After 17 years of serving their country in the U.S. Navy, Lt. Rae Timberlake faced a stark choice — leave the military, or be kicked out.

After some soul searching, Timberlake opted for the former, in the hopes that, at the very least, they will get severance pay and an honourable discharge.

Timberlake is one of about 1,000 transgender service members who have signed up so far for what the Republican administration is calling "voluntary separation" — the first phase of its transgender military purge. 

"This is not a voluntary separation," Timberlake told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "This is coercion."

Ultimatum with a deadline

U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to ban transgender people from the military have been stymied by court challenges.

But on Tuesday of last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the administration can enforce its ban while those legal challenges proceed. 

Two days later, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an ultimatum with a deadline.

In a memo to military directors on Thursday, the former Fox News host said that transgender service members have until June 6 to identify themselves and begin the process of "voluntary separation" from the U.S. military. Troops in the reserve forces have until July 7.

Those who come forward, the memo states, "may also be eligible for voluntary separation pay."

After the deadline passes, the department says it will go through military members' medical records to root out any transgender troops who remain, and begin a process of "involuntary separation." 

While it's not clear what, exactly, that will look like, military members say it could mean a loss of benefits, including a pension and health insurance.

"That creates kind of a veiled threat," said Timberlake, a spokesperson for Sparta Pride, a non-profit that advocates for trans people in the military.

"I feel threatened. I know a lot of other transgender service members feel threatened. I think we deserve a lot better."

Jennifer Levi, a senior director at the pro-LGBTQ legal group GLAD Law, agrees. 

 "It is just shameful," Levi said. "It is senseless to fast track people out of the military who are meeting standards and putting lives on the line to defend the country."

'No more pronouns' 

Hegseth, meanwhile, has defended the decision. 

"Expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service," he wrote in his memo.

"Service by individuals with a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibiting symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is not in the best interest of the military services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security."

During a press conference with U.S. special operations forces, he spoke more bluntly. 

"No more pronouns," he said. "Nore dudes in dresses." 

Staff shortages

It's unclear exactly how many troops the military will ultimately lose to the Trump administration's purge. 

Defense officials have said that 4,240 troops currently serving in active duty have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a term for the psychological distress that results from an incongruence between gender identity and assigned sex at birth.

But not everyone who is transgender has received a diagnosis, and earlier estimates from the department suggested there were between 9,000 and 12,000 trans people in the military.

Timberlake says driving so many people out will present a challenge for a military that's already understaffed.

"This affects everyone," they said. "There will be less people to meet the mission. There will more work for the other team members."

Army Maj. Alivia Stehlik, who served in the infantry and is now a physical therapist, echoed that sentiment.

"I still have a job to do," she said. "My command expects me to show up and be an officer and do my job because I'm the only person at my unit who can do what I do."

What happens next remains unclear. Timberlake is still on active duty, and is bracing for the day when that's no longer the case. 

"Knowing that any day could be my last day, it's kind of a difficult place to be."

With files from Reuters and The Associated Press. Interview with Rae Timberlake produced by Livia Dyring