Alyx, a transgender woman who served in the Air Force for 15 years, was approved in May for an early retirement due to the Trump administration policy prohibiting trans persons from serving and enlisting in the army.
On Wednesday, this retirement was revoked as part of a new Air Force directive. She said that she had no reason other than her retirement was “prematurely” approved, according to the documentation she provided to NBC News.
“To be said that I would be sent back for a decision on the part of someone was difficult, but that I am then offered the retirement that I think I am due, that my service is due, which helped, then to have drawn this without reason, without recourse … which is a complete and absolute betrayal,” said Alyx, who is based in Virginia and asked for his first name and his family Face.
Several federal judges initially blocked the executive decree of President Donald Trump unless Trans troops, but the Supreme Court allowed him to take effect in May.
Following the ban, members of the Trans service had to choose between voluntary and involuntary separation. The voluntary separation included double the payment of lumps that an involuntary separation and would not require that the service member reimburses the premiums they had received.
Trans airmen who have served at least 20 years could request retirement, and those who have 18 to 20 years of service could request an early retirement under the temporary early retirement authority, or Tera. At the end of May, the Air Force announced in a memo that airmen with 15 to 18 years of service could request an early retirement in an exception in Tera.
Alyx was placed on indefinite leave in May following the ban, which would have forced him to cut her hair, wear a uniform for men and to use men’s toilets at work. She asked for an early retirement with the exception so that she can receive an equivalent pension in her service and access to complete benefits in health care. His request was approved on June 16, According to documents that she shared with NBC News, And its retirement date was set for December 1.
On Wednesday, this decision was canceled for Alyx and a dozen other soldiers who were approved for early retirement.
“In accordance with the DOD councils, the Air Force Ministry approved the soldiers with 18 to 20 years of honorable service who identified to retire as part of the Program of Temporary Authority for Anticipated Retirement (TERA),” an Air Force spokesman told NBC News. “Although soldiers with 15 to 18 years of honorable service have been authorized to ask for an exception from politics, none of the exceptions to politics have been approved.”
The spokesman added that members of the service are always eligible for a voluntary or involuntary separation.
In response to a question on the reason why the previously approved pensions were canceled, another Air Force spokesman declared in an email that the members of the service “were prematurely informed that their requests Tera as part of the disposition of gender dysphoria between the sexes had been approved, but a higher level of levels was required.” The spokesperson did not provide more information on the higher level examination or why the Air Force finally revoked pensions.
Master SGT. Logan Ireland, who has sat for 15 years and was an applicant in a legal action against the prohibition of the Trump administration on the members of the Trans Service, also received an opinion that his previously approved retirement request was canceled on Wednesday “without any examination on a case -by -case basis, explanation or legal justification,” Ireland said in a statement provided by Glad Law, a LGBTQ legal organization.
“Our involuntary dismissal is made without dignity, without transparency, and without the respect that any honorable soldier deserves,” said Logan. “It’s not a policy, it’s a betrayal.”
Alyx and Ireland have deployed abroad, especially in Lithuania, in the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Qatar and South Korea.
Alyx said that she was the most proud of her work supervising the training of more than 500 aviators at Sheppard Air Force Base. She also armed planes that escorted Air Force One.
“We are many of us like that who are determined to continue to serve our country honorably with distinction, despite the huge misunderstanding and, in many cases, the hatred that we receive people we defend,” said Alyx.
Alyx said the ban and retirement have canceled it in a precarious financial situation. She bought a house last year assuming that she could count on a pay check and a housing allowance, but she will lose this. Retired, she would have at least had her pension.
She also finds it difficult to feel as if she had been forced to abandon her aviator colleagues, who, according to her, have argued throughout her career.
“Tell yourself to go home and sit here on my sofa and try to settle later while receiving a pay check, while leaving my unit in a shortage of labor, in a position where they needed someone, is very difficult for me,” she said. “I don’t really have a choice.”
