US Air Force to deny retirement pay to transgender service members being
separated from the service
[August 08, 2025]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all
transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the
option to retire early and would instead separate them without
retirement benefits. One Air Force sergeant said he was “betrayed and
devastated" by the move.
The move means that transgender service members will now be faced with
the choice of either taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to
junior troops or be removed from the service.
An Air Force spokesperson told The Associated Press that “although
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.” About a dozen service members had been “prematurely
notified” that they would be able to retire before that decision was
reversed, according to the spokesperson who spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss internal Air Force policy.
A memo issued Monday announcing the new policy, which was reviewed by
the AP, said that the choice to deny retirement benefits was made “after
careful consideration of the individual applications.”
All transgender members of the Air Force are being separated from the
service under the Trump administration’s policies.
Separation process has hit some bumps
The move comes after the Pentagon was given permission in early May by
the Supreme Court to move forward with a ban on all transgender troops
serving in the military. Days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
announced a policy that would offer currently openly serving transgender
troops the option to either volunteer to leave and take a large,
one-time separation payout or be involuntarily separated at later date.
A Pentagon official told reporters in May that they viewed the policy as
treating “anyone impacted by it with dignity and respect.”
However, in late July, transgender troops told Military.com that they
were finding the entire separation process, which has included reverting
their service records back to their birth gender, “dehumanizing” or
“open cruelty.”
Shannon Leary, a lawyer who represents LGBTQ+ people in employment
discrimination cases, says she expects lawsuits to challenge Thursday’s
decision. “It seems quite arbitrary on its face and cruel,” she said.
“These military members have dedicated their lives to serving our
country.”
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends an event to mark National
Purple Heart Day in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug.
7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Normally, Leary said, when early retirement is offered in the
military, it’s available to all members who have served over 15
years. She said she expects other service branches to follow the Air
Force’s path.
One Air Force service member says he's ‘devastated’
Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who has 15
years of service, including a deployment to Afghanistan, is one of
the airmen impacted by the policy. “I feel betrayed and devastated
by the news,” he said.
Ireland said he was told that his retirement was being denied on
Wednesday when his chain of command, “with tears in their eyes,”
told him the news.
Officials have said that as of Dec. 9, 2024, there were 4,240 troops
diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” on active duty, National Guard and
Reserve. Pentagon officials have decided to use the condition and
its diagnosis as the main way to identify troops who are trans.
However, the two are not an exact match — not every transgender
person has the condition. As a result, there is an understanding
that the actual number of transgender people within the military’s
roughly 2 million troops may be higher.
Under the latest policy, active duty troops had until June 6 to
voluntarily identify themselves and receive a payout while troops in
the National Guard and Reserve had until July 7. Pentagon officials
previously told reporters that they plan to lean on commanders and
existing annual medical screenings to find any transgender service
members who do not come forward.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed reporting.
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