The Navy is offering more sailors with gender dysphoria the opportunity to take early retirement, according to a notice from the service released this week. Under the new rule, sailors with as few as 15 years on active duty can now apply for early retirement.
The cash and benefits of a formal military retirement package, which troops must usually serve 20 years to earn, are significantly more generous than those offered to those who separate earlier in their careers. Announced Wednesday in a NAVADMIN message, the 15-year rule matches similar policies in the Air Force and Army for troops facing separation under gender dysphoria rules.
The offer is a change from the Navy’s March guidance for separating sailors with gender dysphoria, in which the service said that active duty sailors with 18 to 20 years of service who volunteered for separation could be eligible for early retirement. The Wednesday message allows sailors with 15 to 18 years of service to request retirement under an exception to the early retirement policy.
The Pentagon has said troops with gender dysphoria who voluntarily separate will be eligible for more separation pay than those who are eventually involuntarily separated. In mid-May, the Pentagon set a deadline of June 6 for service members on active duty and with gender dysphoria to self-identify for voluntary separation.
The Navy’s new early retirement guidance notes it would be in effect “until superseded or canceled,” but it was unclear if it would extend past the Pentagon’s June 6 deadline. Also unclear was if troops with 15 to 18 years who have already agreed to separate could now apply for the exemption.
Early retirement benefits
Virtually all service members are eligible to retire from the military after 20 years of active duty service or equivalent careers in the guard or reserve. However, the military has previously offered earlier retirements under a process called Temporary Early Retirement Authority, or TERA. For instance, from 1993 to 2001, troops with 15 to 20 years could apply for TERA. That temporary policy ended in September 2002.
In previous versions of TERA, service members granted early retirement received full retirement packages, including healthcare benefits, but collected a lower monthly retirement pay.
The new Navy guidance appears to match the approach taken by both the Army and Air Force. A May 23 Air Force memo lays out guidance on voluntary separation, which allows airmen with 18 to 20 years of service to request early retirement and also notes an exception process for those with 15 to 18 years of service. An Army spokesperson told Task & Purpose that Inquiries sent to the Marine Corps and Army about early retirement policies were not immediately returned.
The Pentagon estimates that there are more than 4,200 service members with gender dysphoria. Around 1,000 have self-identified, a defense department official told reporters May 15.
Troops who do not leave voluntarily, officials have said, could be involuntarily separated from their military branch through information on their annual health assessment that identifies a previous or current diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Officials have also said commanders will be able to use their “discernment and judgment in how to interpret and apply the guidance.”
The Pentagon has said that troops who agree to voluntary separation, and who are not eligible to retire, will be eligible for twice the amount of separation pay as those who are involuntarily separated. For example, an E-5 with 10 years of service who is forced to separate would get a payment of just under $51,000 compared to $101,000 for voluntarily separating. An O-3 with seven years of service would receive a one-time payment of close to $62,000 if involuntarily removed from the military, versus roughly $125,000 if they leave voluntarily.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has trumpeted the policy as a ban and removal of trans service members throughout the military services. “Trans is out at the DOD,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a public message on X.
The Pentagon’s guidance centers around troops with gender dysphoria, a medical diagnosis developed by the American Psychiatric Association. Not all transgender people exhibit or have diagnoses of gender dysphoria, according to the APA.
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