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Battle Dress

by | 18th, September 2003

‘WE OFFER the following Daily Telegraph headline without comment: “When Sgt Major Joe said he wanted to be Joanne his men had only one response – to go on parade in drag”.

All the lads loved Mess Sergeant Barrett’s mince

Did we say without comment? Well, strike that. Something must be said. In what way precisely is this story in any way surprising or unusual?

The facts are simple. Sgt Major Joe Rushton became Warrant Officer Joanne Wingate, whereapon her colleagues all turned up in drag. This has upset Joanne, who is now seeking redress at a tribunal.

This raises the question of why Joanne believed the mass-drag act to be anything to do with her. After all, it is a well known fact that soldiers and sailors spend all their spare time dressing up in drag – often on the pretext of doing it “for charity”. So there is probably a perfectly innocent explanation for this particular outbreak of cross-dressing.

Furthermore, there is no reason why these fellow troopers –

or possibly “troupers” – would have seen Joanne as in any way unusual. To put it another way, when was the last time you heard of a transsexual who was NOT a former army officer? Exactly.

“The army found it very difficult to deal with the issue of transsexuality,” says Joanne. Hardly surprising really, given the heavy toll it has taken on its ranks over the years.’



Posted: 18th, September 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink