Transgender ex-special forces reveals inner battle to accept true identity

Emma Pearson of The Mirror tells the story about Alana McLaughlin, a transgender woman who for years tried to “man up” in the hyper-masculine environment of the US Special Forces.

Research shows that trans Americans are actually twice as likely to serve in the military as non-transgender people, which tells us that Alana is not the only one trying this approach.

It never works. 

Alana says: “I joined the military initially because I felt like it was my only option to either force myself into manhood somehow or die.

"I wanted very much to be actively engaged in combat so I would have the opportunity to get myself killed. I view it very much as passive suicide.

"I fought, shot, lifted weights, I grew beards and I rode a Harley and it didn’t change anything. I would still cry myself to sleep at night.”

Pearson says that Alana has now made a group of firm friends who accept her as a transgender woman:

And now she hopes to find someone special to share in her new life.