Air Force Special Warfare recruit Clay McCallister quit his civilian job earlier this month, excited to spend time with his family before shipping out for basic training in March and building the military career he has so vigorously prepared for.
But just two days after leaving, McCallister received a call from the Air Force that cast his family into limbo. Due to an executive order from President Donald Trump, all transgender military recruits, including McCallister, had been put on hold indefinitely – even those who had been contracted and scheduled to ship out in the coming weeks.
“It is stressful and it can be frustrating because, really, we just want to do the same job that everybody else is doing. All the uncertainty is honestly just unnecessary,” McCallister said.
Though the Department of Defense has yet to release an official policy to comply with Trump’s order, it has already taken stopgap measures that have caused uncertainty and confusion among trans service members and their families.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a February 7 memo ordered a pause on enlistments of transgender members and those “with a history of gender dysphoria.” He also ordered a halt of all gender-affirming surgeries and “newly initiated” hormone therapies for active-duty troops. Hegseth cited the executive order, which accused trans people of perpetuating a “false ‘gender identity’” and stated that being trans “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.”
Transgender service members and their advocates have fiercely rejected the administration’s suggestion that trans people’s identities mean they do not meet the armed forces’ integrity standards. Many of them also fear the Trump administration may be gearing up to dismiss some active-duty trans service troops – as he attempted to do in his first term.
The order also argues that the “medical, surgical, and mental health constraints” on trans people are inconsistent with the US government’s “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.”
But trans service members argue the opposite, pointing out that they have passed the military’s rigorous requirements and insisting that removing trans troops would harm military readiness and deprive branches of members who have vital skills and training. Though the military does not track its trans population, estimates vary from between 8,000 to 15,000 members – a sliver of the more than 2 million active duty and reserve US troops worldwide.
Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland, who has served openly as trans for about a decade, said the language in the executive order is “concerning and disheartening.”
Ireland oversees more than a dozen Special Investigations personnel in the Indo-Pacific and has been deployed and stationed in Afghanistan, Qatar, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Since the order was issued, he has received overwhelming support from his leadership, peers and subordinates.
“I would give my life for these people in power and in leadership, but it seems that my service is not valued or not needed, or I am somehow not worthy of wearing the uniform when I’ve served honorably for over 14 years,” Ireland said.
“It almost seems like there’s a disconnect between different people in leadership positions and those of us that are at a lower level,” he said of the anti-trans policies. Claims that trans people are less able to serve aren’t reflective of the reality Ireland and others live every day, he said. “We’re meeting the standard today. We’re deployed today. We’re combat-ready today.”
CNN has sought comment from the White House. The Pentagon declined to comment on when it plans to release its official policy regarding trans troops and how active-duty service members will be affected.
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