Air Force denies early retirement pay to some trans members

The US Air Force announced Thursday that transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years will not be able to obtain early retirement benefits. 

Those transgender service members – forced out of the Air Force under President Trump’s January executive order targeting “gender radicalism” in the military – will instead have the option to take a lump-sum separation payment or be removed. 

The Air Force, however, approved early retirement for self-identifying transgender service members with 18-20 years of honorable service. 

“Although service members with 15-18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved,” an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement. 

“Approximately a dozen service members between 15 and 18 years of service were prematurely notified that their [early retirement] applications under the gender dysphoria provision had been approved,” the spokesperson added, noting that a higher-level review was required. 

Voluntary separation pay at double the amount of involuntary separation pay will be offered to those with 15-18 years of service and “remaining military service obligations, including service obligations incurred as a result of a bonus or transfer of post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to dependents will be waived.” 

Military officials indicated that it is rare for early retirement benefits to be granted to people with 15 to 18 years of service time, according to CBS News. 

Approximately 1,000 service members self-identify as being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to the Pentagon. There are roughly 1.3 million active duty troops.

There are no current tallies of how many transgender service members are in the services, but a 2016 Defense Department survey estimated there were 8,980 active duty and 5,727 reserve troops who identified as transgender, according to a 2018 report by the Palm Center, a California-based think tank.

That included “1,850 transgender men (who joined the military as women) and 7,129 transgender women (who joined the military as men),” the report said.

The Pentagon moved forward with Trump’s transgender troop ban after it was granted permission by the Supreme Court in May. 

“TRANS is out at the DOD,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X at the time. 

“This is the president’s agenda,” Hegseth said in a separate video message. “This is what the American people voted for, and we’re going to continue to relentlessly pursue it.”