IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
As a senior product engineer for the Product Manager for Soldier Protective Equipment (PdM SPE), Brittany Wieland is accustomed to the odd looks she gets when she explains her work. And that’s before she mentions the cadavers.
“From the get-go, people are shocked when I tell them what I do. I’ve even been asked a couple times if by ‘body armor’ I mean the sports drink,” she said. “It’s no secret that engineering is a male-dominated field. When you add ‘body armor’ in front of it and consider the makeup of the military and defense industry, it’s unlikely anyone would picture someone who looks like me, a 5’5” female.”
BRITTANY WIELAND
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Program Executive Office for Soldier, Project Manager for Soldier Survivability, Product Manager for Soldier Protective Equipment
TITLE: Senior product engineer YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 2
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Foundational in engineering and technical management
EDUCATION: B.S. in biomedical engineer- ing, Lawrence Technological University
Wieland is a relative newcomer to the Army Acquisition Workforce, getting her start as an intern with the DOD College Acquisition Internship Program (DCAIP). Her dad is an Army civilian and her mom is a contractor for the U.S. Navy, and her dad’s work with Col. Gregory D. Gadson (USA, Ret.) played an important role in her career path.
Gadson lost both legs in an IED attack in Iraq in 2007 but remained on active duty. He was named garrison commander of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 2012 and retired from active duty in 2014. “It was really inspiring to see everything that he accomplished, and that motivated me to work with wounded warriors,” she explained. “I was pursuing opportunities to work with prosthetics, given my biomedical engineering background, and when I got the opportunity to work on body armor through the DCAIP, I took it. In a way, it’s like I’m working the opposite end of the equation: I get to prevent inju- ries and save lives.”
Her work as an intern led to a position with the Army Fellows Program. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” Wieland said. “But once I landed at PdM SPE, we hit the ground running. I quickly started filling everyday engineering roles and found myself doing work that was similar to the other engineers I worked with. I’m lucky that I landed on a team that used my full potential and supported travel and other opportunities that didn’t fit into the conventional scope of the program.”
She cited a handful of take-aways from the course. “Take initiative and screw the status quo. I would have never known the full realm of opportunities to see and participate in exciting and educational events if I didn’t seek some of them out. Some opportuni- ties take a bit of legwork to pull off, but the more you show that you are willing to put in that extra effort, the more often the opportunities start finding you,” she said. “And ‘because that’s just how it is’ is not an answer. Speak up for things you believe in and
“It’s no secret that engineering is a male-dominated field.”
54 Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
