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GUARDSMAN Chloe Allen has become the British Army’s first female frontline soldier — after being born a boy called Ben.

The 24-year-old joined up four years ago as a man, but changed her name officially last month.

She will be the first woman allowed to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.

Chloe, from Cumbria, has now started hormone therapy.

Sporting long polished nails and with silver studs in her ears, she said: “It’s a great honour to make history.

“I’m just looked at as a normal person.”

The Guardsman was still living as Ben Allen when a fellow serviceman discovered her dressed in female gear.

Chloe — who was on a deployment conducting ceremonial duties guarding royal residences in London — was overcome with worry.

But next day she went down for muster as usual and her comrade’s reaction set her nerves at ease.

Chloe, who serves with 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, said: “I went down to muster parade in the morning for PT and it was just mainly banter, just having a laugh.

“The whole sort of worry that I had, I shouldn’t have even worried.

“The entire battalion’s been brilliant.

“If it hadn’t happened I’d still be living a lie now.

“It was a blessing in disguise — the kick up the a**e I needed to get on and deal with it.”

One fellow soldier heard about the incident and suggested 24-year-old Chloe talk to his wife.

She said: “It was the first time I told anyone — it was a relief.

“It felt amazing to finally tell somebody and for her to be so accepting.

“I told more of my close friends and my family.

“My family was OK with it.

“They were a bit shocked but overall they were fine with it.

“They just wanted to know what I was doing was right — that was their main worry.”

A year after coming out to her friends and family, Chloe told her boss she wanted to be a woman.

She said: “It was just like talking to my boss about work.

“It wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary really — he is a very open person.

“I’ve started hormones in the last month.

“Everything’s changed now.

“I’ve had my deed poll done and all the paperwork within the Army, within the battalion, has been changed and sorted out.

“My passport will be done shortly.

“It’s brilliant, it’s amazing.

“For that to say everything that I’ve wanted it to say and for me to still be serving as an infantryman is even better.

“I still have a few more years to go, but that doesn’t affect my job in any way whatsoever.”

Chloe, who officially changed her name last month, now sports long, polished fingernails and is growing her hair into a feminine bob.

Until July this year, historic rules banned women from Ground Close Combat units where troops had to “close with and kill” the enemy.

Even once the regulations were changed, the first female infantryman was not expected to be recruited to the ranks until 2018.

But in line with the Army’s ­forward-thinking employment rules, which allow a “case by case” approach, it was decided Chloe could stay in her unit.

She now makes history as the first — and so far only — female in­fantry soldier since the Army began in 1660.

And she will continue in her roles as a Rifleman and driver of a 28-ton Mastiff armoured truck. Chloe, from Cumbria, first began cross-dressing at the age of eight.

She said: “It started with my mum’s clothes, then I started to get pocket money and got my own things and it built up from there.”

But periodically Chloe would bin the clothes in a bid to “purge” her desires to be a woman.

She said: “It got very frustrating at times and I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t really fit in at school that well and it just went on like that for quite a few years.

“I wasn’t happy in myself.

“It tears you up inside, but you learn to control it and crack on.

“It went on like that until I joined the Army.

“I’d wanted to join since I was three.

“It’s just the patriotism and things like that, I love this country.”

Chloe’s first attempt at joining the military with the Royal Artillery ended when she tore ankle ligaments at 16.

But she recovered and finally joined the infantry at 20.

As a Guardsman in the Scots Guards she also conducts ceremonial duties, including at the Trooping the Colour.

Despite her transformation, Chloe’s day-to-day life at her barracks in Aldershot, Hants, is little changed.

She still lives in her single, en-suite room in the same dormitory.

Her uniform — including ceremonial dress — will also remain unaltered.

And her rank of Guardsman will not change after MoD lawyers agreed that it is not discriminatory.

Chloe issued an encouraging mes­sage to others in similar positions.

She said: “The military has every walk of life — especially the Army.

“You just need to go out and ask for advice and go down that route.

“I’d love to inspire people to just come out and be themselves.

“As much as it’s a big bad world, it’s not as bad as people think and it’s easier when you’ve got your mates and your bosses behind you.

“I didn’t set out to make history — it’s just the way it’s happened.

“There’s nothing that can stop me at all.

“This is not just a job, this is a career for me.”

General Sir James Everard, Commander of the Field Army — that is all the fighting units of the British Army — said: “I’m delighted to have our first woman serving in a Ground Close Combat unit.

“The British Army is proving itself as an inclusive organisation where everyone can thrive.

“Being the first of anything takes courage.

“I applaud Guardsman Chloe Allen for being a trendsetter and wish her every success.”

 

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