Most of course are from veterans who are no longer in the service. We are still deemed unfit for service by the US Military.
Recently, The Army Times ran a story about a trans man who is beginning his transition on duty-in Afganistan.
Here's part of the story:
"She’s a lesbian, and almost everyone in her unit knows it.
She wears her hair cropped short and has a distinctly boyish appearance.
And she’s becoming manlier by the day, now that she’s started taking male hormones.
Call her Keith. That’s the name this 26-year-old specialist, now deployed to Afghanistan, plans to take when she completes a transition begun several months ago when she started giving herself testosterone injections every other week, under the direction of a civilian doctor who specializes in gender changes.
“It’s going well. My voice is deeper, I’m getting more muscle. I feel more energy. I feel more like myself,” she told Military Times in a recent interview via Skype from her containerized housing unit in Afghanistan.
Keith declined to be identified by her real name because under military policy, troops diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” are deemed medically unfit for service and face administrative separation.
The repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in September 2011 cleared the way for gay troops to serve openly but did not address transgender individuals, defined as people who don’t identify with their birth gender."
Of course there is so much more to this story and you can read it here.
