I'm in the middle on this one. I'm transgender, a veteran, an American, and a Republican. I've also been on this site since 2010, and I know what a transition entails. It takes a couple years and consumes your every waking moment. There's extensive downtime associated with it.
The US military is a young person's game. You are expected to get up at a moment's notice on short rest and fight for an undetermined period.
You can't achieve both of these goals at the same time. The military is paying for a fighter, and if three out of your four years is spent in therapy, hair removal, hair implants, surgery, and dilating while your teammates are fighting, they aren't getting a good bang for their buck.
It's not just money, though. There's the sense of duty, the honour of serving. It's hard for me to see how someone joining the military but planning on transitioning is going to live up to the Oath they took when joining.
TL;DR I'm not sure equating service personnel with everyday citizens is a good equivalent.
Hugs, Devlyn
