Chelsea Manning reveals the real reason Bradley Manning joined the military – TheBlaze.com

Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier formerly known as Pvt. Bradley Manning, spoke out about the reason shedecided to join the military in the first place but it didnt have much to do withserving thecountry.

Manning was found guilty in 2013 on charges of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified, sensitive government documents to WikiLeaks during a tour in Iraq. The day after a military court sentences Manning to 35 years in prison, she announced that she was transgender.

Manning became the first known soldierto undergo hormone treatment therapy while incarcerated. Shortly before leaving office, former President Barack Obama commuted Mannings sentence,and she was released in May 2017 after serving approximately sevenyears of a35-year sentence.

Manning, in an op-ed for Yahoo!, said that transgenderism and an ongoingbattle with sexuality were catalysts forenlisting inthe Army.

The former U.S. military analyst admitted in the Yahoo!op-ed that enrolling in the Army was all about provinga point to herself and to other people.

By the time I enrolled in the military at 20, I had spent years in denial about who I really was, Manning wrote. I was openly gay and would go through periods of cross-dressing, and had even thought about transitioning, but I was in such complete denial.

To overcompensate and because I was constantly being reminded of how inadequate I was as a male I enrolled in the military, Manningcontinued. My thought was, I must enlist and man up.'

Manning explained that the worst thing about being a pre-transition individualin the Army was young male soldiersrhetoric.

The one place I never felt at all comfortable in the military was in private circles of conversation. Theres a tendency, especially among young men, to objectify and denigrate women behind closed doors. Theyd say ridiculous, raunchy things about women call them sluts and whores, basically just treat them like objects. It was a line I just couldnt cross. Id try to avoid those kinds of macho conversations, because thats inevitably what would come up. Id get very, very distant.

Manning wrotethat she likelywould have been more successfulin her role as a U.S. military analyst if shed had the freedom to be out and argued againstthe notion that, if she hadnt been a trans soldier, the WikiLeaks incident would not have occurred.

I loved my job and I took my military career very seriously. Theres this idea out there that, had I not been trans, the leaks and stuff would never have happened. But to my mind those are two completely separate things. Had I been out, I think I still would have been attracted to the military, but I would have been more comfortable and gotten along with people better. Being closeted often put me in situations where I couldnt concentrate or even think straight.

Mannings comments on transgenderism in the militarycame just weeks after President Donald Trump proposed a ban ontransgenders serving in the U.S. military.

Trump saidin July, After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.

Trumps move to ban transgender individuals in the military came on the heels of military leaders exploring options to delay the enlistment of transgender individuals to further assess behaviors and liabilities.

Then House Democrats signed a letter to the office of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, telling the Pentagon not to comply with Trumps ban on transgenders serving in the U.S. military.

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Chelsea Manning reveals the real reason Bradley Manning joined the military - TheBlaze.com