Good morning.
Yankee fucked up my day badly yesterday, so no time to write a proper blog last night before heading off to another early-morning shift. Likely my last.
So, here's a one-story Ask a Vet today.
The story broke in the Friday News Dump, so you may not have seen it.
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On Wednesday, that retirement was revoked under a new Air Force directive.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.
Now, I wonder where Donald Trump would get an idea like that?
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (German: Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums, shortened to Berufsbeamtengesetz), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-establish the Civil Service, was enacted by the Nazi regime in Germany on 7 April 1933. This law, which followed Adolf Hitler's rise to power by two months and the promulgation of the Enabling Act by two weeks, constituted one of the earliest instances of anti-Semitic and racist legislation in Germany.
The primary objective of the law was to establish a "national" and "professional" civil service by dismissing certain groups of tenured civil servants. Individuals of non-Aryan origin, particularly those of Jewish descent, were compelled to retire, while members of the Communist Party or affiliated organizations were to be terminated from their positions. Additionally, the law forbade Jews, non-Aryans, and political opponents from holding positions as teachers, professors, judges, or within the government.