June 7, 2022
Updated Pentagon policy prevents the U.S. military from separating HIV-positive service members with an undetectable viral load and also allows them to be deployed, according to a new Defense Department memo announced Tuesday.
The guidance, released Monday, reverses previous DOD policy that had been in place since the 1980s, after HIV first began spreading in the U.S.
That outdated policy allowed commanders to involuntarily separate troops with HIV, prevent them from deploying and barred enlisted troops from becoming an officer.
“In view of significant advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), it is necessary to update DoD policy with respect to individuals who have been identified as HIV-positive,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in the memo.
