Chief Warrant Officer Alyxandra Demetrides, US Army

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alyxandra Demetrides has spent her career answering the call when it matters most. A seasoned MEDEVAC pilot and air mission commander, she has flown high-risk missions in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division and along the demilitarized zone in Korea, providing life-saving medical evacuation, aerial overwatch, and combat search and rescue operations. “When a 9-line drops, when someone is bleeding out, when troops need extraction from the battlefield, no one cares who you are—they care that you get them home,” she explains.

Despite her operational success, Demetrides spent years fearing that coming out as transgender would overshadow her accomplishments and call her leadership into question. Would they still trust me? Would they still follow me? Would they let me lead? These doubts lingered even as she proved herself time and time again in the cockpit.

The reality, however, was different. When she finally chose to live openly, she found support among the people who mattered most—her team. “I’ve always been here, flying these missions, leading these teams,” she says. “I transitioned while serving, not because I wanted to be anything different, but because I had finally given myself permission to be who I always was.”

Demetrides remains committed to her soldiers, her family, and the mission, knowing that service is about showing up for others when it matters most. “Because when duty calls, I will always answer.”

You can read more of Alyxandra’s's story in 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦.

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