One Mission, Many Faces: SSG. Britney Adams

Photo By Sgt. Nicholas Vidro | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Britney Adams, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, reflected on how her experiences in the Army have influenced her style as a leader on May 16, 2020, at Baghdad, Iraq. She is currently serving with 1-25 SBCT as a part of Operation Inherent Resolve, a multinational coalition formed to defeat Daesh and help restore regional stability to Iraq. (U.S. Army Photo taken by Sgt. Nicholas Vidro, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office.)  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

05.16.2020

Story by Sgt. Nicholas Vidro 

1st Brigade, 11th Airborne Division

“I come from a small town, Hudson, Mich.. There weren't a lot of job opportunities and I wanted to travel the world. That, along with the tuition assistance inspired me to join. I loved growing up there; it was a nice and quiet little town. There are a lot of farms, so I definitely got a country upbringing.

Leaving Hudson and joining the Army was a really different experience, being so far from my family for the first time. There was a good dose of culture shock.

I got to 1-25 (1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division) in March, 2018. Since getting there, I've taken being an Arctic Wolf to mean keeping positive and keeping our Soldiers positive no matter what we go through. We're a team so if one Soldier goes through something we all go through it together. I've applied that to other Soldiers in other sections.

I've been in the Army eight-and-a-half years, so I've probably gone through most experiences so I can share my experience. I tell Soldiers 'It gets better, its gonna take time, it's not gonna get better right away'. If they want more advice I put myself in their shoes and let them know what I would do, but I never put pressure on them to follow through if that's not for them.

A Soldier I knew felt that their section accused them of doing something they didn't do and she could've handled it better. I told her 'sit down and talk to your NCOs (non-commissioned officers), do it respectfully, but maybe they're not understanding where you're coming from, so communicate with them and maybe it can get diffused easily' that's what she did and it turned out that it was a big misunderstanding.

When I spoke to her again she said that things had gotten better in the unit. She told me she understood she had to change how she originally perceived the situation instead of letting it well up until there was nothing that can change about it. I told her 'they can't fix it if they don't know'. Once other Soldiers saw how she handled it they started doing the same thing because instead of seeing any backlash they saw a conflict resolution. It was good to see that they grew stronger as a section.

It's a good feeling to use my own experiences to help. Just being there for a Soldier instead of them not having that support, and at the end of the day they were able to use what I provided and make a success out of it, that's a win.”

• Date Taken: 05.16.2020
• Date Posted: 05.19.2020 09:55
• Story ID: 370283
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ
• Hometown: HUDSON, MI, US