Transgender troops face a deadline and a difficult decision: Stay or go?

By LOLITA C BALDOR WASHINGTON AP As transgender operation members face a deadline to leave the U S military hundreds are taking the financial bonus to depart voluntarily But others say they will stay and fight For numerous it is a wrenching decision to end a career they love and leave units they have led or worked with for years And they are angry they are being forced out by the Trump administration s renewed ban on transgender troops Developing duty amenity members had until Friday to identify themselves and begin to leave the military voluntarily while the National Guard and Reserve have until July Then the military will begin involuntary separations Friday s deadline comes during Pride Month and as the Trump administration targets diversity equity and inclusion efforts saying it s aiming to scrub the military of wokeness and reestablishing a warrior ethos They re tired of the rollercoaster They just want to go revealed one transgender organization member who plans to retire It s exhausting For others it s a call to arms I m choosing to stay in and fight a noncommissioned officer in the Air Force noted My arrangement is based on merit and I ve earned that merit The troops who mainly spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear reprisals mentioned being forced to decide is frustrating They say it s a personal choice based on individual and family situations including whether they would get an infusion of cash or possibly wind up owing the establishment money I m very disappointed a transgender Marine reported I ve outperformed I have a spotless record I m at the top of every fitness analysis I m being pushed out while I know others are barely scraping by Specific transgender troops decide to leave based on finances Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has noted this is President Donald Trump s directive and what America voted for The Pentagon he noted is leaving wokeness weakness behind and that includes no more dudes in dresses Sen Tammy Duckworth of Illinois a veteran and other Democratic senators have written to Hegseth urging him to allow transgender troops to keep serving honorably Already more than institution members have voluntarily identified themselves as transgender and are slated to begin leaving according to rough Defense Department estimates Defense agents say there are about operational duty transgender troops but acknowledge the numbers are fuzzy For plenty of the decision is financial Related Articles Planet-warming emissions dropped when companies had to document them EPA wants to end that Republicans urge Donald Trump and Elon Musk to end their feud Newcomers and ICE officers contend with heat smog and illness after detoured South Sudan flight Trump administration asks Supreme Court to leave mass layoffs at Teaching Department in place What the Trump passage ban means for the World Cup and Olympic Games Those who voluntarily leave will get double the amount of separation pay they would normally receive and won t have to return bonuses or tuition costs Those who refuse to go could be forced to repay reenlistment or other bonuses as high as That was the tipping point for Roni Ferrell an Army specialist at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma Washington Ferrell lives on base with her wife and two children and had planned to stay in the Army for at least another decade But she noted she felt backed into a corner to sign the voluntary separation agreement fearing she would have to repay an reenlistment bonus My commander basically stated it was my only option in order to make sure my kids are taken care of Ferrell reported The Marine who has served for more than years announced she had planned to stay and fight but changed her mind Lawyers she stated explained her an involuntary separation would put a code in her record saying she was forced to leave in the interests of national defense That designation she disclosed could mean those involuntarily separated could lose their assurance clearances hurting future job prospects In a announcement Friday a defense official stated the code is not intended to trigger clearance revocations and that gender dysphoria is not a safeguard reporting requirement according to the director of national intelligence The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations Cynthia Cheng-Wun Weaver senior director of litigation for Human Rights Campaign reported it s significant for troops to talk with judge advocates general in their services to ensure they understand the different procedures being implemented Other transgender troops plan to stay despite the ban The Air Force institution member and a transgender officer in the Army National Guard both explained they plan to stay and fight Lawsuits over the ban continue and could change or block the plan For troops involved in the court battles as plaintiffs leaving voluntarily now would likely hurt their standing in the development For others it s solely dedication to their career I ve really embraced military tradition and it s embraced me the Air Force member declared It s not about money It s the career that I love The Guard soldier echoed that sentiment saying he will stay on because it is major to me to serve Frankly I m good at it I m well trained so I want to continue Others without bonuses to repay or who have been in the military only a short while and won t get much in separation bonus pay may opt to stay and see what happens National Guard troops face a particular difficulty National Guard members who are heading to their monthly drill weekend or annual two-week drill in June could be required to go but serve as the gender they were assigned at birth That means they would have to wear uniforms and haircuts of that gender use that bathroom and be referred to as sir or ma am based on that gender For countless that could be close to impossible and create uncomfortable situations If I were to show up to drill this weekend I d be expected to use all female facilities I would be expected to wear a woman s uniform revealed the Army Guard officer who transitioned to male about five years ago and says others in his unit know him as a man I don t look like a woman I don t feel like a woman It would be disruptive to good order and discipline for me to show up and to tell my soldiers you have to call me ma am now It s not clear if Guard units are handling it all the same way and it could be up to individual states or commanders Various may allow troops to postpone the drill or go on administrative leave What happens next for transgender troops The organization members interviewed by The Associated Press declared they don t know what will happen once the deadline passes to leave voluntarily Several believe that unit commanders will swiftly single people out and start involuntary separations Others say the process is vague may involve anatomical review boards and could take months Related Articles D-Day veterans return to Normandy to mark st anniversary of landings The man whose weather forecast saved the world WWII vets are rock stars in France as they hand over the duty of remembering D-Day Obituary Col Thomas Simonet helped lead I- W bridge collapse response and umpire vintage baseball Pete Hegseth orders the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk scrubbed from Navy ship The defense official noted Friday that as the Pentagon takes these efforts it will treat our institution members with dignity and respect Under Hegseth s directive military commanders will be reported to identify troops with gender dysphoria when a person s biological sex does not match their gender identity and send them to get curative checks to force them out of the institution defense officers have declared The order relies on routine annual wellness checks so it could be months before that evaluation is scheduled My real big sticking point is that this administration s whole push is to transformation this country based around merit and that gender race etc should have no factor in hiring the Air Force arrangement member explained If that s true I m solely being removed for my gender and merit is no longer a factor Associated Press writer R J Rico in Atlanta contributed to this review