On Jan. 27, Trump announced an executive order titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness.” It states that, “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” The order then continues to say, “beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
On May 6, after a court challenge, the Supreme Court granted the Trump Administration the ability to move forward with the order. That same day, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, delivered a keynote speech at Special Operations Forces Week 2025, that was clipped and posted in a public video on the verified X account for DOD Rapid Response, and said, “We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind. No more pronouns. No more climate-change obsession. No more emergency vaccine mandates. No more dudes in dresses.”
The following week, on May 15, a memo was sent to every branch of the military from the U.S. Department of Defense that stated that all transgender personnel would need to self-identify and begin a voluntary leave process by Jun. 6 for active duty and Jul. 7 for those in the reserves. A transcript posted on the DOD’s website on the same day, that cited a “Senior Defense Official” without listing their name, explained that those who chose to leave would be compensated based on “rank as well as time in service.”
The DOD transcript explained further, that all transgender personnel who leave because of this will receive some benefits, but that it is greater for those who start the process on their own accord.
“So, for involuntary category separation, an E-5 with 10 years of service, we estimate that that involuntary separation payment would be just under $51,000. For an O-3 with seven years in service that involuntary separation pay would be approximately $62,000. The way the voluntary separation pay is calculated is a multiple of two from the involuntary, so that E-5 with 10 years would be approximately $101,000 and the O-3 with seven years in service would be approximately $125,000,” the transcript said.
On Aug. 7, however, it was reported by NBC News that the Air Force is denying early retirement to all transgender service members with between 15 and 18 years of military service, opting instead to force them out with no retirement benefits, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
The DOD transcript also explained that, “for those that elect not to voluntarily participate, the primary means of identification for the involuntary process will be through medical readiness programs. Individual medical readiness programs are a long-standing program and policy in the department. They are not new. They are not tied specifically to the implementation of this policy.”
Savoie told NBC San Diego they chose to stay, and not begin that voluntary separation process, as an act of resistance.
“There’s a lot of reasons to that,” Savoie said. “I don’t have dependents that are specifically banking on me having a paycheck. I know you’re probably familiar with the buyout option that they gave, so double what your normal separation pay would be. For me, to be transparent with you, that was about $100,000, so a significant chunk of income. That’s about a year’s worth of income for me; it wasn’t worth it.”
“I didn’t commission to make the easy choice, and in this position, when you’re faced with choices like these, are you going to make them on principle or are you going to make them on what the easy way out is. That’s not everyone’s scenario, but it is for me,” Savoie continued. “I should caveat and say anyone who’s taking this right now is under duress. Like it is a forced thing and, again, it does not come without risk. We don’t know what they’re going to do to us right now.”
Savoie said they do have concerns for the future, including which separation code will be used for them if they are forced to leave the Marines and how that could impact their future employment opportunities.
NBC San Diego reached out to Savoie’s command and the public affairs team for the USMC Manpower and Reserve Affairs office for more information on their status, as well as the status of other transgender servicemembers. They forwarded the request to the Pentagon, where the on-duty public affairs officer referred NBC San Diego to the department’s May 15 transcript.
When it comes to how many servicemembers, including Savoie, may be impacted by Trump’s executive order, in that transcript, the unnamed senior defense official said, “the Department has cited a previous study that estimated approximately 4,200 service members with gender dysphoria. I have not seen a more recent study the department is relying on. So, that would be the most recent study that we would rely on. And of course, that may not be current as of today because service members are entering and departing service in the normal course of events all the time.”
Savoie echoed that, saying “there’s not great numbers on how many transgender people are in the military.”
“From the communities that I am a part of and my experience working and connecting with other trans service members, I would guesstimate there’s maybe seven or eight transgender officers in the Marine Corps,” they said. “Some of those I know are not out right now and others, they fly under the radar. Others are taking the retirement and just kind of want to gracefully exit because they’ve already done their part and they’ve had to fight their fights under the first ban, and they’re tired.”
If it were up to Savoie — who has continues to show up for work each day, unsure of what comes next — they said they would serve until their EAS, or end of active service, in 2028.
