Well, Lowell must be important, because our national paper of record saw it fit to print a story about the race for the Fifth Congressional District of Massachusetts.
This is already a crowded race. The four serious GOP candidates to emerge so far are Sam Meas (Haverhill), Jon Golnik (Carlisle), Robert Shapiro (Andover), and Tom Weaver (Westford).
Those four, plus Independent Dale Brown (Chelmsford), and of course incumbent Democrat Niki Tsongas (Lowell), already make the field crowded, and I think there may be some others who pulled papers whose names I'm not familiar with.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Hey -- I Know That Guy!
I will turn 30 this year. I will probably write a bit about that as the date nears (I've still got a few months with which to cling on the twenties), but you can sort of imagine where I might go with it -- less of a "free pass" for things both good and bad, being taken more seriously, and so on.
But here's another aspect of the milestone that has nothing to do with me, at least directly -- the prominent places in which I'm starting to see peers.
The guy in the video below was recently mentioned by name in a post by Tom Ricks, who writes The Best Defense (which is the best site I know of for great discussions about modern American military culture). The mention of his name led me to a Google search or two, which led me to realize that, wow, he is now in a high-profile role making policy in the Obama Administration.
Just a couple of years ago, he was a Navy Lieutenant assigned as an Intelligence Officer at a SEAL Team based in Coronado, CA (to be clear, that's a support role, he was not a SEAL). However, he was what you'd call a "hot runner" who earned a Bronze Star (Meritorious) and a Combat Action Ribbon during this time.
So anyway, back to my original point -- because people south of 30 (and even 40, really) are not typically in charge of things like major corporations and government agencies, being a twentysomething means your chances of seeing current or former colleagues doing things like this are slim. Getting a bit longer in the tooth sort of comes with a downside or two (just reference any recent mention here to waistline or hairline) but one of the cool things is that you sometimes want to jab the person next to you in the ribs and say that you know the guy under the klieg lights.
But here's another aspect of the milestone that has nothing to do with me, at least directly -- the prominent places in which I'm starting to see peers.
The guy in the video below was recently mentioned by name in a post by Tom Ricks, who writes The Best Defense (which is the best site I know of for great discussions about modern American military culture). The mention of his name led me to a Google search or two, which led me to realize that, wow, he is now in a high-profile role making policy in the Obama Administration.
Just a couple of years ago, he was a Navy Lieutenant assigned as an Intelligence Officer at a SEAL Team based in Coronado, CA (to be clear, that's a support role, he was not a SEAL). However, he was what you'd call a "hot runner" who earned a Bronze Star (Meritorious) and a Combat Action Ribbon during this time.
So anyway, back to my original point -- because people south of 30 (and even 40, really) are not typically in charge of things like major corporations and government agencies, being a twentysomething means your chances of seeing current or former colleagues doing things like this are slim. Getting a bit longer in the tooth sort of comes with a downside or two (just reference any recent mention here to waistline or hairline) but one of the cool things is that you sometimes want to jab the person next to you in the ribs and say that you know the guy under the klieg lights.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Elena Kagan and George Patton
Well, most claims of "uniqueness" tend to be overblown, but I'm going to step out on a limb and claim that I'm the first blogger to pair those two names together this week.
Here's why: My e-mail signature quote comes from General Patton himself, and it reads, "If everybody's thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking."
I love it, because it reminds me of one of the most important lessons I've learned over the last five years or so -- organizations function best not when "yes men" sit around agreeing with each other, or are afraid to challenge the boss, but when differing people who see the world from contrasting perspectives hash out opposing viewpoints and then come to compromises.
When I think about the different *types* of people I'd want on my team, I'm not really thinking about classic divisions like race, age, and gender (although those are important considerations, and the diversity element matters there, too). Before any of that, I'm thinking about mindsets.
