Manning will be on duty after release

She’ll be unpaid but eligible for benefits during her appeal

USA TODAY WASHINGTON Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the transgender soldier and convicted national security secret leaker, will remain an active-duty, unpaid soldier, eligible for health care and other benefits, after her scheduled release Wednesday from military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to the Army.

Manning entered prison with the name Bradley. Manning changed her name, publicly identified as a woman and received hormone treatment while incarcerated. Her sentence was commuted in the final days of the Obama administration, a move that infuriated some in the military and thenPresident-elect Donald Trump.

While Manning’s court-martial conviction remains under appeal, she will remain a private in the Army, said Dave Foster, an Army spokesman. As an activeduty soldier, Manning will continue to receive health care and have access to commissaries and military exchanges, but she will not be paid.

“Pvt. Manning is statutorily entitled to medical care while on excess leave in an active-duty status, pending final appellate review,” Foster said.

The Army refused to disclose the other terms of Manning’s release, six years before her eligibility for parole, citing privacy concerns. She had been sentenced to 35 years for releasing hundreds of thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks.

Like all soldiers, Manning will be assigned to an Army post, but it is unclear where and to whom she will report.

The ACLU released a statement on Manning’s behalf Tuesday.

“For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea,” Manning said. “I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world.”

Her lawyer, Chase Strangio, said in the ACLU statement that Manning had been abused at Leavenworth but did not specify the type of abuse.

“Like far too many people in prison, particularly transgender women, Chelsea Manning has had to survive unthinkable violence throughout the seven years of her incarceration,” the statement said.

While in prison Manning had received hormone treatment and care for gender dysphoria. If the appeal of her conviction is denied, she could be dishonorably discharged, which mandates a loss of benefits including health care.