Jenny, you don't need a 'cure' because there's nothing 'wrong' with you!
Jenny, you don't need a 'cure' because there's nothing 'wrong' with you!
Macey, not sure how many UK, veterans are members on this site, but I am young enough at 69, not to have served national service. Although in my teenage years I did spend a month at an army apprentice college one weekend. Yes that's what it felt like, hated every last minute of it. So as far as I am concerned there is no correlation.
Crossdressed 10 years before I enlisted (Viet Nam Vet). CD and service weren't related. I was a mercenary. I enlisted for the GI Bill education benefits: max 36 months of benefits for 36 months service. Just my luck, 2 months later they changed it to 18 months service for 36 months benefits. Enlisted at 19, squad leader and an E5 at 20. Offered E6 or OCS after 3 years if I'd reenlist. As I told my company commander - "thought about it, laughed about it, forgot about it".
Georgia (Gigi) Maine
Me too, Army and AF. But I think it's just because there are so many veterans from those years gone by!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lovethatdress/
Army 2001-2013. And no, I don't think it had any influence for me.
Life is too short to be boring.
U.S.Navy SeaBees Vietnam 67 to 69. 15 months in country.
Rader
1971 - 1973 I worked for my Uncle and lived in Germany. I worked in a hospital there and, while I didn't under dress, I was hooked on german underwear, quite the variety.
I was in a German department store looking at men's underwear display when a German lady came up to me and asked "Sex? Sex?" I got so embarrassed, one that the woman picked up on my 'interest' in underwear and two that she was asking me for sex. I stammered something and quickly left the area.
I later realized that she was asking/telling me my size..... six which is Sex in Germany. LOL.
No, I don't believe there is any correlation between military service and my CDing. I was a CD'er before I got drafted (Army - 1 year in Nam) and remain one since.
Jenn A --- nothing fancy, just me.
How did I miss this thread ?
I was going to make a post about March 29th being a Vietnam veterans thing but figured it would get deleted.
I think Vietnam vets deserve recognition and I salute all that served there.
I joined the USAF in 1970 to avoid the draft! It had no connection with CDing! I served my 4 years and got out! Hugs Lana Mae
Life is worth living!
"Foxy lady! You look so good!!" Jimi Hendrix
USAF 64 to 86. Played around with lingerie as a fetish before enlisting. Very little opportunity or desire for 1st 10 years. But, when I finally got a commission I had my own room. And made my first real purchase. God bless the Sears Catalog. Much more involved after I retired. All in the closet until I met my second wife. She had a great attitude...bought me lingerie, and played along. After the divorce, I got much more into it. (god bless the internet.) Then last year, my first real public experience at the Rainbow Resort CD/TG weekend. And now I am planning more and being much more experimental. If anything, the military environment and lack of privacy, slowed me down for a long time.
Although I still do not know what caused me to have this dressing desire, I did spend 30 years in the Navy half riding submarines the other half fixing them.
Teri Ray Rural Idaho Girl.
U.S. Air Force 20 years 1968-1988
Although I spent 26 years in the the service primarily in Special Ops I began dressing at age six. No way there is a correlation. I just have always loved being pretty.
I volunteered to enlist in the US Navy right after the Vietnam war ended. Mostly to get money for college, but also to do what was expected of me as my father’s son. He had served in the Navy in both WW2 and Korea.
At 17, I already knew I was bi, but was heavily repressing even thinking about that part of me, even in my teens. I scored well on the entrance exams, and got promised computer training and an E-4 rank on completion of that training. They flew me off to boot camp a month after my 18th birthday. I served honorably, but got out early, because I couldn’t stand living in close quarters with lots of men. I realize now, decades later, that the feminine part of me, which I was repressing, was strenuously objecting to the circumstances.
I think we see a lot of Veterans because of compulsory military service. Many of us are older, and were draft bait in our youth, at times when many had no choice but to serve. Others, like me, may well have tried to ‘hide’ in a macho occupation, even if we were not yet openly cross dressing or queer. But I do not think a past history of military service contributed to most of us being as we are.
Spent 20 years in the Army, 1981-2001. Don’t think it directly affected my crossdressing either way.
It is my opinion, dressing while being young is like playing army when we were children. Could it be for some to overcompensate? Yes in my opinion, other than folks being drafted.Do those already on the TG spectrum gravitate toward military service in their youth as a type of denial?