I know I see the lots of gray. I see broad brushstrokes. I daydream a lot, and can sometimes miss critical details (i.e. it stopped raining 20 minutes ago, so why are my windshield wipers still on?) If there were an opposite of OCD, I'd have it, for better AND for worse.
That might make me an easy person to get along with, but that doesn't make me the right person to put together certain types of projects.
To balance that out, I need the guys who majored in mechanical engineering. I need someone who notices the temperature of the room, someone who notices when the slides keep changing fonts, and someone with a practical ability to put physical things together. In other words, I don't need another clone of myself, but I need someone whose strengths complement my weaknesses, and vice versa.
Multiply that times all the people in our leadership positions, and now we can assemble a team that can do great things.
That's why I laugh every time I hear opponents of the Kagan nomination cite her "lack of judicial experience" as if that's supposed to be something that makes me gasp out of sheer terror.
On the contrary, I see it as a huge advantage.
As Cliff just pointed in a Right-Side-of-Lowell post, Kagan's Eastern Establishment and Ivy League credentials don't really distinguish her from other members of the Court.
However, her professional background prior to the nomination does, and it does so in a good way. Just by the nature of her different professional background, she'll bring a mindset inherently different from that of other Justices.
Yes, there might be something of a steep learning curve when Kagan initially gets to the Bench, but with 8 other Justices, plus a flock of bright young clerks (who, for better or worse, will share Kagan's educational pedigree) that isn't going to hinder the Court's progress at the outset. And in the long run, it'll prove itself to be a huge advantage.
So much so, in fact, that President Obama and future Presidents might decide to reverse the trend away from nominations such as this (40 out of 110 SC nominees had no judicial experience, but we've trended away from that in the modern era).
Here's why: My e-mail signature quote comes from General Patton himself, and it reads, "If everybody's thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking."
I love it, because it reminds me of one of the most important lessons I've learned over the last five years or so -- organizations function best not when "yes men" sit around agreeing with each other, or are afraid to challenge the boss, but when differing people who see the world from contrasting perspectives hash out opposing viewpoints and then come to compromises.
When I think about the different *types* of people I'd want on my team, I'm not really thinking about classic divisions like race, age, and gender (although those are important considerations, and the diversity element matters there, too). Before any of that, I'm thinking about mindsets.
I know I see the lots of gray. I see broad brushstrokes. I daydream a lot, and can sometimes miss critical details (i.e. it stopped raining 20 minutes ago, so why are my windshield wipers still on?) If there were an opposite of OCD, I'd have it, for better AND for worse.
That might make me an easy person to get along with, but that doesn't make me the right person to put together certain types of projects.
To balance that out, I need the guys who majored in mechanical engineering. I need someone who notices the temperature of the room, someone who notices when the slides keep changing fonts, and someone with a practical ability to put physical things together. In other words, I don't need another clone of myself, but I need someone whose strengths complement my weaknesses, and vice versa.
Multiply that times all the people in our leadership positions, and now we can assemble a team that can do great things.
That's why I laugh every time I hear opponents of the Kagan nomination cite her "lack of judicial experience" as if that's supposed to be something that makes me gasp out of sheer terror.
On the contrary, I see it as a huge advantage.
As Cliff just pointed in a Right-Side-of-Lowell post, Kagan's Eastern Establishment and Ivy League credentials don't really distinguish her from other members of the Court.
However, her professional background prior to the nomination does, and it does so in a good way. Just by the nature of her different professional background, she'll bring a mindset inherently different from that of other Justices.
Yes, there might be something of a steep learning curve when Kagan initially gets to the Bench, but with 8 other Justices, plus a flock of bright young clerks (who, for better or worse, will share Kagan's educational pedigree) that isn't going to hinder the Court's progress at the outset. And in the long run, it'll prove itself to be a huge advantage.
So much so, in fact, that President Obama and future Presidents might decide to reverse the trend away from nominations such as this (40 out of 110 SC nominees had no judicial experience, but we've trended away from that in the modern era).
