Branch: Army
Duty: Unit supply specialist
Delaney Brown
Though her time in the military was short, serving in the Army changed the way Tiffany Browning saw herself.
A self-described teacher’s pet, she didn’t feel like she fit in. She was quiet. She preferred reading to partying. She didn’t go to her senior prom.
Starting in middle school, she was bullied by the other girls. The experience messed with her self-confidence.
Growing up, her family life was complicated. Both her parents struggled with drug addiction. Between jail time and stints in rehab, her father wasn’t always in the picture. When Browning was 15, he passed away from complications caused by AIDS. Her mom had to work full time to support Browning and her two brothers.
Without her parents around much, Browning had to look out for her younger brother, Donald. Browning was the one that made sure he finished his homework and ate dinner. In the mornings, she would make sure he made it to the bus. She was only 7 years old.
“It’s almost like he was mine. I had to take care of him a lot of the time,” Browning said.
Browning enlisted in the Army straight out of high school, much to the surprise of her family. With the hardship she endured growing up, she felt like there had to be something more for her life.
“Everyone looked at me like I was weak. I think I joined to prove I could,” she said.
Before joining the Army, Browning had never left home. She had never been away from her family before, especially her brother, and she struggled with the separation.
“We didn’t even talk the first time I called (home), he just listened to me cry the entire time,” she said.
During her time in the military, she did things she never could have imagined. Before enlisting, Browning had never been in the same room as a gun. Now her favorite picture is one where she’s holding an M-16.
“Not many people can say they’ve had to bear-crawl under barbed wire with rounds being fired over their heads,” she said.
Even with all of her hard work in basic training, Browning was never deployed. She failed a run in her physical training and was sent home after one year in the service. A week after Browning chaptered out, her unit was sent to Iraq.
“I don’t really see myself as a veteran. I didn’t go to war. I didn’t serve my full contract,” she said. “When somebody thinks of a veteran they aren’t going to see me.”
After leaving the Army, Browning moved to St. Petersburg to study psychology at USF St. Petersburg. In December 2018, she’ll be the first in her family to graduate from college.
After graduating, Browning plans on taking a year off before applying to graduate school to become a psychologist. She wants to work with children that are growing up in situations like hers.
Browning sees lots of possibility in her life. She’s proud of how far she’s come. She’s confident now. She knows she has what it takes to create a life for herself.
Photo courtesy of Stacy Pearsall (resized for web)
