What are your thoughts on the Army paying for Manning's sexual rearrangement surgery? Is this a waste of American taxpayers' money?

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS - We will have to agree to disagree.
His mental poor mental position and attempted suicide is a mental defect that can be treated with drugs, or work assignment in the kitchen, wood working section, operating the trash compactor or tree trimming wood chiper. this is an elective surgery, there are other treatments available.. and if he chooses a permanent solution to his problems, that is a cost saving measure i would approve with.
Satisfying the WANTS of a convict should not happen. Short of taking his life with his own hand, he is not in any medical danger by not having this surgery.. that makes it elective, or "optional" using your prefered verbiage. .
The convict has now chorused the government into doing what he WANTS, by way of threatening suicide.. two points, we should not be negotiating with convicts, and those actually intent and convinced suicide is the only option do not try...they do. Seeing as he is still breathing, his was likley a suicide ideation .. baring that, he is yet again a failure by not getting it right. Perhaps retraining is in order.

SGM Erik Marquez - Really? That is possibly the most assinine thing I have ever heard you say. Suggesting that someone with a mental health condition attempt suicide again because they failed the first time. I don't a #$^&$* if he's a prisoner or a valor recipient, he signed on just like the rest of us. He may have screwed up, and screwed up big, but he's in there and he's paying his time. You're the reason we have that 22/day number. You need to go piss up a rope.

I get your disdain for Manning and Convicts in general but when it boils down to it, Manning is under our care. He is NOT allowed to provide his own medical care. We have to provide it for him. Period, end of statement. Since he is under our roles, he gets the same medical care we provide anyone else under DoD roles.

Go $^&%^* yourself, you arrogant %(^%(. Suicide among service members, even the worst of us ain't worth it.

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS - I did not suggest he should, and as he was not sencted to die for his crimes (though I would have been ok with a jury of his peers coming to that decision) I would say reasonable attempts to keep him from committing suicide should take place as well as mental health counseling and medication as deemed medically needed to help him control his self harm urges.

I have not read a single report from a Medical doctor, an internist, a neurosurgeon that suggested a sex change operation is a medical necessity for preventing his loss of life, limb or eyesight.
I suggested if he had actually wanted to kill himself, he would have.
I stated it is wrong to fund his elective surgery.... you disagree obviously, im ok with that...
In that you seem to feel a traitor (Im sure you will read that word and have a comment that it is not technically correct...and while true, technically his crimes were not deemed to be traitorous my personal opinion is they were...so I will use the descriptive word with or without your permission and approval) a traitor and a criminal and should have his elective surgery paid for with US Tax dollars should surprise me, but it is aligned with other causes and positions you have championed in the past so im not surprised...disappointed perhaps, but not surprised.
Manning should sit in his cell, for the sentenced 35 years and the be released with the clothes he was arrested in and a buss ticket to any US state of his choosing. He is welcome to call himself by any name he chooses, but until legally changed, he should be addressed as the same name, gender as the person sentenced.
As law and policy allows he can live as any gender, or no gender he so chooses...that has no bearing on his crimes or sentencing.
If he cuts his hand on a work detail, he should be afforded medical treatment. If he comes down with pneumonia he should be treated. if he is found to be mentally unhealthy, he should be afforded reasonable counseling and medically necessary to treat his conditions. And he should be prevented as conditions, staffing and policy allows from committing suicide.
That is an obligation his jailers take on when he was committed to serve his time.
If he decides he wants a nose job, tummy tuck, breast implants or gender reassignment surgeries, with the accompanying hormone replacement therapy (HRT), facial hair removal and other body modifications.. he is welcome to at his expense after being released from custody.

SGM Erik Marquez - Your comment "Perhaps retraining is in order" is an implication that a failed suicide attempt should be corrected. That is a blatant suggestion that he should, and your attempts to distance yourself from it after the fact are disingenuous.

Of course you have not read a single medical report from anyone. You wouldn't. First, you're not a medical doctor (nor am I), and second Manning does have medical privacy. Manning's lawyers however made the case and won it based on DoD policy and existing medical condition. Your and MY disagreement with it doesn't matter. I don't particularly care for it either, but my dislike for Manning or the situation is irrelevant to the issue. That's the problem most people have. They are letting their personal emotions regarding this "traitor" (which he was neither charged with nor convicted of) get in the way of facts of the case.

The Law and Policy allows this decision. It's really that simple. It's been deemed a medical necessity to treat his condition. It might be considered "elective" (because it doesn't have a timeline), but that is another point of ignorance in this thread.

As for taxpayer expense, it's a distraction. It really is.

Elective doesn't mean what you think it means.

I mean it exactly as it is normally used. My insurance would not pay for it because it is elective meaning it is not necessary to save a life. Cosmetic surgery and lasik surgeries are also elective. Are your eyes corrected by glasses? Insurance will not pay for it. The only cosmetic surgery covered under my plan is for serious wounds. Why should my tax dollars go to him/her? My own insurance would not pay for it!

SGT (Join to see) - Your tax dollars already go to Manning. Just like Manning's tax dollars went to pay for your roads while he was serving. Just like my tax dollars go for other stupid BS. We don't get to choose where our taxes go.

However, since the government allows the surgery, the point is moot. Don't like it, petition the government to change the law.

I don't mind my taxes going for roads, infrastructure, and public works, and even prisons which is where she/he should stay.