The US Air Force says it will separate all transgender staff for 15-18 years of service without retirement benefits. The move would not complete a standard 20-year period, but would reject early retirement under a policy that allows some members over the age of 15 to retire from services under 20 years.
Under the Temporary Early Retirement Administration (TERA), service members approved for early retirement will receive proportionate benefits, including insurance coverage, disability salaries and access to housing at military bases.
As reported by The power of the air and the universe The magazine, Tera, was created in the 1990s when the Cold War fell and is used to reduce the scale of force or specific career areas. In 2013, it was finally implemented to manage budget cuts from Quarantine.
An Air Force spokesman told the magazine that around 12 transgender service members had approved the request for early retirement.
However, on August 4th, Brian Scarlett issued a new policy that overturned early retirement approval, a senior civilian who performs the duties of the Air Force Manpower Reserve Affairs Assistant and Secretary.
In the memo, Scarlett cited President Trump’s executive order aimed at enforcing transgender service members from the military. The order argues that being transgender is a mental disorder and “identifies, even in personal life, as a contradiction with the soldier’s commitment to an honorable, true, and disciplined lifestyle and as “unsuitable for military service.”
An Air Force spokesman said Associated Press These members were not approved by Tera but were “early notified” that they could leave the company before the decision was overturned. A memo on Monday, announcing the new policy, said that the refusal of retirement benefits for around 12 transgender applicants came “after careful consideration of individual applications.”
In particular, statements and notes to the AP are inconsistent with the information provided. The power of the air and the universe The magazine suggests that the Air Force has no consistent arguments or provides a good basis for its efforts to enforce Trump’s transgender services ban.
As a result, members of transgender services facing expulsion under the Trump administration must accept lump “voluntary separation” payments, similar to those offered to long-standing junior troops who are not yet sufficient for retirement benefits. Those who voluntarily separate will earn a bonus pay by May 15th and will be exempt from all remaining service obligations.
The difference between retirement and separation can cost service members hundreds of thousands of dollars for their lifetimes.
These moves follow a decision from the US Supreme Court in May permission The Pentagon implements a ban on transgender services, even if legal issues to policy continue in courts.
A few days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses announced that if transgender service members do so by June 6, they could voluntarily separate themselves from the military with a massive one-off payment.
Shannon Leary, the lawyer representing LGBTQ clients in LGBTQ employment discrimination cases, says he hopes to see a lawsuit challenging Scarlett’s actions. Without court intervention, she expects other service branches to follow the Air Force lead.
“It seems cruelly very arbitrary with its face,” she said. “These soldiers have given their lives to serving our nation.”
Logan Ireland, a master US Air Force sergeant with 15 years of service, including a deployment to Afghanistan, told the Associated Press that he was “betrayed and devastated by the news.” He said he learned of his early retirement denial when his chain of command, “with tears in their eyes,” broke the news.
“This is the core part of who I am and is now just torn from me,” Ireland said. advocate. “So being allowed to retire was a way for me to find closures and I said to see the Air Force and ‘What do you know? Despite this policy, they’re trying to do right by some service members and allow us to retire early.” But now I feel betrayed by the same service that once celebrated who I was. ”
“This has nothing to do with military preparation,” said Jay Brown, chief of staff for the Human Rights Campaign. “It’s cruel for cruelty.”
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Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
