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US President Donald Trump has announced he will not allow transgender individuals to serve in the United States military in any capacity.
The move has apparently caught the Pentagon and some US politicians off guard, and seemingly unwound landmark Pentagon policy which lifted a transgender ban 12 months ago.
Here's what you need to know about the ban.
How did Trump announce the ban?
Mr Trump announced his decision on Twitter in a series of tweets.
But it took another nine minutes before he followed it up with some detail.
What's the reason behind the ban?
The President argued the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," he wrote.
ABC Washington Bureau chief Zoe Daniel says the decision was also based on consultation with his national security team.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders later described the move as a "military decision".
She told a press briefing afterwards Mr Trump was concerned the current policy was "expensive and disruptive" and "erodes military readiness and military cohesion".
Is gender transition treatment expensive?
The current figures are unknown but a RAND Corp study last year found that of the subset who would seek gender-transition-related treatment, the estimated healthcare costs would increase by between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually.
This is about a 0.04 per cent to 0.13 per cent increase in healthcare spending on active military. The Department of Defence spends $6.28 billion each year on active military health care and $49.3 billion on all medical activities, the RAND report said.
Why were people caught by surprise?
Hours after Mr Trump's tweets, members of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis' staff and other officials at the Pentagon were still referring questions on the directive to the White House.
Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Pentagon was working with the White House to "address the new guidance" from the President. That suggested there is not yet any new written policy or executive order, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Mattis announced earlier this month he was giving military chiefs another six months to conduct a review to determine if allowing transgender individuals to enlist in the armed services would affect the "readiness or lethality" of the force.
But this was not with a view towards removing transgender people from the military, several Defence officials said.
The New York Times reported Mr Trump made the decision within a matter of days. The Secretary of Defence was notified the day before Mr Trump's announcement.
Were we expecting something like this?
During his election campaign, Mr Trump occasionally presented himself as a potential ally of gays and lesbians, promising to be a "real friend" of their community.
But many top members of his administration are long-time foes of LGBT-rights policy changes — including Vice-President Mike Pence, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
The issue of transgender troops was debated recently in the GOP-led House, which narrowly rejected a measure that would have forbidden the Pentagon from paying for gender-transition surgeries and hormone therapy.
Daniel says the issue has been causing ructions within the Republican Party and it's been speculated one of the reasons Mr Trump might have made this decision is because it was threatening a budget bill that's due to go through the House.
How many transgender people will be affected?
The current figure is not known with the Pentagon refusing to release any data on the number of transgender troops currently serving.
However, the RAND Corp study has estimated the number at between 1,320 and 6,630 transgender people were in active military, out of about 1.3 million troops.
But the Williams Institute and the National Centre for Transgender Equality said there could be as many as 15,000 transgender people are currently serving, with 134,000 trans veterans.
There are currently as many as 250 service members in the process of transitioning to their preferred genders or who have been approved to formally change gender within the Pentagon's personnel system, according to several defence officials.
What will happen to transgender troops currently serving?
It's still unclear what will happen to those who have openly come out since the ban was lifted by former president Barack Obama last year.
Ms Sanders did not provide much clarity on how those members would be affected.
She said the Department of Defence and the White House would work together, "as implementation takes place and is done so lawfully", but did not provide a timeline for when that would occur.
One transgender active service member quoted by the AP said the uncertainty was concerning. "Everybody is hurt, everybody is scared," said Rudy Akbarian, who had transitioned from female to male.
Could this be challenged?
Experts say singling out transgender people would violate their rights to equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the US constitution.
"There's no valid justification for excluding transgender people from the military," legal director for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights group Lambda Legal Jon Davidson said.
"They are currently serving without a problem. There hasn't been an extraordinary cost. There hasn't been disruption."
American Civil Liberties Union senior staff attorney on LGBT issues Joshua Block said: "For the immediate future, nothing can happen to them [transgender people].
"Trump's tweet is not self-executing."
What happens now?
Many elements of the ban remain unclear so it is hard to say just who will be affected.
Mr Davis said the Pentagon would provide revised guidance to Defence Department officials "in the near future".
ABC/wires
Topics: army, world-politics, government-and-politics, community-and-society, united-states
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