Stories from Nevada Women Veterans: Annie Emprima-Martin

Annie Emprima-Martin enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in 2008 and served until 2017. After earning a college degree in business from Western New England College and working as a computer analyst at Hoover Dam, Annie joined the military in her early thirties.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Annie grew up in a very traditional Arabic family, where she was expected to marry young, cook, clean, and have a big family. Both her mother and father have roots in Lebanon, and from an early age, she rebelled against her father’s Middle Eastern family values in order to live a life of independence. For instance, she purposely chose not to learn how to cook and didn’t learn to make chicken until her late twenties.

When she joined the National Guard, she was among 224 in her class with only 20 females. By the time she graduated, only 13 females remained. During the first five years, her occupational specialty was military police, and then she switched to finance operations. In 2016, when Annie deployed to Kuwait, she was responsible for moving money in the battlefield and following it to make sure it arrived.

What makes Annie feel most alive today is her metaphysical coaching. She was raised Catholic and didn’t have a particular spiritual interest growing up; however, during her deployment, she experienced an awakening. Currently, Annie coaches people to move their minds out of the so-called driver’s seat and replace it with their soul. This change allows people to have a higher level of vibrational information, which in turn directs their actions from a more holistic perspective.

Because of her traditional upbringing in an Arabic family who didn’t empower women, Annie had some insecurities about being a leader. Even though she rejected typical femininity and embraced masculine traits, she knew these characteristics weren’t hers. She was like a pendulum swinging towards opposite extremes. Finally, while on deployment, her feminine nature began to emerge – following her intuition, nurturing instincts, and honoring herself as a woman. She began to view this side of her not as a weakness but as a strength. Annie stopped fighting the empath within her – the part that naturally felt everyone’s pain. She realized that being an empath was her superpower, and she wanted to learn how to master it. Deployment taught Annie that she could in fact be a leader of empaths.

One of the special people in Annie’s life is her son Aeden, who at age 10 already has the intelligence to beat people at chess. When she’s not doing metaphysical coaching, Annie enjoys travel and spending time near the ocean or lakes.

5 QUESTIONS FOR ANNIE

1. Was there a transformative experience in the military that is still impacting you today?

My spiritual awakening during deployment was the catalyst for many things in my life right now. While stationed overseas and especially during stressful situations, I began tuning in to a strong internal voice, which was directing my actions. I would feel the need to eat lunch with a particular person – someone I would never have eaten a meal with before. I would hear my inner voice tell me who to sit with in the chow hall, which was awkward because sometimes it was with people I didn’t know or who were two ranks lower than me. After I left the service, I would run into these people, and they would tell me how much my actions during deployment impacted their lives.

2. How has your military experience prepared you for life?

My military deployment prepared me for COVID-19, current racial tensions, and holding space for empaths who are feeling the world intensely right now. I experienced empathy so strongly during deployment that it was the training ground for what’s happening in the world today and enables me to be a leader of empaths.

The hardships that I experienced brought about my “Duality of Being a Man” program, which I offer twice a month. This program teaches that a man cannot grow in their masculinity until they honor the feminine elements of their being. It explores how men can bring more Jesus or Buddha-like energy into their lives. During deployment, I saw men reacting in a fight, flight, or freeze manner, and I see the same behavior during COVID-19. I’m helping men examine their emotions and the discomfort associated with them instead of putting up mental armor, which eventually manifests as physical illness.

3. Looking back, what wisdom would you share with your younger self when she joined the military?

I would tell my younger self to join the Air Force and be an officer. If I had taken this route, I would probably still be serving today. In the Army National Guard, I never had leadership that asked me, “How do you want to grow through this?” Instead I had leaders who were offended that I was there. In the Air Force, I might have worked with men who were more balanced in their relationship with the opposite gender.

Today, if I gave a female advice about joining the military, I would say, “If you’re going to go, find a friend to go with, stick together, and take a deployment.” My deployment changed me and the trajectory of my life. I needed that volcanic, earthquake-like energy to crack open my life and put me on my metaphysical path.

4. What was the most interesting aspect of your military training?

Because nobody knew what brigade support operations level finance did, we didn’t fit into any training scenarios because we were outliers. When we were doing pre-deployment training, I helped instructors create training specifically for finance operations. I got to see the scenario from both the perspective of the observer and participant. It was a giant wargame that was extremely calculated with a sequence of events and possibilities for what could go wrong.

Helping develop these scenarios prepared me for this pandemic, where I once again feel like I’m standing on the bridge between participating and observing. Now instructions come to me through my intuition where I don’t feel like I’m a participant, but rather guiding people through this challenging time.

5. What you are doing now, is it what you expected your life to be like?

Nope. I never saw this coming. I’m pretty sure part of my calling is to empower men and show them how to be more divinely masculine instead of ego masculine. Another part is to show empaths how to harness their sensitivity to lead others with emotions. The military was part of my journey that got me to this metaphysical life, where I am coaching people and writing a book called The View from My Ships. Through this book, I want to share life lessons: about taking personal responsibility through ownership of actions, understanding and respecting the money ship, following the mothership (the soul’s path), leadership, personal relationship, business partnership, stewardship, and citizenship.