Saluting Our OIT Veterans

Editor’s Note: In honor of Veteran’s Day, we talked to several military veterans who are working in technology roles for OIT and asked them how their military experiences helped prepare them for civilian careers. These stories look at the people and skills behind the uniforms and what Veterans Day means to them.

Veterans Day has a special significance in David McGraw's family. His grandfather served in the U.S. Army during World War II and his father served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.

Their examples instilled a special appreciation for military service in McGraw at a young age. After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute in 1990, he carried on the family tradition as a U.S. Army officer during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

“Growing up, the notion of serving your country was something that I always valued,” says McGraw, who lives just three miles from the famous Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. “I was very proud and honored to serve in the military and I am very grateful for the experience that I received.”

McGraw now works as an IT Investment Analyst in the Division of IT Investment Management Policy (DIIMP). Though he hasn’t worn the uniform since 2001, McGraw is one of 62 veterans in OIT who credits his success in a rapidly changing civilian environment to the skills and training he received from the military.

Looking back, McGraw says the military helped him value the importance of being cross-trained in multiple skill sets, the ability to be adaptable, and the need for experience in a variety of responsibilities.

“One of the many things from my military experience that applies so well here is that you will find yourself outside your comfort zone and doing something completely different,” he says. “That requires you to adapt, be flexible, and reach out to people who can help you get up to speed. It’s one of the reasons why I was able to come to CMS as a contractor from the Department of Defense and hit the ground running.”

McGraw is not alone. He works with six other veterans in a division of 16, which is four times higher than the average ratio of veterans to civilian employees in OIT and CMS, according to DIIMP Director Brian Jennings who is also a veteran.

Like McGraw, the division’s veterans tell similar stories of how their military training enabled them to succeed in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of OIT.

“Vets are not afraid to jump in.”

Alex Smith, the Technical Review Board (TRB), Product Owner in DIIMP, served in Afghanistan as an Infantryman. He found structure, discipline, and the ability to work with people from all walks of life in the Army. 

“These were not things that we were specifically trained to do in the Army,” he says. “We were expected to do them. And they all translate well at CMS because we have such a diverse product- and service-offering, and we work with people from everywhere in the country.”

Jennings can confirm this first-hand. A Marine and Army vet, Jennings says the two qualities that veteran job candidates bring to the table are the abilities to take on responsibility at an accelerated rate and to “roll with the punches” in times of change.

“Vets are not afraid to jump in,” he says. “They are used to being given responsibility early and often. So they are ready for that when they come here. 

“Because of their military backgrounds, they are not easily overcome by events or startled by urgent and unexpected priority shifts. That’s just a normal day for a service member.”

Matt Schmid, IT Governance, in DIIMP served in Iraq as a ground communications repairman for the Marines from 1999 to 2003. 

“I was trained in trouble shooting,” he says. “That was super applicable as far as understanding what a well-functioning communications system looks like and how it functions. It employs logic-based workflows, signals chasing, and looks to see if the system is working correctly. 

“That troubleshooting background has never left me, and it’s been applicable to every role I’ve had. I’m constantly evaluating our operations and looking for any signals that may be distorted or unclear, or any blockers to a well-functioning program.”

Tony O. Chapman, Lead Information Systems Security Officer/ISSO, in the Division of Data Operations and Maintenance (DDOM), found his passion for computers in the Army in June 1985 at the Advance Individual Training (AIT) in Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and has never looked back.

“I grew up in Detroit and have five brothers and six sisters,” Chapman says. “I am number five out of 11. I didn’t want to go to work in a factory making cars for Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler.”

“The Army guaranteed me if I did well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, I would get computers. So I scored very high, and that got me into computers. That was my ticket to learning computers at a high level.”

After leaving the Army in 1994, Chapman started his federal government service with the Department of Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). He joined OIT in 2012.

The grounding Chapman received in programming and military intelligence in the Army served as a foundation for his future roles, including his current job as ISSO managing all of the annual security efforts of six systems, including the Integrated Data Repository/Integrated Data Repository/Cloud, National Claims History, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review System, Medical Benefits Payment Record Processing, Conversion Medicare within the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, OIT, Enterprise Architecture and Data Group, Division of Data Operations and Maintenance.

“I’m also a 100 percent disabled veteran and was later able to get my bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well because of my benefits,” Chapman says. “I owe a lot to my military experience.”

“We were taught to always assist in whatever way you can.”

Claudia Pak came to this country as a 17-year-old from Brazil. Her family had fled there from Korea after enduring the hardships of the Korean conflict. As a student in a private military college in the U.S., she wanted to supplement her studies with real world experience and enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve. She served from 1994-2002.

“I was often asked in the Navy Reserve to help out with other units,” says Pak, who works as an IT Specialist in Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC), IT Investment Management (ITIM). “We were taught to always assist in whatever way you can. And I do that a lot now in my current role. If my supervisor says, ‘do this,’ I do it regardless of who it involves and where it is.” 

Air Force veteran Julie Mason found her military experience trained her to “learn how to think and push through and keep working toward a goal.”

Mason, the Acting Deputy Division Director for OIT’s Division of Enterprise Architecture (DEA), followed in her stepfather’s footsteps and served as a Czech linguist in the Air Force from 1981-1986.

“From there, I had a chance to then enter school and a career as a more mature adult,” she says. “And all of that has fed into and supported me getting work in the federal government and continuing to grow.”

William Frank served as intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army from 2000-2017, and then with the New York National Guard from 2012-2017. His role there was twofold, continuing the military mission overseas, but also working the domestic role, primarily in disaster recovery after hurricanes and winter storms. 

Working to help fellow citizens led Frank to Health and Human Services. Today, he works as an IT Specialist in OIT. The leadership skills Frank acquired in the Army have helped him in leading technology teams for OIT and, prior to that, with the Food and Drug Administration. As an intelligence analyst, he also learned how to build and design IT systems. 

“I learned a lot about cloud technologies and in particular, how to migrate systems to the cloud,” Frank says. “That’s what helped me get hired with OIT and what I work on now.”