In May, the Department of the Air Force announced that transgender airmen with 15 to 18 years of service could apply for early retirement under exceptions in the Temporary Early Retirement Authority (or TERA) policy. This month, however, the Air Force backtracked, denying early retirement to airmen who already had their retirement agreements approved and were making plans for a life after military service. The Air Force said that they had been “prematurely approved,” and those retirement orders were reversed.
The sudden reversal has upended the lives of affected airmen. Now, they have only days to decide whether to voluntarily separate from the military or go through the involuntary separation process, both options that lack retirement benefits.
“My initial reaction was a sense of loss and betrayal,” Master Sgt. Logan Ireland told Task & Purpose. An airman with 15 years of service, he said that being about to go in for an early retirement at least gave him a “sense of closure.”
Ireland, a senior non-commissioned officer at the Air Force Office of Investigations, said that he had wanted to serve longer than 20 years. Being forced to end his military career hurt, but the early retirement at least gave him a sense of security for his family.
Tech. Sgt. Alyxandra Anguiano, a weapons course instructor who deals with fighter jet armaments, said that it was very hard to find her military career forcibly ended, and she only started to come to terms with it recently. Retirement, at least, was a way to get benefits earned over years of service.
“I would at least be retired, even if it wasn’t on my own terms,” she said. “Then that got ripped away. It’s hard, hard doesn’t begin to describe it.”
They, like at least a dozen others who got their early retirement approved, were suddenly thrown into a state of confusion in the first week of August when the Air Force undid those Temporary Early Retirement Authority (or TERA) approvals.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Air Force said that “service members with 15 to 18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved.”
Instead, according to the spokesperson, approximately a dozen service members were “prematurely notified that their TERA applications under the gender dysphoria provision had been approved, but higher-level review was required under the DoD gender dysphoria policy for those members.”
Usually, a full military retirement package requires two decades of service to earn, but this summer the military began offering early retirement to service members who fell just short. The TERA program allowed for people with 18 to 19 years of service to apply for their retirement as well. The exception put forward in May gave airmen with 15 to 18 years a chance to get their benefits.
The first and second Trump administrations have gone after transgender troops, seeking to bar them from serving. In an order signed in January shortly after taking office, Trump banned people with gender dysphoria from serving or enlisting in the military. Troops and advocates have sued, citing discrimination and arguing that their proven years of service, including in high-ranking positions, counter the administration’s assertions. Despite legal challenges attempting to block the administration’s ban on transgender troops, the service members now face separation, either voluntary or involuntary. Those who choose to voluntarily separate would leave the military sooner, and with a lump sum payment double that of an involuntary separation payout. A spokesperson for the Air Force said that the implementation guidance for the involuntary separation process is still being worked on and has not been finalized.
Trans service members who spoke to Task & Purpose throughout the year since the ban was announced have said that the options are not much of a choice, as they would rather stay in their careers in the military.
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Ireland said that he applied for early retirement under the exception, got it approved on June 6, and he received his retirement orders that same day. Similarly, Anguiano said that she got approval after applying in June, with her retirement set for December. But then on Aug. Ireland found out the orders had been revoked, and Anguiano was told the same that day.
Images of notifications on the Air Force’s MyFSS shared by service members show messages from this month informing airmen their application for retirement had been disapproved.
“After higher-level review, your previously approved retirement application has been disapproved,” the notice says. “Please contact your unit commander for further details. Your retirement request is now closed.”
An Aug. 4 memo, first reported on by Reuters, outlined the rejection of early retirement.
“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 [sections of the documents] for members with 15 to 18 years of service,” the memo said. It was signed by Brian Scarlett, who per the memo, is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs.
A screenshot of the memo obtained by Task & Purpose.
The Department of Defense has said this summer that it believes there are roughly 4,200 military service members with gender dysphoria. The number of personnel in the Air Force who fall under that and met the specific early retirement window is unclear, but those affected who spoke to Task & Purpose said they had heard of at least a dozen airmen who had received approvals to retire early but had them denied this month. Several had already been in the process of setting up their new post-military lives, Ireland said, including having already outprocessed from their bases or signing leases for new homes. “This is causing undue harm and stress,” he added.
Those who had their early retirement taken away now find themselves facing a Friday deadline to decide between involuntary and voluntary separation. As with other transgender servicemembers Task & Purpose has spoken to this year, the Air Force service members said that the involuntary separation process still remains vague and they have not received concrete details on what would happen should they choose to remain in the military until they are forced out. Anguiano noted that there are a lot of unknowns, and given that the Air Force was willing to backtrack on already approved retirements, there’s not a solid guarantee other promises could be kept.
“It’s mass confusion at this point,” Ireland said.