“My Transition” #39: Dr. Claudia Tatum — Army Logistics to Business Continuity at Citi
Claudia combined her military training with advanced education to land a job at one of the nation’s leading banks.
What I have enjoyed the most about my various jobs is being the liaison among hundreds of business units, IT and third party providers to identify risk and develop mitigation strategies.
Dallas, TX — September 11 was a life-changing day for many of us. For Claudia, it led her to join the Army. Afterwards, she completed a Doctorate of Management at Colorado Technical University and began a new career working in Business Continuity at Citi.
DJS: Why did you join the military?
CT:
My journey began in California, May 2002 when I joined the United States Army. As I was driving my old 1980 white Toyota to Los Angeles City College, I heard on the radio as the Twin Towers were strike by the first plane. As I went inside the college building, tv’s were being pulled into the hallways so everyone could see the devastating news as the people of New York City were going through some of the most devastating attack in history. Shortly, classes were canceled and we were sent home.
During my drive home, I remember tuning the news on. When I got home, I turned the television on, sat on the floor, and wept as I saw the Twin Towers collapse. I remember feeling hopeless. In shock, the next morning that I went to college, I knew there must be something I could do, I did some research and I went to see an Army recruiter. In May of 2002, I joined the United States Army.
I remember my basic training as it was yesterday. While some of my friends decided to stay in college and graduate, others, quit college, get marry and have kids, I decided to join the Army. Neither decision was right or wrong. Some of us heard the calling and felt a sense of duty and responded to the call. Others, they were guided by their life purpose or culture, so made a different choice.
DJS: What was your favorite job in the Army? Any good stories?
CT:
When I was in Korea, I noticed how all my friends were living, all of sudden, everyone that I met when I first got there were gone. One day, I was behind my barracks, and my Cpt. approached me. I said, I don’t want to leave here. He said, Tatum, everyone will leave here one day, everyone you know. I have gotten attached to Korea and my fellow comrades, but he was right, at-least 75% of those I met when I got there, were already gone. So, that put peace in my heart and helped me go through the clearing process.
I was sent to Fort Hood. When I got to my unit, I learned that my unit was deploying and since I was coming from overseas, I could have stayed at Fort Hood for six months before deploying, but I told my Sgt that I wanted to deploy with my unit. I was not going to stay behind and see them leave to a combat zone without me. So, immediately, my Sgt. put me on deployment readiness. I got my shots, and Will in place and I was ready to go.
A Jewish friend went with me to the gym where all the family members and the warriors were saying their final goodbyes. My family was in California and I haven’t told anybody that I was deploying, so it was a lonely farewell. All I remember from there is that the airplane landed at night in an open field. There were several Coach Buses ready to pick us up. We got in the buses and they drove us through the dark streets of Kuwait. The buses drop us off and we spent a few days there. A few days later, we convoyed to LSA Anaconda.
The LT assembled a team of warriors to provide security for my Capt. outside the wires. For a few weeks, we took weaponry training and went over safety and intelligence briefings. The Special Forces guys who would brief us would show us pictures of IEDs, and how Al Qaida was using kids and women to detonate explosives.
Our mission was to drive my Cpt. and several other high rank officials to seek for storage space. We were a Logistics unit, so our job was to find safe space to storage supplies (water, food, weapons).
My first encounter with what seemed close of being the end of my life was while we drove outside the wires. As we got to our destination, the senior leaders were inspecting the area, and the convoy security team was taking pictures and walking around. All of sudden… Bummmmmm an explosion. Holy crap, we all got our weapons ready, scanned our perimeter, and we were ready to hit the ground. Up to this day, we never knew what it was, but we cut our trip short, loaded up and left.
