Major Erica Vandal didn’t choose military life — it was part of what her family called The Plan. Born in Baumholder, Germany, near the France and Luxembourg border, she grew up in a world of service, structure, and sacrifice. Her father, the late Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Vandal, served over four decades in the U.S. Army, eventually rising to command the Eighth Army in South Korea. In 2019, the Army named its state-of-the-art simulation center at Camp Humphreys after him — a tribute to a commander whose vision for soldier readiness and care left a lasting legacy. Her brothers followed the same path, becoming distinguished military officers and pilots — one in the Marine Corps, the other in the Navy.
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Upholding a military legacy
For Vandal, there was never any doubt about her future. The Plan — always with a capital T and capital P — was clear: sports, West Point, military service. The Army wasn’t just a career; it was a birthright. She graduated from the Department of Defense high school in Hohenfels, Germany, after growing up on military bases around the world. She has lived in more than 20 different homes to date. As a student, she was unstoppable — valedictorian, student body president, Eagle Scout, European wrestling champion, and a star on the football and wrestling teams. She wore her father’s boots as a child and followed his footsteps into West Point, graduating in 2011 with honors.
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But beneath her polished uniform and long list of achievements, Vandal carried a truth she felt she had to hide since childhood.
“I remember being 6 years old and telling friends I wished I was a girl,” she told The Advocate. But that wish, in a conservative military family, felt impossible. So she buried it.
She tried everything to conform.
“If I embraced masculinity enough, I thought I could learn to love it,” she said. She played her father’s sports, modeled her life on his, and internalized the belief that her identity had no place in the military. “I did everything I could to be the best man I could be,” she said. She wasn’t just following The Plan — she was living it to the letter, trying to overwrite her truth with discipline and duty.
Major Erica Vandal is an esteemed and awarded leader.Courtesy Erica Vandal
Coming out — and rising through the ranks
By 2019, when she was 30, the internal struggle had become unbearable. She sought therapy. Two years later, she received a gender dysphoria diagnosis from an Army provider. While stationed in South Korea, she came out and began medically transitioning. To her relief, her command responded with support and respect. Throughout her transition, she never missed a single day of work.
Since then, Vandal has thrived. She deployed to Romania, led soldiers in the field, and held senior leadership positions — all while taking nothing more than two hormone pills a day.
“It’s a nonissue,” she said.
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No matter the grueling field exercises, the late-night briefings, or the physically demanding training cycles, she showed up — ready, prepared, and unwavering in her commitment to her soldiers and her mission. Her record speaks for itself. In the years since she came out, she has not only maintained peak performance but has continued to rise through the ranks.
In a recent declaration to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, she underscored that commitment: “Being transgender has had no impact on my military readiness — since beginning my transition, I have not even taken a sick day.”
In her 13-year career, Vandal has earned the Bronze Star, a Meritorious Service Medal, and multiple commendations. She holds two master’s degrees, one in business and another in operational studies. Today, she serves as a brigade fire support officer in New York, overseeing dozens of soldiers and shaping mission strategy. Her role requires her to lead, certify, and supervise fire support teams, coordinate lethal and nonlethal battlefield effects, and provide commanders with strategic recommendations.
Trans troops are mission-ready
Her transition didn’t hinder her — it made her stronger.
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Thousands of transgender Americans are currently serving across all branches of the U.S. military, many in high-stakes roles such as combat arms, aviation, and intelligence, according to SPARTA Pride.
The organization emphasizes that transgender service members meet the same physical and readiness standards as their peers, with gender-affirming care posing no greater impact on mission capability than routine medical procedures.
She has also become an unexpected source of education for her peers and superiors, often answering questions about policies affecting transgender service members.
“As a transgender service member, you have to answer those questions,” she said. “We’re a small population, and we’re expected to be the experts.”
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But while she has become an unofficial educator on being trans in the military, she has never had to prove her worth to the soldiers under her command. Their support has never wavered.
“Since I’ve come out, I have received nothing but support, acceptance, and love from subordinates, peers, and superiors across the board,” she said.
But in January, her future came under threat.
Major Erica Vandal's family is steeped in military tradition.Courtesy Erica Vandal
A personal fight turns political
President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14183, titled Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, which explicitly targeted transgender service members. The order wrongly claimed that expressing a “false gender identity” conflicted with military values, disparaging transgender troops as lacking “integrity” and “discipline.” For Vandal, it wasn’t just political—it was personal.
She became one of 32 plaintiffs in Talbott v. Trump, a case brought by GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights to block the policy.
Related: Judge reinstates nationwide stop to Trump’s trans military ban
Two weeks ago, she sat with fellow plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In a searing five-hour hearing, Judge Ana Reyes dismantled the administration’s arguments, exposing their lack of evidence and reliance on harmful stereotypes. She called the policy “soaked in animus and dripping with pretext.”
On March 18, Judge Reyes issued a preliminary injunction, halting the ban from taking effect. The 79-page ruling rejected the government’s claims that transgender troops undermine readiness, unit cohesion, or military budgets. She pointed out that the military spends far more on Viagra than it does on gender-affirming care.
“The same medications and surgeries banned for trans troops are routinely approved for cisgender ones,” the judge added.
For Vandal, the ruling brought both validation and relief.
“It affirms what we’ve been saying all along,” she said. “We’re meeting standards. We’re serving with honor. We belong.”
A ban would have cost her more than a job. It would have meant the loss of health care and income for her wife and their two children — a 10-year-old daughter born in Hawaii and an 8-year-old son born in Colorado. It would have cut short a career still on track for promotion. She’s currently transferring her GI Bill to her kids. If she is forced out, they could lose those benefits, too.
Making The Plan her own
Vandal hopes to retire after 20 years, like her father. The Plan may have started as his, but she has made it her own.
Through her career, she knows that diversity strengthens the ranks.
Related: Federal judge dismantles Trump's trans military ban in explosive hearing
“If someone is capable of meeting every standard, why shouldn’t they be allowed to serve?” she said.
Off duty, Vandal is a mom who snowboards with her kids, hikes, and crochets while binging Netflix.
“Whatever my children happen to want to do at the moment typically ends up being what I’m doing,” she said. “In the winter months, we sign them up for snowboarding and skiing lessons, and I’m usually on the slopes right there with them. Sometimes, I take a breather and hang out in the lodge with a coffee by the fire instead, but I’m out there with them.”
She also picked up crocheting after helping her daughter figure it out.
“It makes me sound like a little old lady, but now I sit there, watch whatever the newest Netflix show is, and just crochet,” she said with a laugh.
Of course, exercise is high on her list of daily activities. She maintains the same level of physical fitness expected of any officer in her position. Whether it’s grueling field exercises, intense training cycles, or the rigorous physical fitness tests required of officers, she says she stays prepared.
She’s still following The Plan. She just had to rewrite it a little first.
Major Erica Vandal is an esteemed and awarded leader.Courtesy Erica Vandal
Major Erica Vandal's family is steeped in military tradition.Courtesy Erica Vandal
