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More than a dozen transgender members of the United States Air Force and Space Force are suing the Trump administration, saying they were forced to separate from active duty service without retirement benefits.

Separation means a person is leaving active duty but not necessarily the service entirely.

Legal advocacy groups including GLAD Law and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of the 17 plaintiffs who have all served between 15 and 18 years. 

"It felt like a betrayal. I've given my life to the Air Force," said lead plaintiff Master Sergeant Logan Ireland. "The Air Force has shaped me and made me who I am. It allowed me to be my authentic self."

Ireland served in the U.S. military for 15 years, including combat deployments to Afghanistan. He has been on administrative leave since May. Without a set retirement date he can't relocate or start a new job.

The Defense Department in February that all transgender service members would be removed from duty unless they obtain a case-by-case waiver. 

Ireland said he stayed focused on his service once the order to exit the military came down, but meeting standards which required him to present as his sex assigned at birth made his work unbearable. 

"My safety at that point was in jeopardy," he said. 

Ireland and the other plaintiffs had been issued retirement dates for later this year, but those orders were rescinded in August after the Trump administration's transgender military ban went into effect.

The complaint argues the administration's actions stripped plaintiffs of their health insurance and $1-2 million in pension benefits. 

"This is a senseless and shocking affront to troops who have sacrificed so much for our country," said GLAD Law staff attorney Michael Haley in a statement to Autos News. 

Autos News reached out to the Department of Defense for a comment on the lawsuit but has not yet heard back. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is to the constitutionality of the administration's military ban on transgender service members. Ireland says he doesn't expect a decision in that case until October or November of next year. 

Until then, Ireland says he'll keep pushing for the benefits he believes he's owed. 

"I'm not gonna go down without trying to fight at every angle that I can," he said. "And if that's through the court system, then that is where my fight is. That is my new battleground."