President-elect Donald Trump has drafted an executive order aimed at discharging over 15,000 transgender service members from the U.S. military, according to The Times. The proposed order, set to be enacted on his first day in office, would also prohibit transgender individuals from joining any branch of the armed forces.
The medical discharge would reportedly deem transgender individuals “unfit to serve.” The anticipated policy shift comes as nearly all branches of the U.S. military struggle to meet recruitment goals, raising salient questions about the impact on combat readiness and morale:
Trump, 78, has railed against “woke” practices in the military, saying that some high-ranking officers are often more interested in diversity, equity and inclusion than planning to fight.
The ban is expected to be wider ranging than a similar order made during his first term in office, when Trump prevented transgender people joining the armed forces, but allowed those already serving to keep their jobs. President Biden rescinded the order, but this time even those with decades of service will be removed from their posts, according to several sources.
“These people will be forced out at a time when the military can’t recruit enough people,” a source familiar with Trump’s plans said. “Only the Marine Corps is hitting its numbers for recruitment and some people who will be affected are in very senior positions.”
According to the Pentagon, privacy policies make it difficult to measure the number of active duty trans people, but about 2,200 service members had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2021, when Trump’s first ban was lifted. There are about 1.3 million active duty personnel in the military.
Thousands more service members are believed to identify as transgender.
The Military’s Recruitment Crisis: Not a New Fight
In recent years, recruitment numbers across the armed forces have seen a significant decline. The Army, for example, missed its 2022 recruitment goal by 25%, falling short by about 15,000 soldiers. Other branches, including the Navy and Air Force, have faced similar challenges in attracting new recruits.
Analysts cite several factors contributing to the decline, including an increasing emphasis on political correctness. Critics argue that efforts to integrate progressive social policies—such as diversity training, lowered general physical standards and a focus on climate change as a national security issue—have alienated traditional recruits who are drawn to the military’s historical culture of patriotism and service.
Additionally, competition from the private sector, shifting societal attitudes toward military service and perceptions of military culture may also be affecting recruitment.
Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth recently addressed the issue during a podcast interview with Shawn Ryan. He attributed the recruitment shortfall to what he described as “wokeism” in the military, suggesting that initiatives aimed at diversity and inclusion have alienated traditional recruitment demographics.
JUST IN: Donald Trump is expected to kick transgender troops out of US military as early as January 20th according to a new report from The Times.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 24, 2024
The move would remove about 15,000 transgender active service members.
“They would be medically discharged, which would determine… pic.twitter.com/qTHf2ee7xT
If enacted, Trump’s executive order would mark a sharp reversal of policies implemented under previous administrations, which sought to expand opportunities for transgender individuals to serve openly in the military.
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Trump is Correct to dismiss any and all Transgender, Mentally Ill members from Military Service!!!
Go for it, Mr. President.
Have been in the military as millions before us have. One thing that was important when serving was that you had friends serving alongside of you, you could trust. The fact that many career members didn’t have a say in who they were being partnered with, but in fact you didn’t have to worry that a transgendered member being something that may have caused you worry. The fact of transgender personnel now in the military made you mad, because of your years in service these very different soldiers or sailors could destroy the unity of your command. The fact that transgender individuals are being allowed into the military because of a mental disorder allowing them to be something that God didn’t intend them to be. It’s alarming that the left pushed so hard to input individual persons to serve that may have had male parts but wanted to be included as a female couldn’t have been supported by many already serving in the military seems possible. That alone should make the argument that it isn’t a healthy atmosphere to be placed in for both the transgendered person or the officers and men already serving. The military is supposed to be America’s first line of defense against aggression from China, Russia and Iran in particular, the left it seems pushed these people who in many cases have a personal disorder that can affect the whole military regardless of which branch. We have over the last 30 years it seems allowed homosexuality to come out of the closet, which most Americans have accepted today. Unfortunately, that being said it has created off shoots of other aspects that are being pushed such as transgender men wanting to be women, and vice versa, women who want to be men and pushing for multi-gender irregularities, instead of what God ordained to be two genders, man and woman, the left now has so many pronouns, making pronouns for all these variants to be superfluous to normal people today. It also demands that these various pronouns be established as normal to our American culture. We who deem ourselves as everyday normal people find it appalling that we must adhere to these nutty people who want to pervert our treating people as normal male versus female genders. I personally refuse to accept transgenders other than what God made them; I refuse to bow to the craziness set upon America by leftist communist players who want to see America as a third world country and push this crap on society. Our Military should be cleansed of the transgender influences being pushed by the Biden administration. We need strong men and women who know what gender they are and are willing to fight our enemies accordingly. God bless our military and its leadership, a strong belief that America is the greatest nation in the world and willing to fight for it.
I took my first enlistment oath at age 17 years. I retired from the Army at age 54. I stayed with the Army for another 15 years and “travelled” as part of that service. I have been in the medical field for much of that time. With the divisiveness of the LGBTQ”mouse” agenda, the uncertainty of performance of certain of those individuals, the expense of treatments for them, the suicide rates in that group, and most importantly, the abject immorality of even the concept of such a lifestyle, there is no reliable value for the group in the DoD. For their sakes, and for that of the nation, let them live their lives in another career track.