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Tensions with Iran remain high. The heavy presence of U.S. forces in the Caribbean continues, and relations have frayed with key military allies. But the Pentagon is still aggressively pushing troop removal from service under Secretary Pete Hegseth's anti-DEI push, investigating women in combat and separating its transgender service members. NPR's Lauren Hodges reports on how a focus on gender identity might be distracting from mission readiness.
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LAUREN HODGES, BYLINE: The room applauds as 71-year-old retired four-star general, Stanley A. McChrystal, approaches the podium. I can't believe he's here, someone whispers. Almost as if he heard them, McChrystal says this into the microphone.
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STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: First off, we shouldn't be here.
HODGES: Here is a retirement ceremony for five transgender service members who have been forcibly separated from the military under the Trump administration's second ban. The event has been organized by the advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, in lieu of a proper Pentagon ceremony.
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MCCHRYSTAL: When these professionals finally decide to retire, it should happen on parade fields, in offices, on the deck of ships, wherever the Space Force goes - I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
HODGES: The playful dig at the military's newest branch gets a laugh from the room full of service members. McChrystal became a household name in the early- to mid-2000s, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But today, he's here in a suit and tie to preside over this ceremony.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: We gather today to recognize Commander Blake Dremann, United States Navy; Lieutenant Colonel Erin Krizek, United States Air Force; Chief Petty Officer Jaida McGuire, United States Coast Guard; Sergeant First Class Catherine Schmid, United States Army; Colonel Bree Fram, United States Air Force.
HODGES: Before the ban, Colonel Bree Fram was the highest-ranking transgender member of the U.S. armed forces. An astronautical engineer, she deployed to Iraq and Qatar during the Iraq War and later served as an officer in the U.S. Space Force. Fram steps up to the podium.
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BREE FRAM: Freedom is not self-sustaining. It is not inevitable. It requires people, again and again, who are willing to stand up and say, if not me, then who?
HODGES: And then she asks people to do just that.
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FRAM: If you are a trans service member or veteran, I'm going to ask you to do something that may feel uncomfortable. I'm going to ask you to stand for a moment.
HODGES: One of those standing is U.S. Army Major Kara Corcoran. Her 17 years of service includes significant combat and leadership experience.
KARA CORCORAN: Platoon leader in the Rakkasans, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Air Assault Division, Combat Outpost Spera, company commander for three years in the 82nd Airborne Division, where I was the jumpmaster.
HODGES: She is still going through her separation from the service. As NPR previously reported, the first Trump administration gave a short window of hope to any transgender person already serving who wanted to keep their job - get an official medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria within a few months.
CORCORAN: So I quickly rushed into the troop medical clinic. They gave me a gender dysphoria diagnosis.
HODGES: After Trump was reelected to his second term, new guidance was put out that listed gender dysphoria as a disqualifying standard for service. Having obtained the diagnosis as instructed, Corcoran was identified for removal, along with thousands of others. The Trump administration has argued that this is necessary for mission readiness, cost issues and unit cohesion. Corcoran pushes back.
CORCORAN: It's systematic oppression. It should be the same standard of care in the same process as anybody would have with a shoulder surgery or a knee surgery. Which, by the way, for all the surgeries we get, the recovery period is less, and we're back in the fight.
W: It feels like they just want an excuse to kick out all the transgender service members, period.
HODGES: W is a transgender woman who serves in the Navy. She has asked to only go by an initial because she's, quote, "stealth," meaning she's not out as trans. She presents as a man and hasn't undergone any gender-affirmation surgery. She knows she'll lose her job if it's made public. W says only about four of her colleagues know, and those people are helping by asking questions on her behalf, so no one suspects anything.
W: I will say there is a lot of quiet support for transgender sailors, at least at my command. Like, people are trying their best to follow the exact wording of these orders without completely outing their trans sailors.
HODGES: That experience is shared by a fellow sailor, A, who is also stealth and using only an initial for the same reasons as W. But A, a trans man, is stealth in a different way.
A: It's two very different experiences. You've got people like me, who transitioned prior to the military, so there was no change in documents when I joined.
HODGES: When A started boot camp, he pulled a sergeant aside to let her know, and she arranged for separate showers for, quote, "religious reasons." And when an opportunity came up for flight school, it was obvious that A's gender identity would be revealed during the drug testing process. So he and his command decided he would opt out of the training to avoid that situation - but on paper, due to his ADHD diagnosis. He's incredibly grateful for the protection but also points out that it's stopping him from being more useful to the Navy.
A: If we really are preparing for combat or deployment, why can't we just focus on doing our jobs and doing them to the best of our ability?
HODGES: A points to moments like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requiring all troops to watch or read his September speech at Quantico, Virginia.
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PETE HEGSETH: This administration has done a great deal, from day one, to remove the social justice, politically correct and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses.
HODGES: Hundreds of generals and admirals were ordered from commands all around the world to fly in and attend the speech in person.
A: My chain of command was pretty outspoken - like, why are we wasting our time with this?
HODGES: Others point to a waste of not just time but also money - for instance, on the separation board hearings.
PRIYA RASHID: When I go to these board members who are the jury, I said, we have spent $22,000 to assemble us all here to discuss somebody's genitals. These boards are extremely expensive.
HODGES: Priya Rashid is a military attorney working with several transgender service members, including in this story, but says she cannot speak directly about their cases. She's had a front-row seat to the Pentagon's push to remove this service population since Trump's second term began. In the latest directives, military separation boards have been ordered to find unfit and separate any transgender service member with a current or past documentation of gender dysphoria.
RASHID: The outcome is generally predetermined, and the government has really set itself up to purge these people out of our ranks.
HODGES: The Pentagon responded to NPR's request for comment by referring to the gender dysphoria policy guidance on its website.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Commander Blake Dremann, United States Navy, departing.
HODGES: Back at the ceremony, the retirees are being handed their folded flags and doing their final walkouts.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Colonel Bree Fram, United States Space Force, departing.
HODGES: General McChrystal says the separations are a mistake and that they're affecting mission readiness, one of the listed values that Secretary Hegseth claims as a priority for his Department of War amidst several simmering global conflicts.
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MCCHRYSTAL: God forbid, if we had a major war and we need to start calling everybody up, I would hope that we would not suddenly say we are only going to draft people of a certain type. Because we wouldn't have enough.
HODGES: Lauren Hodges, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY'S "THE FIGHT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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