Earlier this week, a new kind of Navy SEAL memoir came out. It’s the story of Kristin Beck, a former SEAL who lived the majority of her life as Chris Beck, and who retired in 2011. After she retired, she started the long process of coming out as transgender:
In every Navy SEAL is a memoir, it seems lately. Retired SEAL Kristin Beck’s new memoir,published on Tuesday and titled Warrior Princess, is a bit different, though. In it, Beck describes how, over the course of her 20 year military career, including thirteen deployments over the globe, she slowly became more and more aware that was she meant to live life as a woman — a vexing and often tormenting realization for a long-time member of an elite all-male unit that went on to capture and kill Osama bin Laden.
Kristin was surprised at the outpouring of support from fellow SEALs:
Soon, the responses from SEALs stationed all around the world suddenly started pouring in: “Brother, I am with you … being a SEAL is hard, this looks harder. Peace” * “I can’t say I understand the decision but I respect the courage. Peace and happiness be upon you…Jim” * ” … I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that Kris has all the support and respect from me that Chris had … and quite possibly more. While I’m definitely surprised, I’m also in amazement at the strength you possess and the courage necessary to combat the strangers and ‘friends’ that I’m guessing have reared their ugly heads prior to and since your announcement. …”
Here is Kristin talking to Anderson Cooper about her journey:
