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Telling the ATEC Story: The People Behind Test & Evaluation - Michele Dominguez

By ATEC G 3-5October 10, 2024

Michele Dominguez, a self-professed "Valley Girl," grew up in Southern California's San Fernando Valley region. Fluent in Valley Speak, or Valspeak, she was a regular at the famous Sherman Oaks Galleria—widely recognized as the Valley Girl's official stomping ground. Dominguez came of age during the early 1980s, a time marked by the success of Frank Zappa's iconic hit "Valley Girl," which topped the charts in 1982 and even mentioned the Galleria in its lyrics. This song also inspired the 1983 teenage romantic comedy "Valley Girl," starring Nicolas Cage, further immortalizing the culture Dominguez was a part of.

Dominguez is the youngest of three and the only girl. Her older brother, Pierre Dominic, 57, lives in Sherman Oaks, California. Her younger brother, Guy Gustavo, passed away at age 54 on August 9, 2021, from a heart attack complicated by COVID-19.

Her parents, Antenor Gustavo and Mary Alice, who have lived with her for the last two years, have been married 58 years. Born in 1942, they are both 82. Her father worked for the Metro Transit Authority in Los Angeles, previously known as the Rapid Transit District. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom. Growing up, both her parents were active members of their neighborhood. They served on the neighborhood watch to help reduce crime in the community by promoting neighborhood safety and encouraging their neighbors to look out for one another.

Dominguez graduated from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys in 1987. She was a competitive swimmer throughout high school, and her specialty was the 200-meter freestyle stroke. She chose the freestyle because it is both a test of speed and endurance, and it challenged her to maintain a high speed over a relatively long distance. She was also captain of the drill team and a member of the dance production team that created the choreography for the half-time shows performed during the football season.

During the summers, she worked as a locker room attendant at the public swimming pools in Reseda and Sherman Oaks, managed by the San Fernando Recreation Park and Aquatic Center. As a locker room attendant, she assisted the aquatics staff with maintaining the restrooms and locker room areas and helping patrons.

She eventually became a lifeguard after completing the required mandatory training. As a lifeguard, she maintained a safe pool environment, performed pool maintenance, and supervised the pool for signs of swimmers in trouble and/or violating pool and safety regulations. When necessary, she performed lifesaving duties. She also taught beginner and advanced swim classes.

Dominguez shared that few may know she has always wanted to travel and see the world. She believes her wanderlust was born during one of her family's many road trips while growing up. By way of a recreational vehicle, they visited the Grand Canyon National Park in Northern Arizona, the Zion National Park in southern Utah, the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in northwestern Wyoming, the Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, and the Glacier National Park in northern Montana near the Canadian border.

After its eruption, they visited Mount Saint Helens in the Pacific Northwest region of Washington state. On their way home to Los Angeles from Washington, they drove along the Pacific Coast Highway in northern California. They stopped in the Redwood Forest, which features the oldest and tallest trees on earth. They traveled to Brentwood Bay, near Victoria, Canada. They visited the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The gardens feature the Sunken Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Japanese Garden, renowned for their beautifully landscaped floral displays. On one of their trips, they traveled from Los Angeles to Hartford, Connecticut, via Amtrak.

While she has always wanted to travel, she also wanted to learn more about the cultures of the people she would meet. To do this, she realized she would need to be able to communicate with them as well. To further this goal, she decided to major in linguistics. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in two local community colleges in the San Fernando Valley area. She took courses in American sign language at Pierce College and Spanish at Valley College. She also applied for a flight attendant position with American Airlines, or AA, in 1989 when she was 20. Although AA flew her out to Fort Worth, Texas, for an interview, she wasn't hired. The only option she felt she had available then was joining the military.

Dominguez, her two brothers, and her father all served in the military. Her father joined the Mexican army at 18 and served one year in Tijuana. Her brother Guy, who dreamed of being an Army explosive ordnance disposal specialist, became very ill during his basic training at Fort Moore, Georgia, and was medically discharged. Pierre was a 16J air defense acquisition radar operator deployed to the U.S. Army Garrison in Grafenwöhr, Germany. Dominguez was a 74E computer systems operator. Her first duty assignment was at Camp Carroll in Waegwan, Korea.

