Trump expected to sign executive orders to reshape the military, including banning transgender troops

President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to sign three executive orders that would reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces, gutting the military’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, and reinstating service members with backpay who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19, two White House officials told CNN.

President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to sign three executive orders that would reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces, gutting the military’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, and reinstating service members with backpay who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19, two White House officials told CNN. The orders, which were first reported by the New York Post, come as Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as secretary of defense on Saturday. Hegseth has long stated he planned to implement major cultural changes to the military, including ending DEI practices and removing “woke” service members. Trump had banned transgender Americans form serving in the military in 2017 during his first administration, but then-President Joe Biden issued an order in 2021 repealing the ban. Hours after being sworn in for his second term last week, Trump signed an order revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 move to allow transgender members to serve. However, the order Trump is expected to sign on Monday goes even further, one of the officials said, and will outline new military standards regarding gender pronouns and state that mental and physical readiness requires transgender service members be banned from the military. “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. “The implementation [of the ban] is on the DoD regarding specifics,” the official said. In 2018, there were an estimated 14,000 transgender service members in the US military, according to the Palm Center, an independent research institute that has conducted extensive research on sexual minorities in the military.