On Monday, President Donald Trump is set to drop four executive orders that could seriously shake up the military scene. These moves include kicking out transgender service members from the armed forces, slashing the military’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, and bringing back service members who were let go for opting out of the Covid-19 vaccine, complete with back pay, according to two White House officials speaking to CNN.
These orders, first highlighted by the New York Post, come right after Trump’s pick for Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, got sworn in as secretary of defense this past Saturday. Hegseth has been vocal about his intentions to push for some major cultural shifts in the military, like scrapping DEI initiatives and removing what he calls “woke” service members.
Shortly after stepping into the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth hit up reporters with the news that “more executive orders” are on the way.
“Today, there are more executive orders coming, … on removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates, iron dome for America — this is happening quickly, and as the secretary of defense, it’s an honor to salute smartly as I did as a junior officer and now as the secretary of defense to ensure these orders are complied with rapidly and quickly,” Hegseth said.
Back in 2017, Trump put a ban on transgender Americans serving in the military during his first term. Then, in 2021, President Joe Biden rolled that back with an order to lift the ban.
Just hours after kicking off his second term last week, Trump signed an order undoing Biden’s 2021 decision that let transgender folks serve openly in the military. But the order he’s set to sign on Monday is taking things a step further, according to one official. It’s gonna lay out new military standards around gender pronouns and declare that mental and physical readiness means transgender service members should be banned from serving.
“It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy 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,” one of the officials said, citing a fact sheet.
