From being homeless to becoming an Airman

One Airman’s story of resilience

There are hundreds of thousands of homeless teens in America. They all end up that way for various reasons — growing too old for the foster care system, neglect or running away from home.

Some get adopted, some manage on their own or with siblings, and others, like Senior Airman Brittany Davis, 786th Force Support Squadron fitness specialist, join the military to set up a foundation for their lives. “My life is the perfect example of Murphy’s Law,” Davis said. “My mother struggled greatly with addictions and mental illness so she didn’t really know how to be a parent. I try not to fault her for it because she (was) sick and my father wasn’t around much.”

Davis was the middle child, and with four brothers, their parents had a lot to provide for without much money. “My mother tried her best to house us,” Davis said. “We were poor and we went through a lot of abuse. Before we even started school each day, we would go to the nurse and then the counselor for checks during grade school.”

The New York child services eventually took Davis and her brothers from their parents and placed them in separate foster homes. “One of my brothers and I ended up in the same foster home,” she said. “But the parents decided they only wanted a boy. Instead of being honest with me they decided to ask if I wanted to go to a summer camp.”

Davis was taken to an emergency shelter instead and didn’t realize it until three weeks after being dropped off. Davis then bounced between three different foster homes and the shelter. “It wasn’t the foster care that was the problem. The state just kind of left us,” she said. “They let us go from one home to another without giving us care. We didn’t get counseled in any way, except for court mandated sessions where my parents were on one side and I was on the other.”

When Davis was too old to be in the foster care system, she was placed in a detention center. “I was too young to live on my own and it was decided that the center was the best place for me,” Davis said. “I was self-taught for most of high school in a building where the living conditions were extremely poor.”

The people who worked at the center had a big impact on Davis’ life, she said. “Some of the people there were a big part of my life and they still are today,” Davis said. “The system was broken though; anyone who worked with the children wasn’t allowed to take them home. It was explained to me that it was a conflict of interest, but I didn’t know why.”

Foster care gave Davis an idea of who she wanted to be when she was older. She had a self-proclaimed fire driving her. “My youngest brother died in a fire and I knew being a firefighter was in my blood,” she said. “That’s what was in my chest. It wasn’t a heart but a fire. I was cold and hurt, but the feeling of never wanting to give up is what kept me going.”

Davis negotiated with the volunteer fire department next door to her house and was allowed to participate in an emergency medical technician course. “They let me go to the EMT course and I became a paramedic,” she said. “I scored the highest in my class thinking things were going great. I got hired as a fireman in upstate New York at 17 years old.”

At that point, Davis had a job, a scholarship and her brothers were being taken care of. “Everything was going great until I found out my twin brother was murdered,” she said. “I took that extremely hard because I didn’t have anyone to go to. It really set me back.” Davis was already a full-time student who was working 120 hours a week to make ends meet. She had been supporting herself and her brothers, and now there was a funeral that had to be paid for.

There were a lot of issues for Davis to deal with. She decided to leave everything behind and she lived in solitude for three months to figure out a new plan for life. “When I came back, I finished my fire degree and got as many hours as I could at the station,” she said. “I was to the point where they had to take some away, because I was working too much overtime.” During her isolation, she decided to join the military to add stability to her life. “I came in as a (survive, evade, resist and escape) troop, but got re-classed because I missed so much going back and forth to deal with my brothers,” Davis said.

She sent one of her brothers to live with their uncle in North Carolina, where he could go to school to become a mechanic. “I gave him what money I could for him to stay there,” she said. “He ended up going back to New York and getting involved in some bad things. When I heard about him going back I went on a two-day manhunt looking for him, and when I found him I followed his bus until he got to North Carolina.”

Davis went on to finish her training in the services career field, and came to Ramstein as her first base. “I had a rough start to my career,” she said. “I was going through the (First Term Airman Center) when I got orders to deploy.” During her deployment, her unit rotated between three different bases. While waiting for her next location, she received a message with the news that her third brother had died in a car accident.

“I joined the military to help support my brothers, but at this point I only had one brother left,” Davis said. “I was able to go home from my deployment early to take care of the funeral and to be with my last brother.” During the two-week span when Davis was home, her remaining brother committed suicide. “After I left home, I found myself back on Ramstein where no one knew I was back,” Davis said. “I was home for rest and relaxation and I didn’t know if I would be redeployed or if I would stay here.”

Davis found herself back on Ramstein, feeling alone and without anyone to turn to. “Something changed though. I had two people step into my life and help me,” Davis said. “Someone I worked with for a year took care of me, and my first sergeant, who is one of my mentors, also helped get me on track.”

Davis plans to leave the military after her enlistment to go to medical school. Along the way, she’ll also honor a promise she made to one of her brothers to support their parents.

“The only thing I have left to do is live and do things right,” she said. “I want to do things right for not only myself, but for my brothers as well.”