Oh 33 years time in service for me and yes Vietnam veterans deserve recognition/special day because of how they were treated when coming back home.
Escapism isn't necessarily bad, but is definitely unhealthy in the long term. While helpful in the short term, things will degrade over time. At some point, the escapee will have to face the issue. Things simply blowing over isn't really going to happen in many situations.
left handed.
Blonde is my natural hair color.
Blue eyes.
CD/trans/something (depends on who is doing the defining..)
Army 72-76. I was NOT a good fit in the military and got the heck out as soon as I could gracefully (honorably) do so.
For me, the reasons I joined was to avoid the risk of being drafted into cannon fodder - and to hopefully get some career training that a kid from poverty couldn't afford.
I don't think there was any connection (for me) to my T-ness and my serving in the military.
US Army here. Armor/CAV. For me, it was in my blood. I come from a military family -Father, a couple of uncles, 2 grandfathers. You could say it was the family business. I dressed before i went to college, didn't in college, started again after i graduated.
Twenty years USAF, overlapping the Vietnam conflict. Started experimenting with women's clothing perhaps fifteen years in, at a time when being discovered would have probably gotten me discharged. I don't believe the military caused my cross-dressing, but it probably made it riskier. I think a good part of cross-dressing was curiosity about how women's clothing would feel.
A lot of the non-homosexual, And Non- Transsexual Cross- Dressing is prevalent in "Males who wear UNIFORMS"---Like soldiers, Policemen, Mailmen, etc. In many cases this cross-dressing, is either a conscious or subconscious desire to "Escape" the pressures of "manhood", if only for a little while, and release the stress. As most UNIFORM wearing men often represent a "Male" Stereotype or "image" that one often feels must be "maintained".----Such people find that wearing Female clothing serves to "release the stress" and feel the need to do so ever so often (whether they consciously think so or not)------I too am an "escapist", although I do not wear a uniform. I find CD lets me "escape" (or take a vacation from) both MYSELF AND my "obligations to masculinity"----I can ENTIRELY relax and "unwind". And it can also be a sexual release and "feel good to be pretty" in addition to the primary benefit.---------
I think most of us discovered this at a younger age when we had some opportunity to dress in women's clothing out of curiosity, disguise, etc.----And later on began to use it regularly to release stress of "manhood".-----Of course, ignorance and needless worry about Homosexuality or TG complicate things, until one finally discovers what is really going on, and can be happy with it.
Let's see: got drafted in 1971 and volunteered for Airborne while in Basic Training - spent my time in the US, as a machine gunner - pretty macho stuff! But I have been CD for my entire life - well, my first memory is from when I was about 6 or 7 so pretty much my entire life.
Ambigendrous
Wealth should not be measured by how much you have, but by how little you need - anon
US Army 1968 - 1970. Went in to avoid the draft. Spent my time in Europe. Got out early to go to college. Have been CDing since age 9 or 10, so I don't think military had anything to do with it for me. I actually CD'd a few times while in the service.
For me it wasn't just a job...it was an adventure...
Navy 85-92
Although I dabbled in CD'ing prior to enlisting, I didn't do any during my Service and it wasn't a proving of my manhood thing.
I really wanted an adventure and damn glad I did it, it truly was for me.
My CD'ing didn't really kick in till later in life so I don't see any correlation, but happy to see alot of my veteran brothers? (sisters? I don't know, I'm sure somewhere my senior chief is shaking his head and saying wtf bklyn we over the line already, for those of us who are shellbacks u understand)
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) uses the statistic that trans people are 2x as likely to serve in the military compared to the general population (at least in the USA). You can theorize many causes for this and I think it will be interesting to see the if changes in demographics and social acceptance influence this in the years to come.
For the "Boomer" generation, I believe many MTFs entered the military or other male dominated ("macho") professions to compensate for our inner feelings of femininity. Our FTM brothers may have entered military service as it was a profession more likely to fulfill their needs for affirmation in a profession generally considered masculine. Once the USA moved to an all-volunteer force, the emphasis moved to retaining qualified people in the ranks, leading to the end of the DADT policy and open trans service.
I expect the current Trans ban will be eliminated in the next administration. There are an estimated 15000 active duty trans people serving honorably now, it may be impossible to erase their contribution to national defense, and as these qualified Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines go out the door, who is going to replace them? Recruitment has been falling short of goals in the past few years.
Warmly,
Sheren Kelly
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