United States President Donald Trump is expected to sign several executive orders focused on the military, which includes removing “transgender ideology” from the force and reinstating troops booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth began his first day on the job.
On Friday night, Hegseth was approved by the Senate in a tie vote that had to be broken by Vice President JD Vance.
According to CNN, the newly appointed, Hegseth has long stated that his plan is to implement significant cultural reforms within the military, focusing on eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices and removing what he terms "woke" service members.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 directive that allowed trans people to serve openly in the military, but the incoming executive orders will go further. The order will directly prohibit any service member who identifies as a gender other than their birth sex from serving or enlisting, on grounds of mental unfitness, as per the New York Post.
“Unit cohesion requires high levels of integrity and stability among service members,” a White House document previewing the order on transgender soldiers reads, as per the report. There can be “no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands,” it said.
According to the documents, the individuals who are unable to meet such requirements are “unable to serve in the military”. “This has been the case for decades.”, the report added.
As per the documents, a minimum of two months is required for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, “which often involves the heavy use of narcotics”. “During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements.”
In 2017, when Trump was first elected president, he has banned transgender Americans from serving in the military, but then-President Joe Biden issued an order in 2021 repealing the ban.
As per a report by the Associated Press (AP), at least 8,200 troops were forced out of the military in 2021 for refusing to obey a lawful order when they declined to get the vaccine. Notices advising them they could return were sent out in 2023, but just 113 have re-enlisted.
The reinstatement process for those ousted for refusing the vaccine requires that they meet military entry standards unless Trump opts to change that.
According to the services, 3,748 Marines were discharged, and 25 have opted to re-enlist; 1,903 Army soldiers were discharged, and 73 returned; 1,878 sailors were discharged and two returned; 671 airmen were discharged and 13 returned, as per the report.
In August 2021, the Pentagon mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for all service members, including those in the National Guard and Reserve. This decision was made during a period when the pandemic was causing widespread illness and death across the country, and troops were being used to help get people vaccinated. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasised that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine was essential for maintaining a healthy and ready force.
It was not immediately clear what the additional order on DEI would entail. However, Trump’s initial directive to end such programs across the US government already had significant repercussions. In the absence of detailed guidance, federal agencies have broadly interpreted the mandate, removing any content that could potentially conflict with the ban.
On Sunday, however, the Air Force clarified that the DEI courses had been removed to be edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and World War II Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, (WASPs) content would continue to be taught, reported AP.