We drove to other nearby bases; I remember that my Cpt. would ask for me as his driver, which was humbling that he would trust me with his life. I had trained with my Capt. so he knew my determination, lack of fear, and attention to details. He knew, that if he said turn, I was going to turn regardless of who was on my way. See, one of the things they taught us during convoy training was to drive and don’t stop. When I got behind the wheel, I had a mindset that I was either going to drive and come home alive or was going to freeze on the wheel and never see my family again. Can you imagine how difficult it was the first time I got behind the wheel, knowing that if a woman, kid or anyone got on path that I was going to run them over? Yes, that was my mentality, if it gets in front of me, is going to be run over. We used to drive on tight alleys, and busy streets, we had gunners on top of the vehicles, yelling at people to move aside and stay away from our vehicles, so any aggressive move from the locals was considered a threat to our safety and lives. When I was on the wheel, I was not only responsible for my Cpt’s life; I was also responsible for the life of our gunner and the other HUMVEE behind me, because we were the lead vehicle. If my vehicle stopped, all the other vehicles would have either slammed behind me or come to a hard stopped, so there was no room for errors.
One time, as always, I was driving my Cpt, we had turned right, and we were at full speed, on this open and quite road, when all of sudden….. in-coming… what sounded like a Rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), I remember that I closed my eyes, and pressed on the gas as hard I could. I think that’s the fastest prayer and fastest good byes I ever said; I did not think I was going to make it out of that one. By miracle of God, our people were resilience and we pushed through what seemed could have been the end of our journey in this earth.
In 2004 civilian fueler convoys that would bring gas into LSA Anaconda, Iraq. At that time, the convoys were getting hit and the drivers were getting decapitated. The LT was assigned to assemble a security team. After being on several missions with him, he approached me to join his team. This could have been one of the most dangerous missions we were going to go on. He approached several of us and he explained that the missions would be to provide security for convoy fueler. As always, I did not hesitate to volunteer. On most of the other convoys, there were at-least two females me and someone else, but on this mission, I was the only female. The plan was for us to ride inside the fueler with the driver. So, my first time, I got in this huge fueler, with someone who did not speak a word of English, but it did not matter, I was not there to establish a conversation, I was there to protect him. Our weapons were always on the ready pointing out the window. We had a soldier riding on every other fueler and we had a gunner every other three fueler. So if something happened on our end, it would be a few seconds before those gunners get to us for extra firing support, but those seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours. When I was sitting on that fueler ready to take off, that’s when reality hit me; I was sitting on a big bomb and if a RPG hit this fueler, I was death. A few weeks before, I have gone on another convoy where I was the gunner, which means I was standing on top of the HUMVEE with a .50CAL. I remember seeing burned trucks all around us, that day, I was angry. As we drove by, there was a burnt fueler on one side of the road, and looked the other way, and there was another one. This was one of the most horrifying scenes I have ever seeing, just knowing that a few days before, some of my comrades have been ambushed, and the only trace behind were burnt trucks.
DJS: What were the most important skills or lessons that you learned?
CT:
Some of the most important skills I learned were loyalty, comrade, respect, persistence and determination.
DJS: Did you know what you were going to do when you left the Army?
CT:
When I got out from active duty, I went directly to Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) component. So I was a full time student and in a 2nd Lieutenant Leadership role in the Army National Guard. As I was going to school, I started to invest in real estate. So I got out from ROTC to start my own property management and construction company.
I will not advise you to get into real estate investing as I did. I believe I was scammed to use my credit score to purchase investment homes with zero money down.
DJS: Did your military skills translate well into other jobs?
CT:
I was 92A — Automated Logistics Specialist and my career in the civilian workforce has not been in logistics.
DJS: What did you enjoy most about your various jobs since leaving the military?
CT:
What I have enjoyed the most about my various jobs is being the liaison among hundreds of business units, IT and third party providers to identify risk and develop mitigation strategies.
DJS: You’ve been nominated for some prestigious positions… what advice do you have for others seeking leadership roles?
