This is one of those days when I don’t have anything to say, so I’ll go ahead and say it anyway:
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Up early this morning, and down to the NAVNET (naval networking) breakfast in Mission Valley. The breakfasts start at 0700, and I hadn’t been to one since I experimentally dipped my toe in the water last year, before I retired. The notion is that there are a lot of folks looking for jobs, and a lot of folks who have them. Hiring inside the gene pool you know is not a bad way to go. And with unemployment running nearly 12% here in California, a little networking can’t be a bad thing.
I went to hire somebody to replace a co-worker who had gone over to the government dark side. We got a couple of eager nibbles, and I have to tell you that – even given all the aggravations that go along with work – it was better to be supplicee than supplicant. Young officers leaving the service with bright eyes, good ideas and slim resumes. Older fellows that admit quite frankly that they’re “between things.” One even went so far as to say that he was unemployed. “In transition” is, I believe the word of art. “Unemployed” has such a weighty connotation. I wonder how long you have to be “in transition” before you ‘fess up to being unemployed.
My company prolly isn’t big enough yet, but I couldn’t help thinking that it’d be neat to have an internship program. Charge the government a half man-year, bill four hours a day of scut work and spend the other four hours getting up to speed on the acquisition, systems engineering and program management courses. After six months or a year you’ve got yourself some real human capital, familiar with the play book and the players, ready to hit the ground running.
But what do I know?
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An ugly Friday, compared to all the rest of them. Brought unwelcome news about a program slide, dependencies not under our control having shaped our destiny. All you can do is present the facts unemotionally, recommend courses of action, enumerate the risks. So that’s what I did.
It’s kind of like briefing and debriefing a four-ship air superiority sweep. Without the flying part.
Even Peter Pan grew up, I believe.
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Spent the late afternoon looking at more resumes. You can put all the job requirements against a position you’d like, people will send you “fleet” bullets that really don’t much apply. It seems like obvious advice, but here it is to mah bruthas and sisters in khaki: Decide what you want to do, where you want to do it. Then prepare yourself.
It’s competitive out here too.
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SDA Kate has the gouge on a old idea whose time has apparently come ’round again:
Last year, bureaucrats at the VA’s National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, “Your Life, Your Choices.” It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA’s preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated “Your Life, Your Choices.”
Your life, your choices. Our guy in the white coat.
Thanks for your service.
Oh, and while we’re on the topic of white coats do at least follow the Charles Krauthammer link. Say what you’d like about his politics, the doctor knows something about living with a burden.
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If you can’t get beer (see also, General Order Number One), you might as well get some caffeine in you, sojer.
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Remember this?
It’s closer than you think.
Now if they could just get busy on those light sabers for liberty in Hong Kong, we’ll be good to go.
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Well, it’s been a ruther hellish day, so I’m taking the rest of it off, maybe.
Hope y’all have a great weekend.
Wrong “Star Wars” episode, sir. And now I’ll go choke myself for knowing that and not even being alive when that movie came out.
Hope your weekend is positive, relaxing, and all-around great.
Would have been good for ‘Wanchai Warriors’ back in the early 1970s: “Now if they could just get busy on those light sabers for liberty in Hong Kong, we’ll be good to go.”
Ahh, good old DAU ACQ-101, SYS-101, PQM-101, LOG-101, LOG-102, et. al. Been working on those in my sparetime (ergo no sparetime) with the hope of getting my DAWIA level I certificates and put those on a resume for eventually being hired by a defense contractor. For 1520’s who don’t plan to put in a full 20 there are guys who have turned MCO, QAO and MMCO experience in their first or second O-level sea tour into a coded acquisition billet to complete the 1 year acquisitions experience requirement for DAWIA level I.
And I believe that is the correct (of only three true) Star Wars episode.
Oh yeah, episode V not IV . . . I will go choke myself for being wrong on anything Star Wars. My teenage self just spun in his grave buried in time.
Neither here nor there, Lex, but good to see the musings starting to make a semi-regular rotation. A good way for a johnnie to catch up on happenings he might not see otherwise.
Imperial probe droid. Episode V – Empire Strikes Back. I was 7. Lex was older ;P One of my favorites.
