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Air Force Revokes Early Retirement Benefits for Long-Service Transgender Troops

Issued in an Aug. 4 memo, the ruling pulls prorated TERA retirements from transgender airmen with 15–18 years of service, leaving them only lump-sum separation pay.

FILE - The logo of the Department of the U.S. Air Force at the United Staes embassy, in Berlin, Aug. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
A United States Air Force (USAF) insignia decorates an officer’s uniform near a Boeing Co. F15-E Strike Eagle combat aircraft of the 48th Fighter Wing while taking part in the joint NATO exercise ”Point Blank” from their base at RAF Lakenheath, near Brandon, Suffolk, U.K., on Thursday, June 27, 2019. ‘Point Blank’ focuses on fourth and fifth generation aircraft integration across three nations with a total of 48 aircraft meeting in the skies over the North Sea, said Lt. Col. Jason Watkins, commander of the 48th Operations Support Squadron. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Overview

  • Acting Assistant Secretary Brian Scarlett’s Aug. 4 memo disapproved all Temporary Early Retirement Authority exception requests for transgender airmen with 15–18 years of service.
  • About a dozen airmen who had been prematurely notified of approved retirements had those approvals reversed without individual review.
  • Affected troops are offered only the lump-sum separation payment typical for junior personnel or face involuntary discharge without pension entitlements.
  • The policy follows the Supreme Court’s May ruling permitting enforcement of President Trump’s ban on transgender service members.
  • Several transgender service members and LGBTQ rights groups have filed lawsuits challenging the move as discriminatory and unlawful.