Second homes: Bet on having a good time in Reno

Recent USA Today article about Reno being a good bet for 2d homes. Check it out: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/secondhomes/2010-08-05-reno-nevada_N.htm

First Shot Fired in Cyber Warfare?

In June 2009 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the creation of U.S. Cyber Command to be headed by a four-star General. This command was created in light of growing threats against Defense Department's computer networks, the corresponding threat to national security and the need for unity of command to address the problem.

At today's Congressional hearing, federal regulators and stock-exchange executives said they had no one explanation for the 15 minute 1000 point plunge last week that briefly wiped out about $1 trillion in market value.

Although no one has claimed responsibility, I would not be surprised if this was an act of cyber warfare. Some disgruntled employee? 12-year old whiz kid (remember "War Games")? A work of the Chinese? An act of terrorism?

If is was an act of cyber warfare, do you think they will tell us? Maybe we should wait for the movie.

Letter from Bootcamp?

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

We all have to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water & no out house!

Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, fruit,etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food. Tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on "route marches," which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The country is nice but awful flat. The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next one will kill Walt and Elmer with laughter... I keep getting medals for shooting & I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk's head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake. I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6" and 130 pounds and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter,
Annie Mae

5 Tips for Staying Safe Online

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) offers the following tips for staying safe when getting to know someone online:

• if you do start an Internet-based relationship with someone, check them out, research what they are telling you with someone who would know;
  
• be very suspicious if you never get to actually speak with the person on the phone or are told you cannot write or receive letters in the mail;
  
• be extremely suspicious if you are asked for money for transportation costs, communication fees or marriage processing and medical fees;
  
• be very suspicious if you are asked to send money or ship property to a third party or company. Often times the company exists, but has no idea or is not a part of the scam; and
  
• be aware of common spelling, grammatical or language errors in the emails.

Other than that have a great week.

Vets' Next Battle: Finding A New Job

Repost from recent Baltimore Sun article. Could not have said it better myself. Thank you Ms. Mirabella:

Baltimore Sun
April 5, 2010

Vets' Next Battle: Finding A New Job

A bad economy, multiple deployments and a lack of degrees keep service members' jobless rates high

By Lorraine Mirabella

While on active duty in Iraq, Matthew Ellersick started job hunting online, planning his transition to civilian life.

Since returning from a six-month deployment in February, the Army National Guard intelligence analyst, who has a master's degree in marketing, has traveled a circuit of job fairs from Tampa, Fla., to Philadelphia with no luck.

"When I came back, the economy was a lot worse than when I left," said Ellersick during a recent job fair in Baltimore, a chance to come face-to-face with employers after many companies he contacted had directed him to apply online. "You feel like they're blowing you off. The only ones who are not picky are the military."

Young, unemployed veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan face even lower odds of finding jobs in this economy than their civilian counterparts, according to recent government statistics. The jobless rate hit 21 percent last year for the youngest veterans, who are 18 to 24 years old, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report released last month. That's compared to 16.6 percent of nonveterans in the same age range.

Returning veterans have historically faced challenges. They can be at a disadvantage if they find their military training doesn't easily translate into civilian skills, or if they had delayed the pursuit of a four-year degree to enter the military, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division for the American Legion in Washington. Grueling deployment schedules also can be an impediment.

These challenges only become more pronounced in a tight job market.

The annual unemployment rate for the youngest group of veterans from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan has been increasing during the past three years, from 12 percent in 2007, to 14 percent in 2008 to 21 percent last year, Labor Department reports show. That's compared to an overall unemployment rate of 9.7 percent nationally.

As with nonveterans, joblessness among veterans varies considerably with age, with 18- to 24-year-olds typically experiencing a much higher unemployment rate than older workers. For veterans ages 25 to 34, the unemployment rate last year was 11 percent compared to 9.8 percent for those who haven't served in the military. Rates among older workers are even lower.

"There are more difficulties now because of the bad economy, the number of deployments and the fact that you really need to have a degree," or trade school certification, Sharpe said. "You are seeing more and more people laid off, and also you are seeing the number of deployments increasing, which means that for a lot of individuals it's difficult for them to maintain employment when they are constantly being deployed."

Job market experts say, too, that some companies are reluctant to hire reservists or National Guard members, fearing the impact that a deployed employee, and the cost of having to hold open that job position, will have on their business in an already tough economy.

Though it's illegal to turn a job applicant down based on a reserve or National Guard status, "small businesses particularly can ill-afford to lose someone if they don't have other people to fill in," said John Challenger, principal and chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement firm.

Building the right resume also can be a challenge. Even if trained in a particular trade through the military, many states require retraining or recertification according to that state's standards. That can apply to plumbing, electrical work or welding, for instance. And even those with a top-secret miliary clearance might have to reapply for clearance and wait for months if they want to work in a civilian job at the Department of Homeland Security, for example.

Some just give up looking for work, and some volunteer for extra duty if they're still in the reserves or National Guard.

