Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Meghan Bastian always knew she wanted to be a pilot. Growing up in Spokane, Washington, she excelled at everything but even as she pursued her dream of flying, first for the U.S. Air Force and now for United Airlines, she carried a deep, unspoken truth about who she was. "I was about ten when I first started feeling that something wasn’t right," Meghan recalls. "I felt like I was supposed to be a girl, but I had no way to express it. Growing up in a religious household, I was taught that your gender was given by God, and that was that." After graduating 11th in her class from the U.S. Air Force Academy, she became a B-52 pilot, deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She remembers one mission where her crew received a desperate call from troops on the ground and the risk of friendly fire was real: "without immediate help we are all going to be killed anyway." Meghan’s crew acted decisively, delivering precise strikes that saved lives. "I don’t know their names, but I hope there are families out there who still have a father or mother because we were overhead that day." Despite her professional success, wrestling with her gender identity was an ever-present battle. She tried to suppress it through work, faith, and relentless discipline, but the need to express her true self only grew stronger. When the military lifted its ban on transgender service members, Meghan considered coming out, but fear held her back. "I was a lieutenant colonel, a senior instructor pilot. What would my peers think? What would my family think?" It wasn’t until she retired in 2020 that she made the decision to transition. "Walking away from the Air Force after 20 years was hard, but I finally had the chance to be me." Today, Meghan flies the Boeing 787 for United Airlines, traveling the world and embracing life fully. She remains passionate about mentorship, aviation, and advocacy, proving that being transgender doesn’t diminish one’s ability to serve. "I wonder what I could have accomplished if I had been able to serve as my authentic self," she reflects. "I might have stayed in the Air Force longer. But I have no regrets. I am finally living as the best version of myself."