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Cost of BRAC
"Foreman says these jobs / Are going boys / And they ain't coming back." Bruce Springsteen, "My Hometown"So I'm down here at Fort Monmouth, NJ doing a two-week course with 10 other members of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Sadly, there won't be any others following in our footsteps.
Not because it's not a great course (it is) or because the Guard doesn't support the training (it does), but because as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round from 2005, Fort Monmouth will be completely gone by 2011.
Since 2005, all the facilities and commands at Monmouth have been gradually folding into Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD or Fort Belvoir, VA.
This movement is part of a long pattern of shutting down major active-duty operational bases from the Northeast (i.e. Fort Devens or NAS Brunswick) and putting them in the south (Georgia, Texas, or northern Florida), and taking all the technical sort of commands and concentrating them all in and around the nation's capital.
That sort of makes sense, I'll admit.
From a straight-up dollars-and-cents perspective, it makes sense to house large numbers of servicemembers in cheaper areas, and it makes sense to concentrate certain types of other commands in order to save on travel and other personnel expenses.
But besides the fact that there is tremendous cost associated with those initial moves (so far BRAC hasn't lived up to expectations in terms of cost savings), the whole concept totally ignores the deleterious effect this can have on civil-military relations in America.
Any guesses as to what the most underrepresented region in our active-duty ranks is? No surprise, it's the Northeast. And as we lose our Pease AFBs and our NAS South Weymouths to sunnier climes, the distance between Northeasterners and the military only grows.
During the last BRAC round, we damn near lost Hanscom AFB as well as the Submarine Base in Groton, CT (the only major operational base of any kind left in New England) and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Thankfully, we kept all of those around.
I know I'm biased here. Never mind the way I titled this blog to begin with, I've either worked or will work (Mass. Guard HQ is moving to Hanscom soon) at all the places I just named.
Putting my biases aside for a second, it's worth acknowledging that in addition to the strategic importance of not over-concentrating your forces (and history is RIFE with examples of that one), there's a human side to it, too.
Fort Monmouth, which houses many civilian-staffed technical commands, is only an hour or less from New York City. As a result, it can draw some of the best minds in Computer Science from technical schools in and around NYC and keep its graduates around with the perks of being near the beach (hey, you might see The Situation trolling the local bars) and being near the nation's major cultural hub. Lots of people who might otherwise never have exposure to the military come work here as civilians and come away more aware of what the military is and what it does as a result. They can then pass that knowledge on to their friends, family, and anyone else who cares.
If all the Fort Monmouth-type commands end up in a single place, that exposure is lost. For an entire community that supports this post, and makes its living off the residual effect of the incomes of those who work here, the military just becomes "out of sight, out of mind."
From a recruiting point of view, the military loses out on the best, and oldest, form of advertising ever known to man (word of mouth). And from a retention point of view, again, the military loses, because it takes away the option of Metro NYC from the soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who would re-enlist if it meant being closer to home, or to a loved one, or to some other draw.
The military *shouldn't* necessarily represent the society proportionally. It's not balanced for gender, for age, for physical ability, or for many other ways people can be categorized and/or divided. However, there are some ways in which the single biggest class- and race-integrating mechanism our society has ever known should reflect the greatness of the many aspects that feed into the total fabric of Americana. One of those is region. When all your major Army posts are concentrated in the South (and named after Confederate Civil War Generals, but that's another story for another day), something is lost.
Maybe it can't be easily counted on paper, but like many things that can't be quantified, its importance seems starkest in its absence.
All states and regions will always have some military presence, because we all have Reserve Units and we all have a National Guard component. But from where I sit, there's a lot to be gained when our voters, taxpayers, chattering classes, op-ed writers, and decisionmakers can have more firsthand exposure to who our servicemembers are, and to what they do.
