‘Utter chaos': Amid confusing ban rollout, trans troops fight to serve

[Jessica_Rose]

'Utter chaos': Amid confusing ban rollout, trans troops fight to serve

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/utter-chaos-amid-confusing-ban-rollout-trans-troops-fight-to-serve/ar-AA1CaJfH?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=fbd588f03ee14532ebe1a4b432e7c79a&ei=18

Story by Riley Ceder (2 April 2025)

The Trump administration has asserted that transgender people have medical and surgical health constraints that are incompatible with the standards of military service. But for River, that is not their lived experience.

Maj. Erica Vandal had wanted to join the military since she was a kid. Now that her dream is a reality, she wished it wouldn't end.

"I want to be able to continue my career, to continue this lifelong passion of mine," she said.

If the ban does go through, Vandal said she'd try to find another way to serve her country.

Sarah, who has served in the Army for 17 years, said the ban, legal battles and back and forth on guidelines over the past two months were distractions from performing in her role as a warfighter. Even with the introduction of the policy targeting transgender troops like her, she was trying to focus on the work, she said. People depended on her to be excellent every day, and that's what she plans to keep doing.

"I have a commitment to my country," she said.

For River, even as they processed the possibility of the ban being enacted and their voluntary separation going through, they were holding onto the possibility of a way to continue on - of finding a path forward where they could still put on their uniform like they had been for over a decade.

"I just want to serve," they said.

[Lori Dee]

For River, even as they processed the possibility of the ban being enacted and their voluntary separation going through,

That should read "involuntary separation" since they are being forced out.