Russian army recruitment officers were shocked when one of their recruits turned up with long hair and wearing a skirt after being summoned to enlist.
The 22-year-old, who identifies as female and is known by the name Caitlin Lees on social media shocked the military commission after presenting herself at the registration section wearing women’s clothes in Bataysk city, in Russia on 11th June.
A photo of the woman with pink hair in a pink skirt, long socks and a sweatshirt appeared on the entertainment site Pikabu on 17th June. It was reportedly taken when Caitlin turned up and was then rejected after being conscripted.
According to the author of the post, the photo originated within the military recruitment office in Bataysk and was accompanied by the message: “His name is Roma. In the Air Force, he will join our battalion.”
Website Don news quoted Caitlin saying: “I shocked them I guess. I have been dressing like this all the time for about a year now. The photo was taken by a person who I believe was the chief of the recruiting station of Bataysk. I did not want my picture taken and was pretty annoyed about it, but he insisted.”
In the end it turned out that Caitlin was not taken into the army which declined to give a reason although Caitlin said that she was not surprised at the move.
She added: “I don’t intend to make a fuss, at the end of the day I’m a pacifist and not really in favour of the army anyway.”
Caitlan, who declined to give her previous name, said that she is in the process of confirming her true identity as a woman which included having her passport changed where she is currently listed as a man. She said that she was also still going through the gender reassignment surgery.
According to the news website Aif-Rostov, the 22-year-old is active on social networks and also has a YouTube channel, although she only has 69 subscribers.
The latest video was released a month ago where Caitlin greets a stranger with a female voice on Chat Roulette, which is an Internet chat room offering the opportunity to meet strangers, and then after a few seconds switches to a very deep male voice.
