SAN ANTONIO – As the U.S. Department of Defense tries to ban transgender people from the military, a retired Coast Guard captain recalled living through the back-and-forth battle of being transgender while serving.
The U.S. Department of Defense has labeled gender dysphoria as “incompatible with the military” and plans to separate current transgender members from their military service careers.
Efforts to limit transgender and gender-questioning service members from the military are not new.
Allison Caputo served in the Coast Guard for 26.5 years.
“I went on many, many search and rescue missions,” Caputo said. “If we weren’t there, those people would not have made it.”
Caputo worked locally in South Texas on the southern border as well as across the country and world on several other missions. She worked with the command post at Ft. Sam Houston and worked directly with border patrol and ICE.
Caputo said she experienced these opportunities and recovery missions while in limbo over whether she could be herself, coming out as transgender to her command while in service.
She also experienced regressions in policies surrounding being openly transgender in the military.
“They had repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in 2011,” Caputo said. “So, they had allowed transgender service, and I had come out to my command.”
Caputo recalled being in Washington, D.C., in 2017 when she saw President Donald Trump post on X, formerly Twitter:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......
....Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
“It was sort of like a lightning bolt,” Caputo said. “It was like, oh, well, now there’s not going to be transgender service.”
Caputo got an exception to stay but struggled with her mental health.
“I (couldn’t) do it anymore,” she said. “I just thought about getting in my truck and driving off the bridge, because I didn’t want to deal with that — coming out to people.”
Caputo said she then called a hotline for help.
“They immediately put me over at Walter Reed Medical Hospital,” Caputo said. “That had other people in the military that were trans, and I was like, oh my God, I thought I was the only person with this problem.”
A 2020 survey in the National Library of Medicine estimated 8,000 people in the U.S. military are transgender, but the number fluctuates because of changing policies around being publicly transgender.
On Feb. 28, 2025, the Department of Defense released the following statement, in part:
“Service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria will soon be processed for separation.”
Reflecting on the memo, Caputo recalled feeling confusion and fear about what would happen the next day.
The memo said those service members could voluntarily separate from the military with pay, and those with over 18 years of service would be eligible for early retirement.
However, that’s not Caputo’s goal.
“We need more compassion, more compassion in our country,” Caputo said. “Transgender people in the military want to be equal just like everyone else. They want to be treated just like everyone else.”
The policy change is being challenged and lies in the hands of U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes.
Reyes said she hopes to make a decision early next week on whether the gender dysphoria ban will proceed as currently written.
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