A soldier first: transgender veteran of Afghanistan war fights for identity
At 5-foot-5 and 140 pounds, the soldier was “petit gars” — little boy — to 41 male Canadian Forces comrades. To their Afghan army allies, the armed woman in full combat gear was an object of unwanted flirtation.
Looking back, Cpl. Vincent Lamarre now realizes his Canadian comrades were closer to the truth of what he felt he was at the time, and has since become — a man.
And he’s amused by how amorously he was regarded by the Afghan National Army.
“They were very surprised to see a woman do a man’s job,” Lamarre explains in an interview. “I found it funny at the beginning, but sometimes I had to make them understand I am not an object.”