Air Force revokes approved retirement for trans service members: 'Complete and utter betrayal'

NBC News

08-08-2025

Alyx, a transgender woman who has served in the Air Force for 15 years, was approved in May for early retirement due to the Trump administration's policy prohibiting trans people from serving and enlisting in the military.
On Wednesday, that retirement was revoked under a new Air Force directive. She said she wasn't provided any reason other than that her retirement was 'prematurely" approved, according to documentation she provided to NBC News.
'Being told that I would be discharged for a decision on somebody's part was hard, but then being offered the retirement that I feel I'm owed, that my service is owed, that helped, and then having that yanked away for no reason, with no recourse ... that is complete and utter betrayal,' said Alyx, who is based in Virginia and asked to only use her first name due to fear that she and her family could face harassment.
Multiple federal judges initially blocked President Donald Trump's executive order barring trans troops, but the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect in May.
As a result of the ban, trans service members were required to choose between voluntary and involuntary separation. Voluntary separation included double the lump payout than an involuntary separation and wouldn't require the service member to pay back any bonuses they had received.
Trans airmen who served at least 20 years could apply for retirement, and those with 18 to 20 years of service could apply for early retirement under the Temporary Early Retirement Authority, or TERA. In late May, the Air Force announced in a memo that airmen with 15 to 18 years of service could request early retirement under an exception to TERA.
Alyx was placed on indefinite leave in May as a result of the ban, which would've required her to cut her hair short, wear a men's uniform and use the men's restroom at work. She applied for early retirement under the exception so she could receive a pension equivalent to her service and access to full health care benefits. Her application was approved June 16, according to documents she shared with NBC News, and her retirement date was set for Dec. 1.
On Wednesday, that decision was reversed for Alyx and about a dozen other service members who were approved for early retirement.
'In accordance with DoD Guidance, the Department of the Air Force approved service members with 18-20 years of honorable service who self-identified to retire under the Temporary Authority for Early Retirement (TERA) program,' an Air Force spokesperson told NBC News. 'Although service members with 15-18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved.'
The spokesperson added that service members are still eligible for voluntary or involuntary separation.
In response to a question regarding why the previously approved retirements were rescinded, another Air Force spokesperson said in an email that those service members 'were prematurely notified that their TERA applications under the gender dysphoria provision had been approved, but higher level review was required under the DoD gender dysphoria policy for those members (between 15 and 18 years of service).' The spokesperson didn't provide more information about the higher level review or why the Air Force ultimately revoked the retirements.
Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, who has served for 15 years and was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Trump administration's ban on trans service members, also received notice that his previously approved application for early retirement was rescinded on Wednesday 'without any case-by-case review, explanation or legal justification,' Ireland said in a statement provided by GLAD Law, an LGBTQ legal organization.
'Our involuntary removal is being carried out without dignity, without transparency, and without the respect every honorable service member deserves,' Logan said. 'This is not policy, it is betrayal.'
Both Alyx and Ireland have deployed overseas, including to Lithuania, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Qatar and South Korea.
Alyx said she's most proud of her work overseeing the training of more than 500 airmen at Sheppard Air Force Base. She also armed aircraft that escorted Air Force One.
'There are many of us like that who are determined to continue serving our country honorably with distinction, in spite of the enormous misunderstanding and, in a lot of cases, hatred that we receive from the people that we're defending,' Alyx said.
Alyx said the ban and having her retirement rescinded has put her in a precarious financial situation. She bought a home last year assuming she would be able to rely on having a paycheck and housing allowance, but she will lose that. With retirement, she would have at least had her pension.
She also struggles with feeling like she was forced to abandon her fellow airmen, who she said have been supportive throughout her career.
'Being told to go home and just sit here on my couch and try to set up for myself later while still receiving a paycheck, while leaving my unit in a shortage of manpower, in a position where they needed somebody, is very difficult for me to stomach,' she said. 'I don't really have a choice.'