back then was fairly acceptable up to a certain age. the older i got, the more unacceptable that behavior became. i know as i started to hit puberty, and i was pretty much appalled at hitting puberty as a female, my parents actually said at one time, you could have a sex change operation. but you would have to be put in a mental institution. so, i think at that point, i whatever feelings i had, that way were completely quashed. reporter: instead, in her late 20s, carol comes out as a lesbian, which her mother suspects. but does not accept. carol joins the army at 31. and is still on active duty seven years later, in 1986, when she meets a young mother named judy hoff. judy has a history of dalliances with women. her husband isn t threatened. my husband thought it was great. turned him on. but then i met this person.
and fell head over heels. got a divorce. we moved in together. and the rest is history. we re going to louisburg. and to millie s bookstore. the coffee hound. reporter: carol and judy rolled along happily in a committed lesbian relationship. but in 1996, a health care scare tilts their world on its axis. carol has breast cancer and needs a mastectomy. she survived the cancer. but losing the breast stirs up long-suppressed feelings. it was a relief to get rid of it. that was the first little clue i got that maybe i was transgendered after all. after all those years of just putting that aside. and i immediately wanted the other one off. do you see we hung your pictures? yes, they look great. reporter: carol restarts her life as macklin, mac, for short. and starts using male pronouns.