REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Nov. 6, 2023) – For veteran Jessica Schock, her career at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center is an opportunity to continue serving her country.
Schock, a government project lead in the DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center’s Prototype Integration Facility, came onboard with the Center in summer of 2023. She said that she was drawn to the opportunity to use skills honed in her eight years as a Marine, where she worked with the V-22 Osprey.
The PIF, which sits under the Center’s Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration Directorate, is the premier provider of rapid response and integrated hardware solutions for the Department of Defense and its components.
“There's always the technical knowledge that I gained as a veteran, but even more so, it is having a better understanding of living in that environment and knowing the importance of what we do day in and day out and how it affects the Warfighter,” Schock said. “I believe in the vision of the PIF to provide those rapid solutions to all the problems that the Warfighter is facing out there in their environment.”
Schock, a Huntsville native, joined the Marine Corps, like so many of her generation, in the wake of 9/11. That desire to help others has followed her ever since.
“It's a continual service to my country,” she said. “I aspire to set the example for others and especially my children -- to show the importance of our freedom and working every day as if that freedom depended on me alone. That's the example I want to set.”
Schock said that what drew her to the PIF was their breadth of work with not just the Army but with all branches of the military and defense agencies. What the PIF has also given Schock as a project manager, she said, is leadership opportunities which allow her to pursue her love of mentorship.
“That is my ultimate goal is to better the lives of others and to serve others by leading them within the Army,” she shared.
It is work that matters, Schock said, and while she no longer dons a uniform to do that work, she knows firsthand that what she does – what the PIF and the Center do every day – is more than a job, more than nameless, faceless technology. Schock knows those faces. They are personal to her.
“I believe in the mission and it creates a drive within me every day to do the best I can. So that way my brothers and sisters that are still out there in our military can get what they need to win the battle and come home.”
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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.
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