To the Editor:

Re “The Courage of Transgender Soldiers,” by Julia Baird (Sunday Review, Feb. 23):

I am a trans woman who served in the North Carolina National Guard from 2003 to 2010, and with my unit in southern Iraq from 2009 to 2010.

I owe the United States Army a great deal. I became an adult in the military and went to college through the G.I. Bill. The military helped me become financially stable enough to medically transition. Through the military I found many of my most trusted friends, and deepened my faith.

I owe so much of my understanding of the world and my faith in God to my time as a soldier in Iraq. The military is certainly not for everyone, and is often misused. But everyone deserves the chance to volunteer to serve in his country’s military. Everyone deserves the right to take on the risks for his country and to have the benefits of that work.

That’s why it saddens me to know that there are soldiers who are still forced to live inauthentic lives, hiding their true selves. Britain and Australia, two of our closest military allies, recognize that a soldier’s gender identity has no bearing on his or her commitment to our country or an ability to fulfill his duty.