Transgender former Navy SEAL returns to St. Pete for documentary, veterans art reception
For Kristin Beck, who is returning to St. Petersburg this weekend to take part in St. Pete Pride and events at the Veterans Art Center of Tampa Bay, life has brought a series of huge changes.
The former member of SEAL Team 6 who earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for valor during 20 years of service is now a transgender woman and no longer in uniform. After serving at U.S. Special Operations Command, Beck — a onetime St. Petersburg resident — entered politics, mounting an unsuccessful challenge last year to U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland. And two years ago she remarried, to a woman in the Air Force.
But some things have remained the same.
Toward the end of her military career, Beck worked at the Pentagon's Rapid Reaction Technology Office as a conduit between operators and the people who design weapons systems and other special operations tools of the trade. During her time with the SEALs, she invented a mission-planning tool still being used by SOCom.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/transgendered-former-navy-seal-returns-to-st-pete-for-documentary-veterans/2328198
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