After serving in the battlegrounds of Afghanistan, hardened soldier Hannah Winterbourne has revealed herself as the British Army’s first transgender officer.
As a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, she is the Army’s most highly ranked transgender soldier and the only one to become an officer.
The 27-year-old was born a boy and spent her first few years in the Army as a man, before deciding to undergo a sex-change operation while on a tour of duty at Camp Bastion.
She said sharing a tent in the desert with seven men ‘living on top of each other’ made her realise how little time she spent being herself.
‘In Afghanistan I was living an act, I was acting for everyone around me,’ she said.
‘There was no let-up where I could stop the act. Previously, I relished my own time where I could be honest with myself.
‘In Afghanistan I couldn’t do that so that was a nudge which eventually ended up with me coming out and changing myself and my way of life.
Captain Winterbourne said her parents had been ‘tremendously supportive’ and added: ‘They found it difficult.
'I don’t think any parent wouldn’t find it difficult. They were worried for me, worried I wouldn’t be able to live a normal life. But now they have seen me come through the process they are proud.’
She had feared her decision to become a woman might end her Army career, but said she discovered it has had an employment policy for transgender men and women since 1999.
‘Despite being perceived as a very masculine old school organisation, the army is actually very forward thinking’, she added.
(culled: mailonline)
HE still looks like a man. Just a beautiful looking man.
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