An accomplished service member who once won the ‘Soldier of the Year’ award for her leadership and achievements kept a major secret throughout her military career.
Karen Holmes enlisted in the Maryland Defense Force in 2011 as a corporal, and over the next five years, she climbed the ranks and earned coveted awards.
But for nearly half a decade, Holmes kept quiet about her big secret: she was transgender.
At the time she joined the Force, the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy had only just been repealed, so she was worried how others would take the truth.
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ adopted in 1994 under the Clinton administration, prohibited LGBTQ soldiers from openly expressing their identities to their comrades, with the penalty for doing so potentially being discharged.
An accomplished service member who once won the ‘Soldier of the Year’ award for her leadership and achievements kept a major secret throughout her military career
Karen Holmes enlisted in the Maryland Defense Force in 2011 as a corporal, and over the next five years, she climbed the ranks and earned coveted awards
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Holmes, who joined the force only two months after the policy was repealed, said that ‘the transitional period in the years that followed while serving… were challenging.’
At the time, she didn’t know how the other soldiers would react to her transgender identity and she feared being outed.
‘I just didn’t know how the response was going to be,’ she told WTOP.
‘I kept it very secret.’
In 2001, Holmes began working for Americorps, a governmental agency that offers volunteer service to people in difficult situations across the country.
Through her impressive work with the organization, she caught the attention of the Maryland Defense Force, who recruited her for her service at a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) rodeo.
Early on in the onboarding process, though, Holmes feared that the recruiters would discover that she was transgender.
‘After I transitioned – to have to hide who you are – I was afraid if somebody spotted me,’ she revealed to WTOP.
But for nearly half a decade, Holmes kept quiet about her big secret: she was transgender
‘What if somebody knew that I was transgender?’
Fortunately, she was able to secure a physical from her personal doctor and submit her passport, which featured the name she had changed from birth.
After Harris was accepted by the state force, she began her career as a modest corporal but soon rose through the ranks and drew the admiration of the other service members, who had no idea she was transgender.
During her time in the organization, she joined the Color Guard team and led various teams, the members of which were responsive to her orders.
Then Holmes’s sterling performance caught the attention of the Maryland State Guard Association, who named her the NCO Soldier of the year.
In 2013, Holmes garnered national recognition and was honored by the State Guard Association of the United States as ‘Solider of the Year.’
At the time of the award, Brigadier General Brian R. Kelm said: ‘Sgt. Holmes perseveres through any and all obstacles in her efforts to complete a mission. She is very deserving of this honor and she continues to impress us all.’
‘What if somebody knew that I was transgender?’ Holmes asked
Holmes said that her success prompted many female soldiers to approach her and thank her for representing them on a national stage.
‘The response I heard at both awards were the female soldiers coming up to me and going, “great job, you’re doing it for us,” and I’m like saying to myself, “yeah,” because that’s in my mind, heart and spirit.’
She continued: ‘But I’m also doing it for the transgender community which I can’t talk about because they didn’t want us in there.’
By the time Holmes retired from the Force in 2017, she was a Staff Sergeant.
During a television interview with Baltimore’s ABC-TV affiliate, Holmes discussed transgender people serving in the military, at which point everyone in her command learned that she was transgender.
In 2013, Holmes garnered national recognition and was honored by the State Guard Association of the United States as ‘Solider of the Year’
Holmes said that the show’s producers reached out to the National Guard, which is supported by the Maryland Defense Force, for comment.
She recounted that her fellow soldiers responded with only support.
Holmes added: ‘We are always backing up each other. That’s who you’d consider a battle buddy, you’ve got somebody there who’s going to watch your back.’
After retiring from the Force, Holmes joined the Veterans Reserve Corps, where she serves as a Chief Warrant Officer.