Tecunuman Garcia
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM USA
"I think it’s a natural instinct to want to get out and explore. It’s about who you are and what you need to do. Just roll with it."
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Tecunuman's work combines: Engineering, Science, and Learning / Being Challenged
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
I've lost friends and acquaintances who disagreed with my decision to leave the military when I did. They didn't understand why I wanted to leave and they tried to keep me from moving forward. At the end of the day, I did what I did for myself and for my family. You can't let people hold you down or dictate the decisions you make. It was a struggle to leave and move on, but I knew it was what I truly wanted and what was going to benefit me in the long run.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Associate's Degree
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Phoenix
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
I was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico.
2.
My father left the family when I was very young, so I was raised by my mother—when I was four years old, we moved off of the reservation in order to find better opportunities.
3.
After graduating high school, I attended the University of New Mexico for a few years, where I majored in medicine, but never graduated with my degree.
4.
I was recruited to join the U.S. Navy, where I served as a combat corpsman specializing in emergency medicine for over nine years.
5.
Got stationed in Japan for four years and was given the opportunity to build and supervise an emergency room in a remote area that met Joint Commission Accreditation Health Organization standards.
6.
As I got older, carrying heavy medical packs was getting hard on my body and I kept feeling the urge to do something different, so I decided to switch over to the U.S. Coast Guard.
7.
I spent the last decade of my military career in the U.S. Coast Guard, where I pursued my interests in electronics and technology by working as a senior electronic technician.
8.
After retiring from the military, I got an opportunity to work at Sandia National Laboratories, where I’m currently a metallurgy senior technologist.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
Why would you leave the military? Just stay and keep doing what you are doing.
How I responded:
I've lost friends and acquaintances who disagreed with my decision to leave the military when I did. They didn't understand why I wanted to leave and they tried to keep me from moving forward. At the end of the day, I did what I did for myself and for my family. You can't let people hold you down or dictate the decisions you make. It was a struggle to leave and move on, but I knew it was what I truly wanted and what was going to benefit me in the long run.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My father left the family when I was very young and I was raised by my mother. She made a lot of sacrifices and made the tough decision to leave the Navajo reservation to better herself and give me better opportunities.
In the military, you tend to move around a lot. I've been stationed in California, Japan, Puerto Rico, Florida, and more. You learn to adjust and handle change.
I not only switched my career from medicine to electronics, but I also switched the branches of the military I served in. Both were huge culture shocks. Getting out of the military and working as a civilian was also challenging.
One of the reasons I decided to leave the Navy and stop being a combat medic is because as I got older, carrying the heavy medical packs around started to take a toll on my body. I just couldn't keep up anymore.
The prospect of getting a job in the civilian world after retiring from the military was daunting. I had never been on an interview before, never written a resume, etc. It was a huge adjustment and took a lot of time to figure out that process.
There was about an 8 month period after retiring from the military where I didn't have a job and was actively searching. I relied heavily on savings and on the retirement checks I was getting.