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Nicole Millican

Nicole Millican is a American transgender woman, born in 1975. She was raised in the small town of Medical Lake, Washington, home to 4,000 people. She is Active Duty in the United States Air Force and is also an active advocate in the transgender and LGBT movements.

Assigned male at birth, she was given the name Robert Millican and raised in Washington (State) by her family. At age 14, she was caught by her father wearing her sibling's dress. She came out as a cross dresser to her father, Robert Millican, who refused to acknowledge this as acceptable behavior. She began to not only question her gender identity, but also her sexual orientation. Her father, unsure of what action to take, began sending her to what would be considered today as conversion therapy. After only 3 weeks, she caved and promised to cease the behavior. She began working part time at age 14, set to be able to one day live as she pleased. By her senior year at Medical Lake High School, she was able to move out on her own. However, saddled with school and two part time jobs, she rarely had opportunities to express her desired gender.

Early Life
Assigned male at birth, she was given the name Robert Millican. As a young child, she loved visiting her grandmothers house every Wednesday night. While her parents were busy playing in a Dart League in Spokane, Washington, she enjoyed having her fingernails done by her Grandmother. It was always short lived, as it had o be removed before attending Medical Lake Elementary School the following morning. She always found fun building with Legos, Lincoln logs, and Erector sets. She also had no problem playing with toys typically associated with girls, including Cabbage Patch Kids, Barbies, and she loved her Glo Worm. She grew up watching unisex cartoon during the 1980's as well. Topping her list of masculine show included; He-man, Thundercats, and Rescue Rangers. On the feminine side, she preferred Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Rainbow Brite. She always dreamed of sharing power between both her feminine side, as well as her masculine side.

During her early teens, she began to question her own identity. Confused by puberty, she assumed this was just a natural feeling. Unsure of the path to take, she began experimenting with her feminine side. She began wearing her sister's dresses and experimenting with her gender identity. Living in a small town didn't offer much opportunity to educate herself, and terms such as transexual and transgender were not even in her vocabulary. Confused, she began to question her sexual orientation. At age 14, her father caught her wearing a dress. Demanding to know what was going on, she came out as confused about her sexual orientation, and thought she might be gay. Her father, unsure of what action to take, began sending her to what would be considered today as conversion therapy. After only 3 weeks, her psychologist recommended that her sister be brought in for the session. Nicole knew that if her sister found out what had happened, she would soon be the laughing stock of the High School. She was already constantly bullied for being a nerd, and possibly gay, so she finally caved and promised to cease the behaviors.

During her High School Years, she became more and more introverted. She never voluntarily answered any questions, unless called upon. She opted to get a part time job at age 14, instead of participating in after-school activities. She also participated in JROTC, and was often refered to as a "smurf". Bullied for being a nerd, potentially gay, and a smurf, she retreated to her room while at home. She rarely participated in family activities, and found herself finding solace in video games. At age 16, she found the constant teasing overwhelming, and began dating a girl to prove she wasn't gay. The relationship was based on mutual agreement between both parties, but didn't last long. She began occasionally climbing out her window in the early hours of the morning to watch the sunrise from atop her parents house. She wondered what the world would be like without her, and was considering suicide. Although suicidal thoughts were present, she never had any intent to act on them. Instead, she vowed to escape the small town mentality and live her life as she saw fit. She continued to work throughout her High School years, and by her Senior year, she was finally living in her own apartment. Here, she could freely live and express her gender as she liked.

After graduating in 1994, she was working two part time jobs. She was happy to be on her own, but she still couldn't escape the constant bullying, even at work. Everyone of similar age in the small town knew her. She began to look at the costs associated with attending Spokane Falls Community College, but quickly found the cost to be unreasonable for her income level. She applied for a position at Spokane Industrial Park, but the commute was not financially feasible at $5.25/hour. Finally, with no other way out of small town life and unable to logically determine her own identity, she opted to join the United States Air Force. In her mind, she needed to prove her assigned gender, by joining a very masculine oriented organization. The military offered: a full time guaranteed aptitude-area career, college benefits, travel, and would force her to accept herself as her assigned gender. She met with a recruiter, joined under the Delayed Entry Program for a guaranteed Electronics Field career. Finally, in October 1995, her career choice was available, and she left for Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

Military Life Highlights
Nicole graduated from Basic Military Training in December, 1995 and entered her technical training. After completing Electronic Principles at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, she was re-assigned to Sheppard AFB, Texas for follow-on training as an Avionics Test Stations technician. She finally graduated in August of 1996, and received her first duty assignment to the 28th Bomb Wing ,28th Maintenance Group, 28th Maintenance Squadron, Avionics Flight at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Her first deployment was with the 363d Air Expeditionary Wing to Saudi Arabia in 1999. Part of the 9th Air Force, the unit was stationed at Prince Sultan Air Base in support of Operation Southern Watch.

