Military commanders will be told to send transgender troops to medical checks to oust them

By LOLITA C BALDOR WASHINGTON AP Military commanders will be advised to identify troops in their units who are transgender or have gender dysphoria then send them to get healthcare checks in order to force them out of the amenity executives declared Thursday Related Articles Seattle judge rescinds order directing Trump administration to admit refugees NYU denies diploma to trainee who criticized Israel in commencement speech Harvard president takes pay cut as university attempts to cover frozen funds Trump s beautiful bill spans pages Here s what s inside it Trump s stance against South Africa is not just about white farmers It s also about Hamas and Iran A senior defense official laid out what could be a complicated and lengthy new process aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump s directive to remove transgender organization members from the U S military The new order to commanders relies on routine annual physical condition checks that operation members are required to undergo Another defense official commented the Defense Department has scrapped for now plans to go through troops fitness records to identify those with gender dysphoria Instead transgender troops who do not voluntarily come forward could be outed by commanders or others aware of their healthcare status Gender dysphoria occurs when a person s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity The defense leaders spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the new initiative The process raises comparisons to the early Don t Ask Don t Tell procedures which at times had commanders or other troops outing gay members of the military who at the time were not allowed to serve openly Active-duty troops will have until June to voluntarily identify themselves to the Defense Department and troops in the National Guard and Reserve have until July The department is offering a financial incentive to those who volunteer to leave They will receive roughly double the amount of separation pay than those who don t come forward Initially agents explained the Defense Department would begin going through curative records to identify anyone who did not come forward voluntarily That detail was not included in the new guidance distributed Thursday While the department believes it has the authority to review biological records it would rather go through a more routine robustness assessment process the defense official explained Traditionally all institution members go through a medical assessment once a year to determine if they are still medically able to serve A new question about gender dysphoria is being added to that assessment Active-duty troops who do not voluntarily come forward would have to acknowledge their gender dysphoria during that healthcare check which could be scheduled months from now A unit commander could expedite the robustness assessment Under the new framework commanders who are aware of amenity members in their units with gender dysphoria a history of gender dysphoria or effects consistent with gender dysphoria will direct individualized healthcare record reviews of such amenity members to confirm compliance with medicinal standards The defense official mentioned it is the duty of the operation member and the commander to comply with the new process The department is confident and reassured with commanders implementing the approach and it does not believe they would use the process to take retribution against a operation member the senior defense official declared It comes after the Supreme Court in recent weeks ruled that the Trump administration could enforce the ban on transgender people in the military while other legal challenges proceed The court s three liberal justices commented they would have kept the guidelines on hold Personnel have announced that as of Dec there were troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the advancing duty National Guard and Reserve But they acknowledge the number may be higher There are about million total troops serving In a comment Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell reported earlier this month that about troops already have identified themselves and will begin the voluntary separation process from the military That can often take weeks Trump tried to ban transgender troops during his first term while allowing those as of now serving to stay on Then-President Joe Biden overturned the ban The new strategy does not grandfather in those at this moment serving and only allows for limited waivers or exceptions Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allege that troops with gender dysphoria don t meet military standards Hegseth has tied his opposition to a campaign to rid the department of wokeness No More Trans DoD Hegseth wrote in a post on X In a fresh speech to a special operations conference he reported No more dudes in dresses We re done with that s