X-PASTER
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 12, 2007
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'A year ago I was Ian, 16 stone with 14-inch biceps, a Captain in the Paras. Today I'm Jan, 11 stone and size 12
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hamilton"]By CAPT. JAN HAMILTON[/ame]
A year of painful surgery and Captain
Ian Hamilton's sex change was complete
He was an elite soldier in the Paras and had served in every major conflict for the last 20 years - but Capt Ian Hamilton could not go on living as a man. Twelve months on and after painful surgery, the new Capt Hamilton tells HER extraordinary story...
It's the Airborne creed - "1000, 2000, 3000, check canopy!" - the litany that Paratroopers shout as they hurl themselves into the void, hoping and praying for the crack of the canopy as their parachute opens to bring them to Earth.
This time, as the chant left my lips, I wasn't jumping into a war zone with the world's finest fighting unit.
This time, I wasn't a Captain in the Parachute Regiment. This time, I wasn't part of the esprit of Britain's elite warriors.
I was alone, strapped to a hospital trolley halfway around the world in Thailand, and about to undergo 12 hours of irreversible surgery by a surgeon I had met barely 24 hours before. Surgery that would leave me, in the eyes of the world, a woman.
From this day on, nobody would ever look at me and see a man. It was the culmination of the hopes and dreams of 42 years of secret longing. I was terrified.
As Ian, I had endured bullets, bombs and rockets, caused the death of men in combat and seen my own soldiers killed. I had been decorated by my country for serving overseas, endured the toughest selection processes the Army could devise and served in every major conflict of the past 20 years.
But nothing could have prepared me for the moral courage I've had to call on to make my transition from Captain Ian Hamilton, 16-stone Paratrooper with 14in biceps, to Jan Hamilton, an 11-stone, size-12 woman.
Just ten months earlier, I had been training troops for operations. The last picture taken of me in uniform is still painful to look at.
I sent it to a close relative, who surprised me by replying that she felt sorry for me.
She said: "Your eyes are dead.' She was right.
I had clawed my way back into uniform following six months of painful rehabilitation after returning, wounded by a roadside bomb, from Afghanistan.
I had done it all by myself ? the Army didn't care if I got fit again or not.
Read more...
*Captain Jan, the transsexual Para, sues the Army for unfair dismissal
*The week Captain Ian told the Paras he was having a sex change
My unit did not write to me once during that time. I'm afraid it's the same for any wounded serviceman.
Whenever you're off the radar, you get left to your own devices.
But I was forced to undergo endless physical and mental evaluations before they accepted me back. I gave them the answers they wanted to hear: "Yes, sir, good to crack on...Ready for anything, sir."
Read more: Dailymail CAPT. JAN HAMILTON
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hamilton"]By CAPT. JAN HAMILTON[/ame]
A year of painful surgery and Captain
Ian Hamilton's sex change was complete
He was an elite soldier in the Paras and had served in every major conflict for the last 20 years - but Capt Ian Hamilton could not go on living as a man. Twelve months on and after painful surgery, the new Capt Hamilton tells HER extraordinary story...
It's the Airborne creed - "1000, 2000, 3000, check canopy!" - the litany that Paratroopers shout as they hurl themselves into the void, hoping and praying for the crack of the canopy as their parachute opens to bring them to Earth.
This time, as the chant left my lips, I wasn't jumping into a war zone with the world's finest fighting unit.
This time, I wasn't a Captain in the Parachute Regiment. This time, I wasn't part of the esprit of Britain's elite warriors.
I was alone, strapped to a hospital trolley halfway around the world in Thailand, and about to undergo 12 hours of irreversible surgery by a surgeon I had met barely 24 hours before. Surgery that would leave me, in the eyes of the world, a woman.
From this day on, nobody would ever look at me and see a man. It was the culmination of the hopes and dreams of 42 years of secret longing. I was terrified.
As Ian, I had endured bullets, bombs and rockets, caused the death of men in combat and seen my own soldiers killed. I had been decorated by my country for serving overseas, endured the toughest selection processes the Army could devise and served in every major conflict of the past 20 years.
But nothing could have prepared me for the moral courage I've had to call on to make my transition from Captain Ian Hamilton, 16-stone Paratrooper with 14in biceps, to Jan Hamilton, an 11-stone, size-12 woman.
Just ten months earlier, I had been training troops for operations. The last picture taken of me in uniform is still painful to look at.
I sent it to a close relative, who surprised me by replying that she felt sorry for me.
She said: "Your eyes are dead.' She was right.
I had clawed my way back into uniform following six months of painful rehabilitation after returning, wounded by a roadside bomb, from Afghanistan.
I had done it all by myself ? the Army didn't care if I got fit again or not.
Read more...
*Captain Jan, the transsexual Para, sues the Army for unfair dismissal
*The week Captain Ian told the Paras he was having a sex change
My unit did not write to me once during that time. I'm afraid it's the same for any wounded serviceman.
Whenever you're off the radar, you get left to your own devices.
But I was forced to undergo endless physical and mental evaluations before they accepted me back. I gave them the answers they wanted to hear: "Yes, sir, good to crack on...Ready for anything, sir."
Read more: Dailymail CAPT. JAN HAMILTON
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KSHjSnnSE"]CAPT. JAN HAMILTON[/ame]