Dominguez's plans to travel were derailed when she met her former husband, Santiago Valdez, in Korea. After returning stateside in September 1991, they were assigned to Fort Liberty, formerly Fort Bragg, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where her first daughter was born. She welcomed a second daughter in 1993. When she left the Army in April 1992, the family moved to Victoria, Texas, where Valdez's family lived. She enrolled at the University of Houston-Victoria in 1995 with plans to continue her linguistic studies. When she learned the university didn't offer her major, she took accounting instead, eventually earning a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 2015 from Grand Canyon University. The family later moved to Yuma, Arizona, in July 2003 after Valdez was hired by Border Patrol. The marriage didn't last, and they divorced in January 2011.

Dominguez still lives in Yuma, her home for the last 21 years. Since July 2013, she has worked at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, or YPG, one of the largest military test ranges in the world. This vast Army range facility covers over 1,300 square miles of desert terrain. It is a key site for testing everything from artillery, aircraft, and armored vehicles to water purification systems and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Initially hired as an internal auditor, Dominguez has been a program analyst since 2022 for the Yuma Test Center, or YTC. An integral component of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, or ATEC, based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, or APG, in Harford County, Maryland, YTC specializes in providing comprehensive and rigorous test, evaluation, and development services for a wide array of military equipment and technologies.

Dominguez is the contract representative for a million-dollar service contract providing chemical toilets for the YPG test range. Army chemical toilets are portable sanitation units used by military personnel in field operations, training exercises, and other temporary or remote environments where standard plumbing is unavailable. These toilets are designed to be durable, compact, and efficient for use in harsh or mobile conditions.

Hygiene is crucial in field operations to prevent the spread of disease, and chemical toilets help maintain sanitation in remote areas and promote overall operational effectiveness. Dominguez is passionate about ensuring that hygienic and self-contained sanitation systems are in place so Soldiers in the field can focus on the mission. Access to proper sanitation also contributes to a Soldier's overall mental and physical well-being and enhances the morale of the entire unit.

In addition to her primary duties, Dominguez is YPG's Wellness Program Coordinator. Since 2018, she has planned and promoted wellness programs, created wellness initiatives and challenges, and encouraged participation in wellness and fitness programs. Dominguez says since the age of 19, she has been involved in the fitness industry in one way or another. For her, the goal has always been to help others help themselves. She says nothing inspires her more than knowing she has been instrumental in helping someone achieve their fitness goals, in turn improving their overall health and well-being.

Dominguez believes emotional intelligence, readiness, and resilience play significant roles in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and mindset. In January 2024, Dominguez traveled to APG to participate in a 10-day Master Resiliency Training course at ATEC Headquarters. The training aimed to enhance trainees' resilience across six core competency areas: self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, strengths of character, and connection.

Beyond developing their resilience skills, trainees were equipped to teach and support Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians, and their Family members in thriving amid challenges and recovering from adversity. This course is a component of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, designed to bolster Army personnel's physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and familial resilience. Upon completing the course, Dominguez achieved certification as an Army Master Resilience Trainer.

Dominguez says the key to her success has always been her desire to do whatever she's doing to the best of her ability. She puts time, effort, and thought into whatever she undertakes to achieve the best results. She says applying this technique throughout her personal and professional life has reaped dividends.

Even though she's just four hours away from her childhood home, Dominguez has left her Valley Girl days far behind. Now, her focus is squarely on the road ahead rather than the path behind her.

Her greatest achievements aren't framed by her past but by her present role as a proud mother who successfully raised two daughters, both college graduates, to be smarter than her and as a doting grandmother committed to nurturing her three granddaughters and one grandson.

For Dominguez, life is a growing process, and she's still growing. She makes self-improvements as situations arise or when she realizes improvements are needed. She strives to improve her emotional intelligence one day at a time. And each night, she gives all her problems to God. She says coffee is the only thing that keeps her up at night.