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Photo Story: Butterfly

16 images Created 6 Jul 2017

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  • For years, Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch hid the fact that she was transgender a situation that, until last summer, was not allowed under U.S. military rules. A Department of Defense policy was finalized in June 2016 that allowed transgender service members to serve openly. Now, her years of appearing male at work while living as a woman at home are over. In October 2016, Buch switched her gender from 'male' to 'female' in the Air Force’s system and became the first at Offutt Air Force base to transition under the new policy. Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, an instructor with the 338th Combat Training Squadron, pictured in front of an RC-135 jet on Thursday, February 2, 2017 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, an instructor with the 338th Combat Training Squadron, right, jumps during her PT (physical training) at a "boot camp" workout class next to Stacey Thompson, left, and Hannah Van Gelder, center, on Wednesday, January 25, 2016 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, center, chats with Ronald Waite, left, and Staff Sgt. Robert Galloup, right, in her office on Thursday, February 2, 2017 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. 'I’ve been getting involved with so many different things on base and in my squadron and just taking charge of a lot of things that I would have never done in the past. I would have been too scared, number one, and too shy to kind of put myself out there…in the past I wouldn’t because I knew I couldn’t be myself,' Buch said.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, an instructor with the 338th Combat Training Squadron, center, laces up her boots before she heads to Offutt Air Force Base on Friday, January 27, 2016 at her apartment in Omaha. Before the ban was lifted Buch was required to follow male dress and appearance standards at work which included strict hair regulations. Until her gender status was changed in the military she was forced to keep her hair short at work. “It was that fact I had to get it cut short. I didn’t have that option.” Growing her hair out was something that gave her confidence and courage and to lose that was very difficult for Buch. She recalls one haircut in that was especially traumatic because she’d been presenting as a woman outside of work for months. “Every month I would basically want to cry at my stylist.” Now, Buch has the option to have long or short hair and has been growing it out since October. “Appearance is a huge part of my identity. It’s how I express my identity.”
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, center, works with grad student clinicians Savanna Allen, left, and Samantha Kunz, right, as she attends speech therapy on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in Nebraska. The new program serves people who are trans as part of the graduate student clinic for communication disorders. In the class Buch works on pitch, resonance and inflection.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, an instructor with the 338th Combat Training Squadron admires her new paintings that she commissioned her friend Hannah German to create on Monday, April 3, 2017 at her apartment in Omaha. The left painting depicts the body of a woman blooming into a lily. “I’ve come so far. I started off as a very closed off shy person. I really have bloomed through this whole process.” The painting on the right is a metaphor for change and the process a butterfly goes through in its transition from a caterpillar. “I really shed those different layers I protected myself with for so long,” Buch said.
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  • Ashleigh Buch left, has her hair cut and styled by Rachel Brodsky, right, on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at Boss Studios in Omaha. Brodsky was Buch's hair stylist before she came out as being trans. After a year of doing her hair and waxing her legs she came out to Brodsky who was accepting and supportive. One night she went to Brodsky's work near closing time where after everyone left Brodsky taught her how to do makeup. "She’s been there almost every step of the way," Buch said.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch puts on her swim cap before swims on Tuesday, February  7, 2017 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Buch's tattoo has several layers and meanings. It includes the graphical representation of the Fibonacci Sequence which is referred to as the golden ratio because you find it in many things in nature. That symbol is placed inside Venus which is commonly used as a symbol for women. “It's kind of like finding that divinity in my femininity,” she said. On top of the circle is Phi which is the Greek letter used in mathematics to represent the golden ratio. “It has a lot of meaning to me because I’ve finally been able to embrace my inner femininity and womanhood and I feel like there's power and strength and divinity in that.”
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  • Rachel Hammes, left, and Ashleigh Buch shop for makeup on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at Westroads Mall in Omaha.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, an instructor with the 338th Combat Training Squadron, right, has her new ground uniform tailored by Sarah Luo, left, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at Stripes alterations at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Buch owned the male version of the uniform and went shopping on base to purchase the female uniform.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch's dress blues and purses hang near her closet on Tuesday January 24, 2017 at her apartment in Omaha.
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  • Ashleigh Buch holds a selection of books as she meets with the group "Manipura" an intersectional feminism bookclub at Dante Ristorante Pizzeria on Sunday, January 29, 2017 in Omaha.
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  • Ashleigh Buch, center, and friend Rachel Hammes, right, attend "Manipura" an intersectional feminist bookclub on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at Sozo Coffeehouse in Omaha.
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  • Ashleigh Buch prepares her weekly hormone injection on Tuesday, February 12, 2017 at her apartment in Omaha. “It’s helped my mental clarity, emotional health and physical well-being,” Buch said.
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  • Staff Sgt. Ashleigh Buch, curls up on her couch after finding out she must wait longer to learn whether she can fly again on Thursday, March 9, 2017 at her apartment in Omaha. Buch was taken off flight status for medical reasons after she started hormone therapy. “It’s frustrating because I have to deal with all this stuff based on my gender identity. I have to fight to exist in this world where society does not accept me.”
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  • Ashleigh Buch crosses the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian bridge during a run on Thursday, February 14, 2017 in Omaha. Buch has been an avid runner for years and has completed five marathons. “Running was always kind of my big, my go to stress reliever and I’d be out on runs kind of just crying just like, ‘Why am I like this, why am I like this?’ and go to bed praying at night just let me wake up as a woman or as a girl.”
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Sarah Hoffman Filmmaker & Photographer

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