ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — More than 70% of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command workforce is over 40, with the average age being 48. As this large percentage of the workforce nears retirement, it is up to the next generation to take up the mantle and shape the future of the Army. This younger generation can bring new perspectives and unique experiences to diversify the CECOM workforce and reinforce the strength of the Army.
Patti Waters, a management analyst for CECOM’s G8/Resource Management, onboards the future of the CECOM and Army workforce.
Waters grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. Though her dream was to join the military right out of college, her parents encouraged her to seek higher education before enlisting. Waters aimed to be an equal employment opportunity officer, so she earned a bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University in ethnic studies with a concentration in equal employment opportunity in 2004.
During her undergraduate studies, Waters pledged to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and is still a member today. As a general member of AKA, she contributes to various functions in the community, including volunteer work in New Jersey and Maryland. Waters often participates in tutoring programs, helps donate prom dresses to Edgewood High School, and assisted in establishing the Love Mike Nia Foundation in 2011, which awards two scholarships annually.
Waters joined the Army Reserve after graduating from WSU. As an automated logistical specialist, she oversaw maintenance management and warehouse functions like managing supplies and equipment. However, Waters’s service did not end there as she transferred to the Air Force in July 2006. During her time in the Air Force, Waters served as an aerial transportation specialist to distribute supplies for relief efforts and as a personnel specialist who took care of personnel records for pararescue troopers before being detailed in Alaska to do reserve management.
Service allowed Waters to travel not only across the nation but also the world.
“The military has always been my goal,” Waters said. “I wanted to see the world.”
Waters continued to serve in the Air National Guard from January 2009 to December 2012. This position allowed her to come to APG as an emergency essential civilian as a member of a mobilization unit before becoming a GS employee as a joint elimination coordination element (a 30-man deployable team mixed with civilians and military servicemembers).
“The biggest benefits of becoming a [DoD] civilian are job security, your experiences, [and] working with ‘Green Suiters,’” Waters stated.
Though she’s been at APG since 2009, Waters didn’t join the CECOM team until January 2023. As a management analyst, Waters handles hiring actions, job fairs, recruitment, customer service, classification, personnel actions, and CECOM’s involvement in the BEYA Conference and Career Fair.
Waters’ favorite thing about her job is the people.
“We have such a great team,” she said. “Everyone is always willing to step up and help; it’s the relationships we’ve built between our office and other commands.”
A significant accomplishment for Waters’ team is that within her first year at CECOM, they have increased the G8 workforce from 75% to 90% and have successfully created 19 standard operating procedures for hiring actions.
Waters added that filling vacancies and actually seeing the people show up in the office after working so hard to get them through the process is another way she feels accomplished.
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