Jan Hamilton - Rejoining The British Army

Rejoining The British Army

During 1995, Hamilton rejoined the Army. As an over-age candidate, she first joined the Territorial Army and then the Regular Army. She joined the Parachute Regiment in 2002, having already passed the stringent selection process at age 35, and went on to attend All Arms Commando Course and elements of Special Forces selection with 22 SAS, becoming a combat survival and a physical training instructor. She served with the Cheshire Regiment and The Highlanders in a variety of command appointments, as well as a number of staff appointments both in the UK and overseas, with a speciality in Information and Psychological Operations. She served on operations in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. She returned to the United Kingdom in 2006 and spent a period recovering from two continuous years of operations before taking a position back in Afghanistan with NATO Forces, advising on specialist counter-narcotics operations, from where she was medevacked back to the UK with a serious infection following an IED incident.

Her counsellors confirmed in early 2007 that she had gender dysphoria and from that point she began to live in preparation for surgical intervention. Since then, Jan has had breast augmentation, facial re-construction and finally full gender re-assignment in early 2008.

She informed her Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. AABR Bruce of Crionaich, of her intention to change gender, and was dismissed from her up-coming post as head of Media Operations in Gibraltar without being granted an interview, to which she was legally entitled. For 14 months, Lt. Col. Bruce refused to meet with her or comment on the future of her career, despite repeated requests. A senior officer told her, "You've gone from hero to zero in one day". Hamilton was prevented from appearing at the Parachute Regiment annual officer's dinner. Her family sent her belongings to her with a note saying, "Our son is dead – never contact us again."

Her lawyers repeatedly sought to meet with the Army to settle the issue out of court. Transgender individuals in the UK are protected under a number of legislative acts, including the Sex Discrimination Act Amendments (1999) and the Gender Recognition Act (2004), which make it illegal to treat a person differently on the grounds of gender alone, with the aim of protecting the rights of trans-people in the work-place. Although other people in the Royal Navy and Air Force have successfully transitioned in the service, as the first officer and first paratrooper, Jan's otherwise macho background caused considerable surprise to the Army, particularly in the light of constant media attention.

The issue has now been amicably resolved and Jan has resigned her commission. Army policy on trans-gender soldiers has now been formalised to allow soldiers to transition in-service in large part following Jan's example. The Regimental Colonel of The Parachute Regiment has written to Jan to thank her for her "years of loyal service as an Airborne Officer".".