Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Ensures Military Excellence and Readiness

Fact Sheets

TLDR

This fact sheet presents misleading claims about transgender service members’ impact on military readiness, costs, and unit cohesion. Research shows minimal impact on deployability (10-130 personnel/year), negligible healthcare costs ($15M over 5 years, 0.0001% of budget), and no evidence of negative effects on unit cohesion in 18 countries with open service. The order’s medical claims about recovery times and readiness are contradicted by military studies.

This is a “fact sheet” for the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive order published on January 27, 2025.

The “fact sheet”'s claims about medical readiness and deployment capabilities are misleading. A RAND study commissioned by the Pentagon found that transgender service members have negligible impact on military readiness. Only 10-130 active component members per year could have reduced deployability due to transition-related treatments — a tiny fraction compared to the 102,500 nondeployable soldiers in the Army alone in 2015.

The “fact sheet”'s cost concerns are greatly exaggerated:

  • Total spending on transgender healthcare from 2016-2021 was approximately $15 million
  • This represents just 0.0001% of the Department of Defense’s annual $49.3 billion healthcare budget
  • The cost to discharge and replace transgender service members would be approximately $960 million, far exceeding any potential healthcare savings

The unit cohesion argument lacks evidence:

  • Eighteen countries already allow transgender personnel to serve openly with no negative effects on unit cohesion or effectiveness
  • Studies of foreign militaries found no impact on operational effectiveness or readiness
  • Similar “unit cohesion” arguments were historically used to resist racial integration and allowing women to serve

The “fact sheet”'s claims about 12-month recovery periods and narcotic use are not supported by evidence. A recent military study showed:

  • Combined gender-affirming surgeries can be performed safely with discharge by post-operative day 1
  • Total convalescent leave time can be as short as 4 weeks
  • One-stage surgeries actually improve medical readiness by allowing faster return to duty

During the previous Trump administration ban:

  • Only one waiver was ever granted despite claims of case-by-case consideration
  • Multiple federal courts initially blocked the ban as likely unconstitutional
  • Military leadership was caught off-guard by the policy, contradicting claims it was based on military advice

The “fact sheet” relies on unsupported assertions while ignoring extensive evidence that transgender service members can and do serve effectively when allowed to do so openly. The policy appears driven more by politics than by legitimate military necessity.

PRIORITIZING SERVICEMEMBER INTEGRITY, LETHALITY, AND HEALTH: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.

  • The Executive Order will require the Secretary of Defense to do the following:
    • Update all Department of Defense medical standards to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.
    • Take action to end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns in the Department of Defense.
  • The Executive Order also prohibits males from using or sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.
  • The provisions in the Executive Order also apply to the Coast Guard.
  • The Executive Order revokes Biden Administration Executive Order 14004 and all policies, directives, and guidance pursuant to that order.
    • Executive Order 14004 called for accommodating “gender identity” in the military—to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.

RESTORING SANITY IN OUR MILITARY: During the Biden Administration, the Department of Defense allowed gender insanity to pervade our military organizations, family, and culture. This included not only permitting the military to increase the number of individuals not physically or mentally prepared to serve, but also ordering the Department of Defense to pay for servicemembers’ transition surgeries, as well as those of their dependent children—at a cost of millions of dollars to the American taxpayer.

  • The United States imposes rigorous standards on all military servicemembers to ensure they are prepared to take on the challenges required of them.
    • Fitness, health, welfare, and readiness standards must ensure that our military members are able to deploy, fight, and win.
    • On the battlefield there can be no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands.
    • Individuals who are unable to meet these requirements are unable to serve in the military. This has been the case for decades.
  • Unit cohesion requires high levels of integrity and stability among servicemembers.
    • 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.

A LETHAL FIGHTING FORCE: President Trump’s priority to have a ready, able, and lethal military will remain a core tenant of his second term.

  • During his first term in 2018, President Trump’s Department of Defense took action to ensure trans-identifying servicemembers did not serve in capacities that undermined unit cohesion and lethality.