To: Mr. Bobbitt, members of army.ca, guests and anyone who ever reads this thread
From: MARS
Subject: Apology
All,
I am posting this as an apology for the garbage that I posted earlier, specifically post # 18.
To explain: I am currently assisting two very junior CF members with a very delicate situation, specifically: gender reassignment surgery. These members are both at the OS/Pte recruit level and needless to say, the process has been far from smooth. The system has, as expected, stalled. Calls and enquires go unreturned, which is disappointing because this is not the first time the CF has dealt with this, but apparently no one bothered to keep notes the last time. The Divisional System in one of the cases is also being far less help than it should be. But most troubling is the response/reaction from these individuals’ superiors. Thankfully, it appears that members of the individuals’ messes have no issues. Nor, from what I can tell, do the officers (most of the younger ones anyway) in each Unit. The C&POs/WOs &Sgts messes are less…accepting and understanding of the situation. Some have been shown the door and will take it. Watching 100+ years of experience walk out your door is no fun, and it will certainly hurt the respective Units in the short term, perhaps the medium term, but that’s it. I remain convinced that the CF will be better off with these people gone. However, these individuals I am assisting are still going to have a long, hard road to travel as they get posted to other Units, go on course, deployment, etc. At some point I will no longer be in a position to help clear the way for them and will have to accept and have faith in the fact that things will work out.
The original poster in this thread asked about being nude and mentioned being a bit uncomfortable with it. Unfortunately, immediately prior to posting this evening, I had just finished discussing this very issue with one of the members I am assisting. I was emotional when I posted – which everyone knows not to do. In addition, my inability to express myself clearly, succinctly and without bias showed a complete lack of the skills which are demanded of a LCdr. I clouded and confused the issue for the original poster. My post was unhelpful and served only to derail an individual’s brutally honest and valid question, and as Mr. Edward Campbell pointed out in the Gaza/Israel thread, I need to give myself a kick in my ass. He gave me good advice when I joined which was to assist others wherever I can. I did not do that in my last post.
To clarify, my comments about intolerance were not in any way directed at anyone posting on this topic nor were they in response to any of the replies. I hadn’t even read most of the replies – I simply read the part about the poster feeling “strange” for having this concern – a concern shared by the individuals I am trying to assist and I reacted poorly and unprofessionally. I am supposed to know better. I am paid to know better.
I post this apology with a promise not to contribute emotional garbage to this board in the future and to provide the guidance and counsel that one should expect from a Senior Officer in the CF.
Sincerely,
MARS
Too much.
(pictures, picture 
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