Patrick Shipp, Sales Operations Manager at Atlantic Diving Supply, has made a career of service to his country, both in the Army Reserves and at ADS. After graduating college, Patrick joined the Army Reserves in February 2002. Responding to a Help Wanted ad in the local newspaper, he initially met with a National Guard recruiter before deciding on the Army Reserves.
Patrick completed his initial entry training at Fort Benning, GA, followed by Civil Affairs Advanced Individual Training at Fort Bragg, NC. As a Civil Affairs Specialist, he was trained to be a liaison between the United States military and the civilian population. After finishing his training at Fort Bragg, Patrick deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, which quickly became Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Spring of 2003. During this first deployment to Iraq, Patrick spent 13 months engaged with the Iraqi civilian population, supporting local governments as they began to rebuild their emergency services, schools, and economy. Upon returning home to the United States, Patrick utilized his GI Bill to earn his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Patrick then deployed a second time to Iraq in 2007 and spent another year supporting the Iraqi people and government with nation building and security. After his second deployment, Patrick was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow and worked at the Department of Energy for seven years before joining ADS as the Energy Category Manager. He served in that role for six years before becoming the Sales Operations Manager.
During his time at DOE and at ADS, Patrick remained active in the Army Reserves, spending one weekend a month training and preparing Soldiers. He retired November 1, 2022, after 20 years and 7 months of service to our country. He has found that maintaining both his part-time Army Reserves work and his full-time job, first with DOE and now with ADS, has been both demanding and rewarding at the same time. As Patrick rose in rank with the Reserves, he was also building a career outside of the Army Reserves. He shared that he was able to incorporate and leverage lessons from one to the other often, and that while challenging to advance in both careers at the same time, it taught him valuable lessons about planning, time management, prioritization, delegation, and working as part of a team.
Directly applicable in his role at ADS, Patrick said that his time in the Reserves gave him an understanding of leadership and organizational structure, as well as experience working with leaders of all types. The ability to stay calm under pressure and discern a manageable situation from a true crisis has helped him to both lead others and connect with his customers. As a veteran, he is able to relate firsthand to what many of his military customers experience day to day doing their jobs and procuring the necessary equipment and supplies to be effective. He believes the military is excellent at training and cultivating leaders and those leadership skills he gained in the military, from managing small groups to larger chains of command, have been valuable to him as a manager here at ADS. Having served with soldiers from all over the country and from diverse backgrounds, Patrick has an incredible appreciation for the common ground we all share, regardless of our different opinions and beliefs.
As Patrick embarks on his retirement from the Army Reserves this month, we honor his dedicated service to our country and are thankful he is part of the ADS team, continuing to serve those who serve!