"We find young people taking three or four part-time jobs and others have stopped looking for work and try to go on as many deployments as possible," Sharpe said.

And some veterans are confronting personal obstacles.

"There is an added problem of how to integrate these people who served in the military back into the work force," Challenger said. "Often these individuals come back with significant experiences that are damaging, in terms of emotional issues and the culture shock, and finding their way back in. But also in the workplace, it's a matter of understanding how to utilize them."

Challenger said veterans shouldn't forget about the power of networking.

"Networking is so much based on relationships and bond," he said. "There's a tight bond among people who've been in the military."

Ellersick, 31, who was a financial adviser before being deployed to Iraq, said his military experience has made him reluctant to return to a sales job.

"Once you're in a war zone, you have a different perspective on life," said Ellersick, who lives in Apex, N.C., but is willing to relocate. "I want to do something more meaningful. I'd probably want a job in which I feel I'm helping out the country."

He said he hopes to land a job in the intelligence field or a security job or, barring that, he'll "go back over."

But so far, the job search has proved fruitless and frustrating. He started an online job search while in Iraq "because I knew I would have to hit the ground running."

Since returning, he has attended about 10 job fairs, including an event last month in Baltimore sponsored by Recruit Military, a firm that specializes in civilian job placements for veterans and their families. That same morning he attended another job fair near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. He had plans to attend another the next day and three more the next week in Washington.

"You never have just the right thing," he said, lamenting that his resume never seems to match up with an employer's criteria.

Apart from the tough market, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans might have a higher jobless rate partly because many choose to put off getting a job once they return, said Larry Slagel, a former Marine Corps officer and now a senior vice president of Recruit Military, which runs an online jobs database and career fairs across the nation. He said many younger veterans are able to wait because they have saved money and often get extra combat pay while overseas.

Inexperience in the civilian job market also might be a factor.

"It's their first job, and sometimes they don't know how to market themselves," Slagel said. Some of the applicants he encounters at job expos are nervous about approaching employers, and he tells them, "You were just in Iraq leading a squad and fighting al-Qaida. Now you can go over and talk to that Lowe's representative, and there's nothing bad that's going to happen."

Dwight Gibson Sr., 46, who has been in the Army Reserve since 2001 and has spent time overseas in Germany, was trained as a critical care health specialist in the military. He has worked at Maryland Shock Trauma Center as a technician and has military training equivalent to that of a registered nurse. But he said he would need further certification to do the same work as a civilian and has been unable to return to school.

"It's hard to transition from military life to civilian life," he said. Employers "think you're going to get deployed again. We are qualified to do a lot of jobs, and we can do our job under pressure, but the civilian sector doesn't understand what those jobs are."

Gibson has been looking for work for almost a year, applying not only in the medical field but for warehouse work, and staying with family in Northwest Baltimore.

"When you come home, it's more or less, you're not really welcomed ... because [employers] are more concerned about when you're leaving again," he said.

Are you unpatriotic ?

By most estimates, the military produces hundreds of thousands of civilian workers each year. Chances are that your business will consider a veteran for employment.

Based on my experience with both veterans and companies looking for quality employees, consider the following before hiring a veteran. You'll find these are the same for any applicant.

• Make sure you fully understand any military terminology during your resume review or interview process. Do some research online or seek professional assistance to help translate military specific language and terms.
• The Department of Labor (http://hirevetsfirst.dol.gov/10reasons.asp) recently listed 10 reasons to hire a Veteran - leadership, integrity, triumph over adversity and teamwork are some reasons that made the list. Use these same reasons for all your applicants and then decide, veteran or not.
• Don't hire because you think it is the patriotic thing to do. Hire because the applicant is right for your business. In my mind, considering a veteran's application or granting an interview satisfies my patriotic obligation "check in the box". The veteran still needs to compete with other applicants.

Traditionally veterans tend to be a safe new hire bet and deserve serious consideration. The resources invested to train and retain a veteran are notable. Strive to leverage the strength of a veteran with the strengths of your business.

Happy Hiring !!

What shall I wear today?

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Making any transition sometimes boils down to what you choose to wear each day.

Back in 1995 I transitioned from military Active Duty into the civilian workforce. Even as a kid growing up with my Army Dad and Junior ROTC in high school, I was around uniforms all my life.

So, when I made my mil2civ transition in the Summer of 1995 what do you think I feared the most? Dependability, punctuality, initiative, a positive attitude toward the job, ability to get along well with others, flexibility, motivation, organization, or an ability to perform assigned duties? No, sir.

It was something totally unforeseen - it was figuring out what to wear every day. You see, in the military that was always determined for us. We had uniforms. No choices needed as to what matches or fear if it looks good.

Whether you make your transition from military to civilian, old job to new job, being single to being married, childhood to adulthood to old age hood...sometimes it boils down to what you choose to wear that day...clothes, attitude, confidence and or any other material items.