The U.S. Air Force said it will deny retirement benefits to transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of service who are being pulled from duty under the direction of the Trump administration, according to multiple reports.
“After careful consideration of the individual applications, I am disapproving all Temporary Early Retirement Authority (TERA) exception to policy requests in Tabs 1 and 2 for members with 15-18 years of service,” reads a memo signed by Brian Scarlett, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, first reported by Reuters on Thursday.
The decision was made “after careful consideration of the individual applications,” the memo read.
About a dozen transgender service members had been “prematurely notified” they would be able to retire before the decision was reversed, anonymous sources told the Associated Press.
The rest have the option to take a lump-sum separation payment typically offered to soldiers with less seniority or be removed from the military entirely.
In early May, the Supreme Court gave the Trump administration permission to move forward with its purge of transgender service members from the U.S. military. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quickly announced a policy that would offer openly serving transgender troops the option to either volunteer to leave and take a one-time separation payout or be involuntarily separated at a later date.
Trump administration officials have said there are more than 4,240 active-duty and National Guard troops identifying as transgender, far lower than previous estimates. The Air Force noted to Reuters that regular retirement for all service members begins after 20 years.
In an internal question-and-answer fact sheet reviewed by Reuters, the Air Force provided potential answers to the question, How do I tell family we’re not getting retirement benefits?
The answers were:
- “Focus on the benefits you do retain (GI Bill, VA benefits, experience).”
- “Emphasize this doesn’t reflect on your service or character.”
- “Military & Family Readiness can provide counseling resources.”
Service members affected by the changes have called the separation process, which has included reverting their service records back to their birth gender, “dehumanizing” or “open cruelty.”
“You’ve had this fantasy in mind all these years that I’m gonna be retiring in my blues, and my family’s gonna be there and it’s gonna be honorable,” Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the Air Force, told Military.com last month.
“To be denied that opportunity — not because of my qualifications or capability, but because of bias disguised as policy — it’s just incredibly disheartening,” he added.