I don't think Bradley Manning ever wanted to be trans but was convinced to do so by the government. The entire story is just so bizarre, and getting a pardon after transitioning after being considered a top enemy of the country, its fucked. They fucking tortured him for years, and all of a sudden he's free to go but now a girl??? What... The... Fuck?!
I've done some deep diving on MK ultra and the thing I find most intriguing is the fact that it was the military that executed these MK ultra ops. So considering the rise and focus in Trans news the past few years the government is definitely behind the trans push. So its not out of line to theorize the the top brass of the military is being used to turn people trans. I don't know, what do you guys think?
I don't know the details of Manning's life or his (clearly horrifying) treatment at the hands of our government. But I will say two things:
First, I always felt that Bradley had a predominantly feminine persona. I never met him and I could certainly be wrong about that issue but it came through as a strong impression to me.
Second (and something that will likely encounter much disagreement here) it is well-established that brains and bodies (connected yet distinct in this situation) are masculinized or feminized in the womb and later during puberty via the amounts, timing, and patterning of several hormones and other factors. A person can live in a male body while having a predominantly female brain, and vice versa. See Jaak Panksepp's Affective Neuroscience; The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions for details (and LOT of them; this is basically a textbook). Not every trans person is a thoroughly brainwashed Cabal victim; some are just unfortunate enough to have a mis-match in brain and body and be unable to make themselves comfortable with that situation (which many CAN do -- plenty of gay men and women are not as conflicted as we super-straights might imagine).
My guess is that Bradley had wanted to transition for a long time.