Captain Tate joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1986 and started as a maritime logistics officer

His operational sea service included deployments to Timor Leste and the Middle East and he has been posted to HMA ships, Torrens, Perth as well as Tobruk.

He had a break from full-time service in 2006 and returned in 2012.

During this break he was appointed to parliamentary service roles, initially as Deputy Usher of the Black Rod in the Australian Senate, followed by senior management roles.

In 2012, following a return to full-time service, he was appointed as the Commanding Officer Headquarters Joint Operations Command at the General John Baker complex in Bungendore.

Captain Tate recently completed his role as sponsor for Naval infrastructure projects overseeing a program to update and sustain Navy infrastructure across Australia, the project is valued at over $8 billion.

This year, in January, Captain Tate was appointed as the director of regional planning - east which encompasses four states in the estate planning branch, infrastructure division.

He has two community roles on the Councils of the Australian Naval Institute.

He has been the treasurer since 2010, and has been the treasurer and public officer for the United Services Institute of the ACT since 2016.