On February 5th, 2001, she was entering Interstate 90 East of Rapid City, SD and saw a car that had lost control and ran into the grassy median between the East-bound and West-bound lanes. The car was in flames as it came to a stop. Along with 3 others, their quick actions helped remove all 3 occupants from the vehicle before being engulfed in flames. After review by the Awards and Commendations Board, it was unanimously decided the she receive Pennington County Sheriff's Citizen's Distinguished Service Award. The award was presented for heroic actions on March 28th, 2001. She was later recognized by the 28th Bomb Wing at the Wing Stand up meeting.

In 2002 she deployed in support of Operation Northern Watch, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom while attached to the 39th Air Expeditionary Wing, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. While deployed there, she lived in "Tent City." Working side by side with the United States Army and Air Force Security Forces K-9 units, they provided force protection services, reconnaissance, and undisclosed activities. Following the invasion of Iraq, between 20 March to 1 May 2003, she was being considered for redeployment to Romania. However, due to the maximum 180 day deployment length policy in effect at that time, she was returned to her home station at Ellsworth AFB on May 5th, 2003. She was later presented the Air Force Commendation Medal for her actions while deployed.

In 2006, she was reassigned to the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. While stationed in Korea, she began to seriously work on her education. Over the course of 3 years stationed in Korea, she completed her Community College of the Air Force Associate's degree, a second Associate's degree from the University of Maryland University College, and a Bachelors degree from University of Maryland University College. At one point during her studies, she had to partition out her time carefully to meet both mission needs, and personal educational goals. Her highest educational workload was 6 courses at once. Three of the courses that were required, weren't being offered on base, so she searched for another avenue in order to complete her work. With approval of the university, she was able to take her Korean levels 2,3 and 4 in downtown Gunsan at Howon University. She was immersed with Chinese students learning Korean. This later lead to her visit of China upon graduation of Howon University's Korean program in 2007.

In 2009, she was reassigned to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. She immediately began working on her first Master's Degree while working on the B-1B Lancers stationed there. She also welcomed a daughter into the world. Balancing mission, raising a child, and working towards her degree was exhausting. She continued to reduce her college work to just 1 or 2 classes per semester. She was 3 courses away from graduation when an opening in South Korea became open. She decided to pause her education until she arrived at her new duty station.

In 2012, she was reassigned to Osan Air Base, South Korea on a 2-year assignment. She immediately restarted on her education. She completed all requirements and graduated in Dec 2012 from the University of Maryland University College Asia with a Master's of Science in Database Management Systems and a minor in Computing. She also began to question how she perceived herself when looking in the mirror. The reflection was not one she was happy with, but she still didn't understand what the feeling was. She did, however, understand how well she felt when dressed as female. With the recent repeal of DADT, she began to wonder how that might affect her be openly female. She quickly learned that transgender personnel were not included in the repeal. Unwilling to face the truth and unable to find any LGBT resources in South Korea, she continued to compartmentalize the feelings. Instead, she decided to continue her education with a Dual-Master's Degree. She also began studying for military promotion. Her goal was to make Master Sergeant,and join the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer prior to the expiration of her assignment in Korea. Working toward both goals proved to much, and she opted to focus attention to military promotion. Finally, in December 2013, she was promoted, 2 months prior to her reassignment back to the United States. She was also 2 courses away from her second Master's Degree.

After reassignment to Hurlburt Field, Florida in 2014, she completed her second Master's of Science in Cybersecurity Policy from the University of Maryland University College. She also began reaching out locally looking for and LGBT or transgender group in her area. The closest resource was the Gulf Coast Transgender Alliance, in Pensacola, Florida. She began attending the monthly meetings in secrecy. Chatter was circulating that the Secretary of Defense was considering a repeal of the transgender ban in the military, although no official policy existed. She began researching others that were publicly out in the media, and decided it was time to finally began her transition. She was finally outed by a co-worker, and decided to come out fully for rumor control purposes. She found her supervision supportive, although they did not really know what type of care was needed. She also found difficutly in finding the medical care and support services required for transition. She also began her advocacy. On July 13th,2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter released a statement that the transgender ban was outdated, and that no member would be discharged solely based on their gender identity. . Official Policy was later released on July 28th, 2015. She later joined teh transgender advocacy group known as SPART*A (Service Members, Partners, and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All). .

In 2017, she was reassigned to Headquarters, Air Force Special Operations Command, also stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida. She has continued to execute her duties, despite attempts to reinstate the transgender military ban. She also has increased her advocacy activities to continue to fight for equality of the LGBT and transgender people.

Advocacy

 * November 9, 2015: Spoke on the need to vote on, and pass the Pensacola Human Right Ordinance proposal during at the public hearing.


 * March 20-21, 2017: Engaged Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives on the need to pass the Florida Workplace Competitive Act.

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