SAN ANTONIO – We met with Brandon Rodriguez, a San Antonio native and a military training instructor at JBSA-Lackland, almost a year ago to learn his story.
He is also the first transgender MTI in the United States Air Force. Since then, a lot has happened.
“It’s been amazing,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously, I am working at the 737 training group now. I was at the 321st training Squadron, so I moved up to the group level, and now I’m BMT Scheduler. So, putting in a lot of hard work on the line with trainees.”
Eleven months ago, we learned Brandon was born Brandi Rodriguez. He shared with us the challenges and obstacles he had to overcome to become who he is today, but sharing his journey did come with some reservations at first.
“I worried about the future of the Air Force, obviously, and being a military training instructor. Those things sometimes can be looked at in a negative light, but ultimately, I found that it’s all been looked at in a positive light. So, I was nervous and anxious at first. However, I’ve learned that it’s actually been overall very positive,” said Rodriguez.
During our original filming almost a year ago, Rodriguez had an opportunity to talk with his trainees.
He said opening up about being transgender has even positively impacted them.
“They are very supportive,” Rodriguez said. “They have family, friends and people that they’re related to, people that they know and generally want to know, ‘Hey, if I run into somebody like you in the future, how do I make them feel comfortable?’ That’s what I’ve experienced since then,” said Rodriguez.
After KSAT-12 aired Brandon’s story, not only did Good Morning America air his testimony, but it even caught the attention of the Undersecretary of the United States Air Force at the time, Gina Ortiz Jones.
“I came to work one day shortly after the interview with you, and I thought this was like all done and said, and I have this email in my email inbox,” Rodriguez said. “It was one of her schedulers, I believe, and it said, ‘Under Secretary of the Air Force would like to speak with you,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I immediately called Mr. Joe, the head of media at the time, and said, ‘Hey brother, what do I do? How do I navigate this?’” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was flown to Arlington, Va., for the homecoming gala, where he had a chance to meet and speak with the under-secretary about several items like his experiences, basic military training and gender integration.
“[It was] such a rewarding time,” Rodriguez said. “I look back at it, and I can’t help but smile because [the] Under Secretary of the Air Force, the highest person in my Air Force chain of command that I’ve ever met, she wanted to talk to me. You know, she wanted to know my experience.”
Brandon expressed tremendous gratitude toward his chain of command at the 321st Training Squadron.
“This leadership has been nothing but a motivator and accelerator in breaking down those barriers and falling in line with General Brown’s call to action, which is, accelerate, change, or lose, and we’re doing that right here in BMT. So, do I hope people who join the Air Force after me that are like me? Absolutely,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez said after a long waiting period, his surgical procedure has not only moved up dates, but Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., will oversee the operation. His surgery is set for the end of July.
“I’ve been waiting for a long time,” Rodriguez said. “Waiting for six years for this particular surgery, it’s not anybody’s fault or anything like that. It’s just some red tape that we have to cross. I’m ready to complete this journey so that I can help people from my full self, my full perspective and who I know myself to be,” said Rodriguez.
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