On July 21, four House Republicans chose political theater and identity ideology over those fundamentals, joining every Democrat to defeat Rep. Lauren Boebert’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have codified President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order barring transgender-identifying individuals from military service.

On July 21, four House Republicans chose political theater and identity ideology over those fundamentals, joining every Democrat to defeat Rep. Lauren Boebert’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have codified President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order barring transgender-identifying individuals from military service.

As a 32-year combat veteran who enlisted as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, commanded a B-1 squadron and a large wing, worked nuclear operations, and survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, I have seen firsthand what it takes to maintain a combat ready, lethal, and deployable force. Standards matter. Reality matters. Biology matters. Mental fitness for worldwide deployment matters.

The amendment failed 212-217. The Republicans who crossed the aisle were Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Delegate James Moylan of Guam, and Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands. Their votes ensured that an executive order grounded in the rigorous standards necessary for military service remains vulnerable to the next administration or activist judges rather than becoming clear statutory law.

President Trump’s order states the obvious: expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the standards required for service. It further directs the Department of Defense to prohibit biological males from female-designated sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities, and vice versa.

This is not “discrimination.” It is the minimum required to preserve unit cohesion, privacy, fairness for female service members, and combat effectiveness.

Mental health conditions that demand ongoing medical intervention, cross-sex hormones, or surgical alterations are incompatible with the demands of high-tempo operations, prolonged deployments, and the physical realities of combat. Allowing such conditions into the ranks risks readiness, recruiting, retention, and the lives of those who actually close with and destroy the enemy.

Republicans have correctly made restrictions on transgender-identifying males in the military, women’s sports, and private spaces a priority precisely to protect women’s rights, military readiness, fairness, and privacy. Democrats oppose these measures and label them “unlawful discrimination.”

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That is their consistent position. What is indefensible is for Republicans to provide the decisive votes that hand Democrats a win on this issue during consideration of the must-pass NDAA.

These four members knew the stakes. Legal challenges to the administration’s policy continue. In June, a divided D.C. Circuit panel questioned aspects of separation policies for currently serving members while leaving future enlistment restrictions on different legal footing. Codifying the policy in statute would have strengthened the Defense Department’s hand and removed ambiguity.

Instead, Lawler, Fitzpatrick, Moylan and King-Hinds chose the path of least resistance with the media and activist groups.

I have spent years warning that Marxist-inspired DEI ideology and the prioritization of sexual and gender identity politics over lethality damage our armed forces. I have called for the elimination of DEI billets and programs in the NDAA. I have stated plainly that mental illness is a disqualification for worldwide deployment and that inserting delusional personnel into combat formations will produce more American deaths, not fewer.

The same principle applies here. A force that cannot define sex, cannot maintain sex-separated facilities, and cannot enforce medical and physical standards is a force that will fail when the shooting starts.

The NDAA will move forward. Additional amendments will be offered. Negotiations with the Senate will follow.

There is still time for leadership to reverse this error and for these four members to explain to the troops, veterans, and American people why they elevated gender ideology above combat readiness.

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Military service is not a right. It is a privilege reserved for those who can meet the standards without special accommodations that undermine the mission.

Our adversaries are not confused about biological sex. Neither should the United States Congress be.

The four Republicans who blocked this amendment have some explaining to do, to the men and women who still put the mission first.

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, 9/11 Pentagon Survivor, Author of “What You Can Do About It: Taking Real Action Against Corruption, Radicalism, and Moral Decay to Save America”, and Host of The Rob Maness Show.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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