US Air Force to refuse retirement benefits to transgender soldiers

The US Air Force said Thursday that it would refuse all the transgender soldiers who served between 15 and 18 years old the possibility of retiring early and would rather force them to go out without retirement services.

An Air Force sergeant said he was “betrayed and devastated” by the move.

This decision means that transgender soldiers – who are already faced with expulsion within the framework of the Trump administration policy – will now face the choice of taking a lump sum payment offered to junior troops or to be withdrawn from the service.

An Air Force spokesman told the Associated Press that “although the soldiers with 15 to 18 years of honorable service have been authorized to ask for an exception to politics, none of the exceptions to politics has been approved”.

A dozen members of the service had been “prematurely informed” that they could retire before this decision was canceled, according to the spokesman who spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss the internal policy of the Air Force.

All Air Force transgender members are separated from the service as part of the Trump administration policies. US President Donald Trump has published a number of decrees targeting the rights of the transgender community and dismantle anti-discrimination rules since his election, causing generally condemnation and fear among the 2SLGBTQ +groups.

A Monday memo announcing the new policy, which was examined by the Associated Press, said that the choice to deny retirement services was made “after having carefully examined individual requests”.

“It’s devastating,” said Shannon Minister of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. “It is only a betrayal of a direct commitment made to these soldiers.”

MINTRT said the financial impact on transgender soldiers would be serious, which would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars during their lifetime in the benefits refused due to the Trump administration policy.

This decision comes after the Pentagon was authorized in early May by the Supreme Court to move forward with the ban on all the transgender troops which are used in the army. A few days later, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, announced a policy which would currently openly offer transgender troops to the possibility of volunteering to leave and take a large payment of single separation or be partially separated on a later date.

A Pentagon official told journalists in May that they considered politics to be dealing “anyone affected by him with dignity and respect”.

However, at the end of July, the transgender troops told Military.com that they found the entire separation process, which included the return of their service files to their birth, “dehumanizing” or “open cruelty”.

Expected proceedings

Shannon Leary, a lawyer who represents 2SLGBTQ + in employment discrimination cases, says that she expects the proceedings to dispute the decision on Thursday. “It seems quite arbitrary on her face and cruel,” she said. “These soldiers have devoted their lives to the service of our country.”

Normally Leary said that when early retirement is offered in the army, it is available for all members who have served more than 15 years. She said she expects other service branches to follow the Air Force path.

Logan Ireland, a US Air Force chief sergeant who has 15 years of service, including a deployment in Afghanistan, is one of the airmen affected by politics. “I feel betrayed and devastated by the news,” he said.

Ireland said that he was told that his retirement was refused Wednesday when his chain of command, “with tears in the eyes,” said the news.

There are 4,240 active transgender troops and the American National Guard, officials said. Transgender rights defenders have given higher estimates.

Under the last policy, the troops in active service had until June 6 to identify themselves voluntarily and to receive a payment while the troops of the National Guard and the reserve had until July 7. Pentagon officials previously declared to journalists that they planned to rely on existing annual commanders and medical projections to find transgender soldiers who do not manifest themselves.