Trading My ACUs for a Suit and Tie (Part II)

By AW2 Veteran Mark Tippett

Editor’s Note: Read Mark Tippett’s blog from yesterday, “My Last Day in the Army.”

Now I had to find other employment outside of the Army, and that scared the hell out of me. I kept wondering how I was going to make it work when I had memory issues and a migraine problem. This was scary but I knew I would get through, as tons of people before me have and tons after also will. That didn’t stop me from losing a lot of sleep and probably talking my wife’s ear off about my worries. Everyone kept telling me it would be okay and I’ll do fine, I just wanted to get to the point where I had control over everything again. We spend so much time in the Army having everything clear cut, but this was far from it. I was leaving what I loved to do, the people I knew and trading in my ACUs for a suit and tie…

After going through numerous interviews, I landed a job with IDEXX Laboratories as a Diagnostic Sales Consultant. My new boss, Jason Hunsinger took a chance on me giving me this job because of my service and willingness to learn. He later told me that he had a brother in the Air Force and that he respected all of those in uniform. Essentially I was part of the sales force for a company that was the Gold Standard for veterinary laboratory equipment. Let’s face the facts here: I didn’t know jack about this industry. All I knew is what the Army had instilled in me and that was all of the Army Values. I soon learned that was all I needed to find success.

When I started the training cycle with this company, they knew that I was a Soldier. My first real experience blew me away; one of my trainers came over and introduced himself to me telling me that he was a former Armor Officer and had served five years. He asked about my combat experience and offered to help me adjust to this new career and, what’s more, offered me the support of another combat Veteran. Sometimes we lose sight of how many of us are out there.

After completing their training cycle (which was designed by former Soldiers) and sort of understanding what I was doing, it was off into the field. I had two great supervisors. They allowed me the flexibility to take charge but to also assist where needed. I was open with my boss about my disability. I was terrified to talk to him about it at first, but then I realized that in order for me to be successful, he needed to know how to help me when I needed it. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; it is hard to tell someone about your injuries, even harder admitting that you have a problem. Once I told him, it felt like I took a 200 pound weight fell off of my shoulders. No one can help you if they don’t know the issue. I’m not saying everyone should go out and tell their boss everything that is wrong, but if it can impact your work in a negative light, it’s good to make them aware.

First things first, I received my compensation plan (mission), constructed a plan for its execution, put my plan in motion, completed the plan then refined it. Does this look familiar? It wasn’t until a few months later that I realized I was using Army Troop Leading Procedures to execute my compensation plan and you know what? It was working! It wasn’t instantaneous, but it worked. I had to constantly work to refine what I was doing and adapt to the changing economy but I was doing okay.

Under the tutelage of my management and my hard work, I quickly and effectively collected the top spot in our region for sales, going over our sales goal of 125% for three consecutive quarters. Let me be brutally honest — I am not a good sales person, and I never will be. The traits I do possess are loyalty, respect, timeliness, courtesy, integrity and honor, and I demonstrate them with all of my clients. Sounds a lot like our Army values, doesn’t it? That’s because those Army values are what I applied to be successful.

After a year with IDEXX Laboratories my AW2 Advocate Bill Years approached me with a possible job opportunity. As much as I loved my time with IDEXX and the people I worked with, I wanted to get back into a position in which I would be helping our Armed Forces. Bill introduced me to Mr. Howard Kirsner who works at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard for Public Executive Office Aircraft Carriers. After meeting with Mr. Kirsner, I knew that the position he was offering was a perfect fit for me. Mr. Kirsner is a retired Master Chief who works to push his staff to be the best they can, and that’s the type of person I love to be around. Howard and Bill worked arduously to get me into my current position, and I can’t begin to thank them enough.

What I am trying to bring across to any wounded warrior and their Family is that we have a set of tools instilled in us from our time in the Army. This set of tools will make us successful in any position you have the desire to try. Someone once said, “When one door closes, another one opens,” and this is true for all of us. We’ve all endured much worse things than a new career change and we’ve come through that to be here today. As an old friend of mine used to always say “if it wasn’t hard, it probably wasn’t worth doing.”