FORT LEE, Va. -- For Army 1st Lt. Amber Shipmon, an assignment to Fort Lee, Virginia, was not just a return to the familiar, but an opportunity to continue some unfinished business.
The 25-year-old officer, who serves as the executive officer for Victor Company, 262nd Quartermaster Battalion, arrived here more than a year ago following a tour in South Korea. Her return was the fulfillment of a strong desire to resume her life's work of helping those in need.
"I attended [the Quartermaster] Basic Officer Leader Course [at Army Logistics University] in 2014, and we did a class volunteer project," Shipmon recalled. "I remember saying, 'If I ever come back to Fort Lee, I'm going to make sure I volunteer and urge my Soldiers to do so, as well.'"
HELPING OTHERS
Since her return, Shipmon said, she has devoted "hundreds of hours" of her time and that of her students to the support of various causes and entities such as the Red Cross and the area schools of Petersburg, Virginia.
"These organizations may be small, but they have a very large and positive impact on the community," said Shipmon.
Shipmon said her devotion to charitable work has its roots in the wisdom of her mother and grandmother, both of whom encouraged her on a regular basis to perform good deeds.
"I was taught to perform acts of kindness, work for what you want, keep moving and move others," said the former high school basketball player, whose grandfather and father retired here as Soldiers.
VOLUNTEERING
Shipmon moved to the Fort Lee area from Dallas in 2007. Although she had spent her summers here, she was not intimate with the area. She longed to do something more than participate in the same organized sports that marked her childhood.
So she volunteered to work for the Red Cross during the summer prior to her senior year in high school.
"One, it made me familiar with the community and what kind of things the Red Cross did," Shipmon explained. "A house caught on fire, for example, and I know the Red Cross was there to support the family. They showed me it is not all about money. It definitely shaped my character."
Shipmon further defined herself as a volunteer for the Petersburg YMCA after her graduation from Norfolk State University in 2013. Fully exposed to the plight of the disadvantaged, she fell within a comfortable place there, finding the grid coordinates to a calling.
"Some days, I would go into work, and it didn't feel like work," Shipmon recalled.
DOING WHAT SHE CAN
During her stint here, Shipmon first served as the executive officer for Charlie Company, 262nd Quartermaster Battalion, for about a year. She has spent the past seven weeks in the same position in Victor Company.
Her work days, which she said can take her 14 to 16 hours to fulfill her duties in the advanced individual training unit, don't allow for full participation in volunteer activities. But she does what she can when time allows.
Shipmon also has encouraged Soldiers to lend their support. Most of them graduate awaiting military orders, she said, and they have responded well to the fact there is a need out there, and a call to a mission much larger than themselves.
"When they see you helping," she said of the community at large, "they are more willing to help you."
ASSISTING COMMUNITY STUDENTS
In September, a group of Victor Company soldier-students from Fort Lee raised money to buy school supplies for students at a Petersburg elementary school, Shipmon said.
"It made me feel great," she said of students' effort, which collected more than $400. "I felt like this is the future of the Army … and for them to have the mentality to care enough to take the initiative -- a trait great leaders have -- made me feel proud to be a part of the military."
For Shipmon's commander, Army Capt. Jean-Shay Wright, the effort was an affirmation of the junior officer's effectiveness as a leader and a humanitarian.
"Since she became a part of this company, she has been truly a blessing," Wright said, noting Shipmon's competency as her second-in-command. "She did so much while she was in Charlie Company … and she's always making an effort to encourage us."
Wright, who also has participated in various volunteer endeavors with Shipmon, said company outreach efforts have been curtailed due to transportation policy restrictions.
"We no longer involve our advanced and individual training students [for volunteer endeavors], but we encourage our permanent party to come through and participate," she said.
While Shipmon can no longer rely on bringing a large number of Soldiers to any particular event, she said, a smaller presence is no less important in the business of lifting people up.
"I'm going to volunteer no matter what," she said, pointing out her long-standing relationship with the YMCA and Petersburg schools.
"I believe that one person can have an impact."
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