Maj. Erica Vandal had just finished briefing 200 soldiers on her brigade’s plan to employ artillery fire in a big combat training exercise. She exited the cavernous warehouse where the troops had gathered and was headed to the bathroom between sessions when her phone reconnected to the network and began pinging.
Dozens of new messages flashed across her screen. One was from her mother.
“Just heard about the Supreme Court ruling,” it read. “That totally stinks! How are you doing?”
The other texts confirmed what she already assumed. The justices had ruled that President Trump could immediately begin expelling transgender troops from the military. Major Vandal, 36, and thousands of others would be forced out.
It didn’t seem real. She found it hard to conceive of a life outside the Army. The daughter of a three-star general, she had grown up on bases around the world and thought of them collectively as home. She had been a West Point cadet, an artillery officer and a Bronze Star recipient for her service in Afghanistan.
In combat, she had taken cover in concrete bunkers from incoming Taliban rockets and, alongside her troops, fired back at the enemy. She had pushed herself to exhaustion during training exercises, then grabbed a few hours of sleep in a dusty Humvee. She had found meaning and purpose in placing her soldiers’ needs ahead of her own.
“Supreme Court just ruled,” she texted her wife. “I’m out.”
Hulking Chinook helicopters thrummed overhead. Major Vandal could smell diesel fuel and dust in the air. She knew she could not lead the next planning session without falling apart, so she pulled her soldiers together and told them the news, then handed off her briefing notes and retreated to her pickup truck to call one of her lawyers.
