Transgender Vets and the Veteran

Yes I am a transgender vet and yes I have posted nearly every story I can find on the subject.
My experience with the Veterans Administration (VA) has been overall positive but unfortunately other transgender vets (even in my own state of Ohio) have not fared as well. The VA centers seem to operate on their own agendas, perhaps not to the extent of denying directed care for transgender veterans as much as the respect shown in the process.
The latest story I found is a very positive one from CBS in Minneapolis, Minnesota and involves the story of a trans man who served as a woman in the Marines:


"There is a program available at the VA hospital in Minneapolis that’s serving an often hidden population — transgender veterans. Peter Klicker served in the Marines as a woman, Karin Klicker. Years later, the veteran says he’s finally found the help he’s hoped for. Klicker grew up in a house full of older brothers in the ’60s and ’70s. And, one summer, the then 7-year-old Karin convinced a group of guys she was a boy, so she’d be able to play baseball. “When you’re seven, you don’t really think about that foresight,” Klicker said. “My mother made me wear a dress on the first day of school.” Jan James, a nurse practitioner at the medical center, has taken it a step further. As part of her doctorate program, she had to identify an underserved patient group. As part of her plan, the clinic now offers hormone therapy and counseling services to transgender veterans, so they’re not forced to find black-market alternatives. “My mission is not just to identify that group, but to give them a voice within the VA system,” James said.

 Go here for more!

Dusting Off the Old Pix

Every once in a while here in Cyrsti's Condo I start going back through back posts and pictures.
It is always hard for me to believe enough of you from litterally around the globe have seen fit to stop back more than 337 thousand times over the couple of years and wade through some 1300 posts.

Before the end of the year it would be fun to do a "Best Of" photo spread-or at least play with the idea.
Check the example to the left of a member of Prince William's military squadron of a great before and after.

Or, this dazzling shot of a young womanless beauty contest contestant at his school!

Or

Summer Is Over

In my part of the world, fall has not quite arrived but the seasonal changes are close.
I love the seasonal changes. The trees change their colors, the fields are ready for harvest and the frost is on the pumpkin.
AND! I survived my personal late summer hormonal furnace!!! Perhaps I will have short respite from the knowing stares I get from my genetic women friends who know full well what I'm going through (even if they are not totally sure why I would.)
As I push towards the one year mark on HRT (at the end of the year), I wonder if the cold of winter will affect me more.
If those chilly blasts do make me shiver...then my women friends will once again look knowingly at me and smile. Little do they know, it's me getting the last laugh!