'Walking into work as trans man was scarier than flying to Iraq'

ok.co.uk:

While getting ready for school aged 14, I looked at myself in the mirror and let out a frustrated sigh. I was in a loving, supportive family with my dad Terry, mum Sharon and two younger siblings, and everything from the outside looked fine.

But I knew I wasn't happy in my own skin. I preferred shorts to skirts, even wearing them under a bridesmaid's dress at a family wedding.

And although I wasn't being bullied at school, I just didn't fit in. After my A levels I went to university to study criminology, but dropped out after two months and joined the Royal Air Force in August 2013.

I felt so proud to be in the military uniform and was able to push myself every day in a traditionally masculine role. We did a tour in Iraq, which was terrifying yet invigorating, and I finally thought I had found my place in the world.