During a townhall meeting last Thursday Wing Commander Colonel Angela Maguinness confirmed to base personnel that an immediate hiring freeze was in effect. The freeze will be for an indeterminate period.
All travel has been canceled until further notice.
Col. Maguinness announced other changes as well. Civilian personnel are no longer authorized to make purchases using government purchase cards. Virtually all persons authorized to make purchases at Goodfellow are civilian employees. The result is that nothing can be bought at Goodfellow until military personnel can be trained in the purchasing process.
So far there have been no confirmed reports of any probationary employees losing their jobs at Goodfellow. Rumors on base are to expect something by next Friday March 14, but nothing official has been announced.
Military Transgender Ban Will Cost Taxpayers
GAFB personnel were also informed that active duty transgender service members have been offered the opportunity to resign voluntarily by March 26. If they do so, they will receive twice the usual severance and not have to repay any enlistment bonuses.
The cost to taxpayer to train a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard varies, but basic training estimates range from between $30,000 to $50,000 per recruit. Add in vocational and specialist training, the number soon approaches $100,000.
According to the military transgender advocacy group SPARTA, there are around 14,000 to 15,000 military personnel that are considered transgender. 73% of those are senior enlisted personnel with from 12 to 20 years of service. The loss in experience and training of those person would me significant and could impact military readiness.
In 2021 the Pentagon spent $15 million treating transgender personnel over the last five years. That averages out to about $3 million per year. The Pentagon annually spends around $61 billion per year for health care for active duty military. Replacing the training and experience of these personnel is estimated to take 20 years to accomplish, and cost $18 billion. Initial costs to recruit and replace the separated personnel will cost around $1 billion.