(from memory)
“enna vana maan mop… (static) enna vana maan mop (visual of generators)…”
C3P0: Sir, I am fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. That code is not used by the Alliance. It might be an Imperial code.
Leah: An Imperial Probe droid.
Homefront, Klams, I’d like to point out that I remember *this* stuff and have to look up my zip code. You are *so* blessed by not having wasted brain cells to storing such trivia.
Which, I do make a great partner at the Star Wars version of Trivial Pursuit. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
– Max
I’ve always wanted a Light Saber. I realize this is a left-over from my long-ago fencing days, but it would be fun. Tell me, oh wise, former sabre champion Lex, where would I find one? Haven’t been in a toy store in years. Do you think they still have them?
Marianne
BoingBoing hears you… Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser Defeats Ground Target in Flight Test ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Sept. 1, 2009. Boeing & the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 30 defeated a ground target from the air with the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, demonstrating ATL’s first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a tactically representative target: http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=817
Yeah, well see, that was my whole point: Just like the UAV in the linked article, in episode IV the Imperial drones were still in LRIP, it wasn’t until after episode IV that they went into FRP and deployment. Which is why we saw them in episode V.
Sheesh, you’ve really got to hand carry some of these mids, these days.
And yes. Yes I am embarrassed to, 1) show such a display of geektitude, 2) get it wrong, and 3) attempt to brazen it out so transparently.
Marianne, you could get a flash-bang light saber at all of your finer geek stores. But it won’t cut anybody’s arm off in the Mos Eisley cantina, and may get you some unflattering commentary from Triumph the Insult Comic dog.
I got this from OPFOR.com….a story:
“as told by Gen. Petraeus:
A soldier is trudging through the muck in the midst of a downpour with a 60-pound rucksack on his back. This is tough, he thinks to himself. Just ahead of him trudges an Army ranger with an 80-pound pack on his back. This is really tough, he thinks. And ahead of him is a Marine with a 90-pound pack on, and he thinks to himself, I love how tough this is. Then, of course, 30,000 feet above them an Air Force pilot flips aside his ponytail. – Now I’m sorry. I don’t know how that got in there, I know they haven’t had ponytails in a year or two – and looks down at them through his cockpit as he flies over. Boy, he radios his wingman, it must be tough down there.”
It’s Friday, that’s my excuse for putting this here where it’s not really on point to anything. But it’s funny. And how can you not re-tell something like this if it comes from “THE Man.” Enjoy.
Hey I might be looking for a job! Finishing up my first DH tour, doing well. Looking to starting at $500K, only want to work about 15 hours a week. Hoping most of that could be spent on Facebook. Do you want my resume?
Maybe two outta three wouldn’t be too bad. Pax, SD or China Lake, GS-12/3 job for a couple, then into a 13/4, put her on autopilot and coast as long as you want. It’s a fifth of the salary you seek but unless you’ve a drawer with a few silver spoons in it, may not be a bad option.
Contract support work? Nope, they actually need you to work to cover that 13 on autopilot.
I am kidding. For every one of those in NAVAIR there many other great Americans doing important work for our young heroes and their leaders around the world. They bear the responsibility, suffer through the processes and have no chance of getting rich at it. (contrast political office).
Lex, thanks for the link to Krauthammer piece, the man is awesome.
Hope things pick up for ya Lex! If it gets that bad I would recommend Guam.
Don’t know how it is now, but I sure enjoyed being at Guam forty years ago!
All areas have local “slides” Lex. Glut o’resumes back here and up the road due to PresHelo bidness. The ones with experience will get coverage. Newbies, not so.
I recommend they get a foot in the door with something and then standout. It works. Look beyond the ho-hum DAIWA padded resumes and hire someone that actually knows how to do something.
re “put her on autopilot and coast as long as you want”
That attitude is whats wrong with a good number of govmint workers. I don’t accept it and neither should any taxpayer.
Preachy, ain’t I?
b2
Hey Lex,
If any of the guys in your San Diego network have serious Test and Evaluation experience and want to work with OSD in DC, have them drop me a resume. We need to staff up the new OSD Director of DT&E support organization, so we’re hiring big time. All Services, all warfare areas.
Thanks for the mention!