Share ThisAs a teenager in Lock Haven, PA, Patrick Simcox, now a benefits coding analyst at Highmark in our Camp Hill office, developed a penchant for electronics. He took some basic electronics classes at school, and even began installing stereos in his friends' cars.
“I always had a passion for tearing things apart to make them work again,” he recalls. “Electrical devices, vehicles — I liked trying to find out what made them work. If anything was broken, I’d try to find out what was going on and fix it.”
Simcox says his interest in the military came in part from growing up in a small central Pennsylvania town where enlisting in the military was fairly common. His uncle had served in the military for 22 years. Both of his grandfathers also served, and one fought in Germany during World War II.
Simcox enlisted in the Army National Guard’s Split Training Option at age 17, with a specific focus in mind: “When I joined the military, they had a position for communications, which was closest to the path I had taken in high school,” he says. “It was what I was interested in at the time.”
Proud to serve: Patrick in uniform as a member of the Army National Guard.
As part of the Split Training program, Simcox completed Basic Combat Training (BCT) at Fort Jackson in Columbia, SC, between his junior and senior years in high school. After completing his senior year, he went to Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA, to complete his Advanced Individual Training (AIT).
AIT is where military personnel begin to specialize their roles — and where Simcox began to apply his passion for electronics. At Fort Gordon, and then in field training with the tactical operations center (TAC) of his National Guard Unit, he learned to handle communications systems ranging from computer networks to firewalls to email systems and radio services used by the military. He also learned how to connect components to circuit boards as well as basic soldering — the process of melting metal components together.
Since his training and early military career coincided with the rise of the Internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Simcox also had the opportunity to become proficient in a range of basic computer and system networking skills.
After completing training, he returned to Lock Haven to be stationed at different armories’ communications divisions. “I ran all the communications systems for the battalion level — setting up all the radio equipment, phone lines, antennas and anything dealing with communications when you’re out in the field,” he says.
Eventually, he earned an E4 Specialist rank in the National Guard and began a Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) program in preparation for being deployed to Iraq.
Clockwise from upper left: Patrick, wife Ashley, daughter Alexa and son Aiden.
Simcox’s military career took an unexpected turn in 2004. He was returning from SRP to his unit when a tractor trailer rear-ended the military bus he was on. He suffered multiple ruptured and bulging discs in his vertebrae. Simcox was just 22 years old at the time, and doctors felt that it was better for someone that young to look at long-term ways to manage the resulting back problems rather than take the risks associated with back surgery. Unfortunately, that also meant a medical discharge from the National Guard.
Simcox still suffers from chronic back pain caused by the trauma from the accident. But he says his family, and access to resources through his work at Highmark, have made it easier to cope with the pain.
His wife, Ashley, a former employee at Highmark Medicare Services, practices reiki massage therapy — an energy-centric approach to massage therapy that promotes healing and general wellness. His children, Aiden (8) and Alexa (10), also keep Simcox active through their love of baseball and the outdoors. He even coaches Aiden’s Little League teams.
At work, Simcox has access to a full gym, fitness center and a team of personal trainers at Highmark’s Camp Hill location. He says the personal trainers have been very helpful, working with him using a range of back-strengthening stretches, exercises and resistance training on his core.
Play ball! On the field with Aiden.
“They help me strengthen the muscles around my injury to compensate for the disc issues,” he said. “They know my issues, so they plan my workouts around them.”
For Simcox, there is also a residual psychological component to deal with from the accident. “Sometimes it’s difficult for me, because I was ready to be deployed, just north of Baghdad,” he explains. “I got injured while on active duty, and I was ready to go, but a lot of people I served with did go, and that’s hard to reconcile.”
He adds that one person who ended up doing a full tour in Iraq was his wife’s cousin. “He and I were friends in high school — we joined the military together, before I ever met my wife,” he explains. “He was deployed when I was supposed to be. He came back. There were others in my unit who didn’t. A lot of times, I’ve felt guilty for not being over there with them.”
Like many whose military careers were cut short by injury and medical discharge, Simcox admits that sometimes he wrestles with even being called a “veteran.” Here again, he says his family has been a big help.
“My kids love the fact that their dad served in the military, he says. “And my wife and kids always remind me, 'Hey, you signed on that dotted line. You trained and served and put your life on the line for our country.' They’re still proud of me serving — and they tell me that it’s not my fault that I was injured prior to being deployed in Iraq.”
Wearing my “Sunday best” with Alexa.
In his current role as a benefits coding analyst at Highmark, Simcox says he employs many of the skills he learned in the military, as well as deeper values like integrity, leadership and perseverance.
“In the military, you learn to lead,— he says. “You’re taught that you can always do better. That’s how I’ve approached my civilian career. When I started at Highmark, I was a customer service rep, which is an entry-level position. Now I’m at an intermediate level. My military experience taught me to always strive for more. That’s how I got into the position I’m in — and it’s what drives me to want to advance as far as I can.”
His current job also takes him back to his early enjoyment of electronics. Much of what he does involves the company’s computerized benefits system and making sure that Highmark health plan members’ benefits are properly applied to medical claims. “It’s all computers and analysis, which is what I did in the military,” he says.
He also points out that, as in the military, his work requires flexibility. “As with any work involving technology, and then being in this industry right now, it’s challenging because there are changes all the time,— he says. “I adapt well to changes — during my military service, that’s something I was taught to do. You have to adapt to overcome the situation you’re in.”
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