British Army officer Hannah Winterbourne (left) was born a boy and spent time in the Army as a man (right). The 27-year-old decided while on duty in Afghanistan that she wanted to undergo a sex-change operationAfter 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.
The officer – who has chosen not to reveal her original name because it’s a ‘label’ from her past - is now one year off her full transformation after beginning hormone therapy, having some surgery and a beard removed
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.’
The officer – who has chosen not to reveal her original name because it’s a ‘label’ from her past – said she faced a battle with herself from an early age.
‘But as a very young person I could not pinpoint the fact that I felt that I was a girl.
‘Society says to you that young boys play with trucks and wear blue and I just never really fell into that category…As I got older those feelings became more solidified, then around the age of puberty you begin to understand a little more about gender.
'That’s when … I thought “this is wrong for me, I’m actually female”.’
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 and said she was 'living an act'. She had the operation upon her return to the UK
She said her parents and colleagues have been ‘tremendously supportive’ of her sex-change transformation
She had feared her decision to become a woman might end her Army career, but said it was ‘actually very forward thinking’. She began living openly as a woman after arriving at a new posting in North Yorkshire
Despite this, she was still desperate for an Army career.
At 15, she joined a college for Armed Forces careers, before being sponsored by the Army to study electronic engineering at Newcastle University. Sandhurst soon followed.
The soldier was later posted to Germany, where she asked doctors to begin her transition process.
She was terrified what others might say, and at one point felt she couldn’t carry on living. But after finishing a tour of Afghanistan, she decided her life must change.
When she arrived at a new posting in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, she was living openly as a woman – and is now a year from the full transformation after beginning hormone therapy, having some surgery and her beard removed.
She said: ‘You don’t know how the world is going to react. The fear sits on top of you and buries you. It is hard to claw your way out of it.
‘By going through hormone therapy and some surgery they have allowed me to change my body to an extent where I can feel happy enough to walk down the street as a female.
'People see a female and they interact with me as a female. It has given me self-confidence.’
As a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Captain Winterbourne - who started her career as a man - is the most highly ranked transgender soldier in the Army and the only one to become an officer
The soldier decided her life had to change after completing a tour of duty at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan
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.
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