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What happens when the uniform comes off—but part of you still needs that chapter of your life to be seen?
And what happens when people do not even recognize that you were the one who served?
For many veterans, transition is not simply about leaving the military. It is about deciding what parts of service you carry forward, what parts you release, and how you build a new identity without pretending that the person you were no longer matters.
For women veterans, there can be another layer entirely:
What happens when your service becomes invisible?
In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Brittinie Wick, an eight-year U.S. Air Force veteran and former intelligence analyst who supported the RPA community and operations across the Middle East and Africa.
Today, Brittinie is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, fitness professional, military spouse, mother of four, advocate for women veterans, and founder and host of the Women Serve Too podcast—a platform created to help military women and veterans tell their stories, feel seen, and connect with others who understand what they have experienced.
Together, Mike and Brittinie explore Identity — The 1st Silent War.
Brittinie knew at a young age that military service was part of her calling. The events of September 11 deeply affected her as a child, and not long afterward, even a Disney movie—Cadet Kelly—helped reinforce the picture she had begun forming of women in military service.
At 18, she joined the Air Force.
The reality she encountered was far more complicated than the image she had imagined.
As an intelligence analyst, Brittinie learned to work in an environment where information mattered, mistakes had consequences, and some of the most important things happening in her life could not be discussed with the people closest to her.
She also experienced moments when her expertise was overlooked, questioned, or simply not heard—experiences that added another layer to what it meant to establish herself as a young woman serving in the military.
Then service became painfully personal.
Brittinie shares the impact of losing her friend Zach in the Frankfurt Airport shooting, the fear she experienced while her then-fiancé was deployed to Afghanistan, and what it was like receiving intelligence about attacks near his location while being unable to reach him.
She describes the panic, hypervigilance, compartmentalization, and pressure of knowing things she could not talk about while working in a culture where seeking mental-health support often carried stigma.
Years later, the Las Vegas shooting brought much of that trauma back to the surface.
And underneath those experiences was a much larger question:
Who was she becoming because of everything she had lived through?
This conversation connects directly to several of The 10 Silent Wars:
- Identity — The 1st Silent War: “Who am I when the uniform, role, and security clearance no longer define me?”
- Mission — The 2nd Silent War: “What do I do when the path I thought I was supposed to follow changes?”
- Connection — The 3rd Silent War: “Where can I find people who actually understand what I experienced?”
- Emotional Armor — The 7th Silent War: “What did I learn to keep inside because I believed I could not talk about it?”
- Direction — The 8th Silent War: “How do I build a meaningful next chapter when the original plan no longer fits?”
Brittinie’s transition after service was anything but linear.
She originally believed law school and eventually politics were part of her future. After being rejected from law school twice, she had to reconsider a plan she had carried for years.
That pivot eventually led to an MBA, work in fitness, and then another realization: she was already spending much of her time helping clients work through physical limitations and injuries.
So she changed direction again.
Today, she is a licensed physical therapist.
Her story is a powerful reminder that changing direction does not mean you failed the original mission.
Sometimes it means you finally discovered the next one.
But one part of Brittinie’s identity continued to bother her.
She and her husband had both served, yet people routinely thanked him for his service while assuming she was the military dependent—even when she handed them her own active-duty military ID.
She remembers thinking:
Women serve too. Why is that so hard for people to understand?
Eventually, that frustration became a mission.
Through the Women Serve Too podcast, Brittinie gives military women and veterans space to tell their own stories—from leadership and motherhood to PTSD, military sexual trauma, transition, entrepreneurship, and the struggle to rediscover purpose after the uniform comes off.
And in helping other women tell their stories, Brittinie discovered something important about her own:
Connection can be healing.
Hearing another person describe something you thought you were carrying alone can create one of the most powerful realizations possible:
“That happened to me too.”
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why leaving the military can create a deeper identity struggle than simply changing careers
- How women veterans can become invisible even when they were the ones who served
- How September 11 influenced Brittinie’s decision to join the Air Force
- What intelligence work taught her about responsibility, secrecy, and compartmentalization
- How losing a friend to terrorism changed the way she experienced her own mission
- What it was like receiving intelligence about danger near her deployed fiancé while being unable to contact him
- How trauma and hypervigilance can continue long after the original event
- Why transitioning from military service required Brittinie to repeatedly redefine her direction
- How two law-school rejections eventually led her toward physical therapy
- Why Brittinie created Women Serve Too
- How hearing other veterans’ stories can reduce isolation and help people feel seen
- Why your military chapter can remain part of you without becoming the only thing that defines you
If something in this conversation made you think, “That’s me,” “I’ve felt that,” or “Finally—someone sees it,” don’t immediately move on.
Sit with it for a moment.
Then take one action.
Reach out to someone. Share your story. Listen to another veteran’s story. Send this episode to somebody who needs to hear it.
Information alone does not create change.
Action does.
Start by connecting with the Your Thoughts, Your Reality community and explore more conversations around The 10 Silent Wars:
👉 https://yourthoughtsyourreality.com/
Watch the full conversations and subscribe to the Your Thoughts, Your Reality YouTube channel:
👉 https://www.youtube.com/@YourThoughtsYourReality
To hear more stories from women who have served, search Women Serve Too on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also find Women Serve Too on Instagram and connect with Brittinie Wick on LinkedIn.
And when you’re ready to go deeper and create meaningful change in your mindset, identity, and direction:
👉 https://empowerperformancestrategies.com/
Because your thoughts shape your reality…
And being seen does not require leaving your service behind—it means allowing that chapter to become part of the whole person you are becoming.
#Identity #TheFirstSilentWar #WomenServeToo #WomenVeterans #MilitaryTransition #Veterans #MilitarySpouse #PTSD #Connection #Purpose #The10SilentWars #YourThoughtsYourReality
Explore more episodes, resources, and updates from Mike Cole at:
https://YourThoughtsYourReality.com
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss future conversations on leadership, mindset, and navigating life after service.
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