison. Well, duh, the old saying is, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. He's in Ft. Leavenworth. It's undoubtedly 100% male population there. He's in with a bunch of criminals who probably scare him shitless. So he says he's really female to 1. Get special treatment 2. be protected from the other inmates, and 3. be transferred to a prison for women.
But there IS no prison for military women. Sorry, but women aren't so stupid as to do things that get them thrown in the stockade. It's why I don't believe that he's truly transgender, because he doesn't THINK like a female. Females don't do kiddie porn, we don't murder, we don't rape, we don't leak secret documents.That's pretty much who is in Leavenworth: murderers and rapists, thugs and traitors.
But as is the case with Manning, he's again, working the system for a way out. He was 'bold' enough to leak secrets but not so bold as to do his time. Poor little boy. No one is listening to his story about being a girl because everyone can see right through it.
He wants special treatment.
He wants 'protection' from the other guys, who might see him as a homosexual, or at least someone dressing up as a girl. Some of those men have been in the there for a very long time, and after awhile, even a liar dressing up like a girl looks suitable for sex.
Males already have the highest status in this world. Being a female is, (especially in the military) in many parts of the world, no better than being a dog. Manning is taking advantage of that, and I'm certain, once he's released, will go right back to enjoying the status that a penis gives him.
Now I want him in Leavenworth for the entire time of his sentence, but he's getting released in May 2017.
And, in a way, it's a good thing. Somehow he managed to get a lawyer to say, the US Army..and that means you and me, the taxpayer, have to pay for his gender reassignment surgery. Isn't that a kick in the nuts!!! He's already getting treated gently (one wonders how many people died after he leaked documents), and now he wants us to pay for his surgery?
F that. I think, though it sticks in my craw, that Obama made the right decision. Sure. Let the little effer out. He's not going to get ANY VA benefits, he's already had a dishonorable discharge,(actually, I hope it's the worst of discharges: bad conduct) and he's going to have to pay for his 're-assignment' surgery all on his own. IF he can find a job.
The thing he's not thinking of is there are THOUSANDS of veterans in the US, and many of them have jobs, or run businesses, or in other ways pay other people to do work. I doubt they will hire him. He can't be trusted. Not with a secret and undoubtedly,not with a company asset.
I bet my lunch that once he's out, the long hair and the dresses will go into the dumpster and he'll go back to being what he is: a male. He might even try to get his discharge amended so he can get all the freebies of a veteran.
THAT better not happen, because if he does try that, I'd be the first one willing to do the surgery on him. And I"m no surgeon.
