‘I’m no better than anybody else that has served’: Sumter's only known female Purple Heart recipient says there is a support system for veterans and soldiers

"It got us. We didn't get it."

Brittany Lawson, 38, of Sumter, a retired meteorologist for the U.S. military, keeps her shadow box that houses her Purple Heart medal and paper certifying her as the recipient hung in a hallway in her home. And she says she doesn't look at it much.

The Purple Heart medal isn't something soldiers itch to get or dream of earning.

"I'm no better than anybody else that has served just because that's on my ribbon rack. It just means that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "I don't have any superpowers. I don't get paid more."

On Dec. 11, 2019, she suffered a brain injury from a truck of explosives that went off nearby while she was in Afghanistan, and on April 9, 2020, she was awarded her Purple Heart. The incident injured 70 people and possibly made more qualified to be decorated with the Purple Heart than actually received one, Lawson said.

"[After the explosion], I was in bed in the dark, not allowed to listen to music, not allowed to watch TV, not allowed to get up and move around for five days," she said. "I was on what they call brain rest."

Today, Lawson has no shortage of purple attire. She has purple in her hair - something that she looked forward to being able to do in retirement from the military - purple sneakers and a purple shirt.

Her purple shirt reads, "Not all injuries are visible. Traumatic brain injury awareness" in green and white letters with a green ribbon beneath the words.

"My brain was rattled pretty good, but I've got all my arms, I've got all my legs," she said. "My wounds aren't visible from the outside."

And she does and will likely continue to experience the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder as well as migraines and other physical and mental sensitivities for the rest of her life because of that explosion.

Lawson is the only known female Purple Heart medal recipient in Sumter, as well as one of the youngest.

She said women in uniform endure challenges unique to their gender but that times are getting better for female military members. In the end, according to Lawson, soldiers are soldiers.

"I put my boots on the same way you do. I put my pants on the same way you do. I'm an airman just like everybody else," she said. "Things are changing for the better, but [women] sometimes have to work harder to be noticed for what you do."

The U.S. Department of Defense reported in 2022 there is an upward trend in women serving. Women made up 17.3% of the active-duty force, totaling 231,741 members, in 2021.

And according to the Purple Heart Foundation, only about 500 women in military history have been awarded the Purple Heart.

Lawson wants veterans and Purple Heart recipients alike to know there is a supportive community to help with life after service and injury, similar to the network of First Sergeants group that helps active-duty members.

"The biggest thing I want other people who have it to understand is that there's a group of individuals out there that will be their shoulder to lean on through processes," she said.

Lawson is part of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which is a network of combat veterans with the medal, and members can receive certain benefits as well as connections. Visit purpleheart.org to learn more and find a chapter.

The Sumter chapter meets at 529 N. Wise Drive on third Thursdays of the month from 6 to 7 p.m.

"[The Purple Heart medal is] something that I never dreamed about getting, and the fact that I have it, I feel honored to be able to have it, but at the same time, it's something that we've never wanted, and like I said before, it got us, we didn't get it," Lawson said, decked in purple, with no visible wounds but internal wounds that will impact her and her loved ones forever.