Our employees are what make us valuable and, as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, VMSI is proud to honor our veteran employees by highlighting their service and VMSI employment. This month, VMSI is excited to honor Robert “Rob” Davis for our Veteran Spotlight! Rob has been with VMSI since 2020 as a Senior Program Manager (PM) supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Program & Logistics Office. Rob’s main focus areas include integration and deployment of collaborative tools, establishing guidelines, assisting stakeholders in strategic planning, supply and demand balance, and processing equipment requests in support of the VA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Name: Robert Davis
- Rank: Master Sergeant
- Branch: US Army
- Years of Service: 26
- Awards or medals: Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal w/3olc, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal 5th Award, National Defense Service Medal, NCOPD with numeral 3, Army Service Ribbon, Expert Marksman Qualification Badge, Aircraft Crewman Badge, US Army Gold Recruiter’s Badge w/3 Sapphire Stars
Rob is from a family of sailors and soldiers, with most of his uncles serving in WWII. Additionally, Rob’s dad had the opportunity to serve in the Navy during WWII alongside John F. Kennedy. After the sinking of PT 109, Kennedy returned to duty and was given command of the PT 59, which unlike previous boats, was stripped of its torpedoes and converted to a gun boat supporting Marine Raider Operations in the Solomon Islands. Rob’s dad served on the PT 59 as a Sr. Gunner’s Mate.
Initially, Rob joined the Army because he was committed to serving his country, but he never anticipated that he would make a career out of it. Rob found that he enjoyed the camaraderie, the family-like atmosphere, and working together under adverse circumstances and accomplishing the mission. Rob spent about half of his career as an Infantry soldier serving as a Rifle and Mortar Platoon Sergeant. Due to some injuries, he completed a management reassignment to Army Aviation Maintenance and finally served as an Attack Helicopter Battalion Aviation Unit Maintenance (AVUM) Company First Sergeant. His favorite travel location during his service was Germany, where he enjoyed visiting Bavaria, eating schnitzel and pommes frites, and drinking good beer.
Rob recommends these tips for anyone transitioning into civilian life:
- Continuing education is critical, if you don’t possess a degree, get one. If you have an undergraduate degree work on a Master’s program.
- Once you’ve decide to leave start very early to assess what is important to you after ETS, lifestyle, location, going back to school, starting a family, etc., these are significant considerations which may affect how you view post service career opportunities.
- Always seek out a mentor while serving and stay in contact with them after leaving. If they’ve provided guidance and good advice in the past, expect you will still need them at a future time because we all do.
Thank you for your service, Rob, and for sharing your experiences with the #VMSIFamily!