CT:
#1 — Community
· Apply to serve on your City, County, or State Boards and Commissions
· Attend Leadership programs through your Chamber of Commerce, for example:
- Leadership Richardson (contact your City Manager’s Office for details)
- Leadership North Texas
- Young professionals
- Women in Leadership
- Ambassadors Club
· Volunteer at your local organizations and be open to leadership roles, for example:
- Altrusa International
- Rotary International
- Presidential Leadership Scholar
- InfraGard
- United Nations Association
- Women’s Club
- Boy Scouts of America
- The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
- The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)
- Grassroots or Tea Parties (if you are in politics)
- The Department of Veterans Affairs
- Home Owners or Neighborhood Associations
- Local public library
- Footwasher Ministries, Inc
- Network of Community Ministries
- Boys and Girls Clubs
- Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
- Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT)
· Attend your local public service academies and get involved in their alumni associations, for example:
- Police Department
- Fire Fighter Department
- State Troopers
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Sheriff Department
DJS: How did you land your current job at Citi?
CT:
I landed my current job at Citi through a recruiter. Recruiters have the gift of identifying personnel with the skills they need.
DJS: Tell me about what you do on a daily basis in Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Quality Assurance?
CT:
I conduct random regulatory and risk-based quality reviews on emergency preparedness, business continuity, disaster recovery plans and tabletop, call tree, DoS, DoA exercises. Communicate findings and ensure timely and amicable remediation.
DJS: What skills from the military translated into your jobs and made you successful in those roles?
CT:
The military skills that have helped me in my current and previous role are risk management, leadership, teamwork, working under pressure, give and follow directions, systematic planning and organization, safety management, flexibility and adaptability, self-direction, initiative, commitment to excellence, global outlook, and client and service –oriented.
DJS: Are there other veterans in your workplace? If so, how is that dynamic?
CT:
Citi employs more than 219,000 personnel in more than 160 countries. I have met 4–5 military personnel at Las Colinas location. I am sure there more military personnel throughout the organization.
DJS: If you knew one thing before the transition process that would have made your experience easier, what would that be?
CT:
I made a lot of costly mistakes when I transitioned to the civilian workforce. What would I have done differently? Identify a mentor — someone to brainstorm and bounce ideas with. Someone that I could trust and relate to.
DJS: What was the hardest piece of transition?
CT:
The hardest piece of transition was expectations. I held myself to high standards to find out that the civilian workforce was very relaxed (e.g. no sense of urgency).
DJS: What one piece of advice do you have for anyone reading this?
CT:
Obtain as many certifications as possible while still in the military and complete the highest degree possible before getting out.
Bio
Claudia served in the Army as an automated logistics specialist. She served a tour in Korea and a tour in Iraq. After those tours, she joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program, where she served in lieutenant-level leadership position in an Army Reserve- unit.
Prior to joining UT Dallas, she worked as a government contractor on an Air force base in Qatar. She has gained true to life realistic expertise to expand as people and innovative perspectives about the globe.
Her love of education and passion for innovation and change drove her to pursue a Doctorate in Management. She now works in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Quality Assurance at Citibank.
Top Resources
American Corporate Partners — American Corporate Partners (ACP) is a national nonprofit organization focused on helping returning veterans find their next careers through one-on-one mentoring, networking and online career advice.
MilitaryHire.com — Within the MilitaryHire network are the resources and contacts you need to successfully make your initial transition to civilian life and to make any future career change after transition.
HireHeroesUSA.org — Hire Heroes USA empowers U.S. military members, veterans and military spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce.
Are you interested in sharing your story of transition? Or are you a military transition specialist who would like to share some tips? Send me an email at MilitaryTransitionStories@gmail.com
The goal of this series is to bridge the military-civilian divide in three ways: 1) Highlight the incredible skills and value that military veterans of all generations and backgrounds bring into the workplace. 2) Help transitioning veterans understand their true value and therefore aim as high as possible in their employment and educational goals. 3) Discuss the common struggles, pitfalls and indicators of success in veteran transition, in order to provide better transition assistance from both military and civilian sides.
