The United State Air Force under direction from the Administration said 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.

 To be eligible for involuntary separation pay, Airmen and Guardians must have completed at least 6 years of active duty, but fewer than 20 years per previous rules

For traditional retiree’s for an E7 (Sergeant First Class or Gunnery Sergeant) retiring with 20 years of service, the annual retirement pay is approximately $30,000 to $35,000 under the High-3 system. This is an average and the exact amount will vary based on factors like their highest 36 months of base pay and any applicable deduction

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 a later date.

A Pentagon official told reporters in May that they viewed the policy as treating “anyone impacted by it with dignity and respect.”

AlamogordoTownNews.org spoke with two local Transgendered Service members serving at Holloman Air Force Base for their reaction. Under the condition we did not use their names in print because of “their fear from those located outside the base confines.” One stated, “the policy is expected and icing on the cake, first I was transferred to the Hellhole of Alamogordo constantly in fear for an altercation outside the base confines and now this.”

The second service member stated she always felt safe in the military, less safe in Alamogordo and that the hatred created by the administration against those that have given years of their life is unfortunate but expected. “I’ve never expected justice and equality in this country it’s just a pipe dream.”

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.”

Professor Nathaniel Frank, a cultural historian and researcher at Cornell University who studies the history of LGBTQ+ people in the military, told ABC News that decades of research dispute the administration’s arguments that transgender individuals are not fit to serve.

“There’s never been any evidence found that gay or transgender service members present any problems to unit cohesion or readiness, and that the evidence finds the opposite, that the prohibitions against trans people are what harm readiness and cohesion because they undermine trust,” Frank said.

Despite the legal challenges, the Supreme Court ruled in May that the administration can enforce the ban as the lawsuits move forward.

The administration continues it efforts to sanitize the halls of government and the military into its image of what America should look like.