To the editor: The news from the White House gets crueler every day that Donald Trump is president and we watch his GOP colleagues allow the implementation of policies that deny benefits to those who have served this country (“Air Force to deny retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from service,” Aug. 7).
How dare the Air Force compel transgender troops with 15 to 18 years of service to retire early without full benefits? How could moral people go along with this punishing policy from a draft dodger who seems to care only about having power and enriching himself?
The article quotes Logan Ireland, a master sergeant who has served for 15 years, including a deployment in Afghanistan. Ireland put his life on the line to protect our freedoms — the freedoms that Trump and all his complicit colleagues now enjoy.
The patriot Ireland says he “feels betrayed and devastated by the news.” Indeed, we all should feel that way. It’s impossible to accept that we now have a president who would actually go out of his way to punish Americans who have risked making the greatest sacrifice of all.
Peggy Jo Abraham, Santa Monica