And I wish the BRAC commission saw it that way, too.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Reaping Your Wild Oats
"A waist...is a terrible thing to mind." -- Frank Layden, portly former coach of the Utah Jazz
So I'm trying to be down to fighting weight (mid-190s) by mid-July.
I'm not doing anything extreme -- no pills, no fad diets, no draconian exercise regimen, or anything of the sort. But I'm on the steady track (shedding 1-2 lbs. a week all the way into the homestretch).
The big secret? Oatmeal.
There is definitely some scientific basis to this, but frankly, most of it goes over my head. Without getting into things like glycemic index, low-density lipoproteins, or anything else that might make my head hurt, here's what I know:
** Oatmeal isn't sugary or fatty, but it's very filling. Even as someone with a bigtime appetite (just ask Ricardo at Mr. Jalapeno's, no one else on record has taken down three of his burritos -- along with chips -- in one sitting), I can barely finish heaping-sized bowl of the stuff.
** Oatmeal is easy to make. No rocket science here. Nothing to cut, nothing to measure, seconds to prepare, and easy to clean. I can nuke it in a minute-thirty and it's ready to go. Plus, the stuff never spoils.
** Oatmeal is easy on the budget. If you break out the per-meal cost, it's in the pennies. Throw on a banana and some tea for good measure, and an entire week's worth of breakfasts is still cheaper than a single round at the drive-thru at Dunkin' Donuts.
I don't think the decision to try to be healthier and/or eat healthier has to be some all-or-nothing solemn vow that leads one to endlessly annoy his or her companions with calorie-count obsessiveness or annoying "But I just...shouldn't!" vacillations about whether dessert should follow the meal.
It can be about simple changes that, when magnified over the course of many days, and weeks, and then months, add up to an overall better state of health.
For an initial best way to kick that off, I would offer up oatmeal as a practical suggestion.
So I'm trying to be down to fighting weight (mid-190s) by mid-July.
I'm not doing anything extreme -- no pills, no fad diets, no draconian exercise regimen, or anything of the sort. But I'm on the steady track (shedding 1-2 lbs. a week all the way into the homestretch).
The big secret? Oatmeal.
There is definitely some scientific basis to this, but frankly, most of it goes over my head. Without getting into things like glycemic index, low-density lipoproteins, or anything else that might make my head hurt, here's what I know:
** Oatmeal isn't sugary or fatty, but it's very filling. Even as someone with a bigtime appetite (just ask Ricardo at Mr. Jalapeno's, no one else on record has taken down three of his burritos -- along with chips -- in one sitting), I can barely finish heaping-sized bowl of the stuff.
** Oatmeal is easy to make. No rocket science here. Nothing to cut, nothing to measure, seconds to prepare, and easy to clean. I can nuke it in a minute-thirty and it's ready to go. Plus, the stuff never spoils.
** Oatmeal is easy on the budget. If you break out the per-meal cost, it's in the pennies. Throw on a banana and some tea for good measure, and an entire week's worth of breakfasts is still cheaper than a single round at the drive-thru at Dunkin' Donuts.
I don't think the decision to try to be healthier and/or eat healthier has to be some all-or-nothing solemn vow that leads one to endlessly annoy his or her companions with calorie-count obsessiveness or annoying "But I just...shouldn't!" vacillations about whether dessert should follow the meal.
It can be about simple changes that, when magnified over the course of many days, and weeks, and then months, add up to an overall better state of health.
For an initial best way to kick that off, I would offer up oatmeal as a practical suggestion.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
How NOT to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying)
So I'm in the market for two cruise tickets.
I've never been on one, she's never been on one, and really, neither of us has ever been out on the big blue ocean, even with a combined five years' active Navy time between us.
So anyway, we've decided the cruise thing might be a cool way to spend the honeymoon, because it'd be something new, a cool chance to get to somewhere new, and sort of no-frills (we just have to get to Boston, and the rest is pretty much being done by someone else).
Neither of us cruise novices has any idea how this stuff works, so we did what anyone else might do in a similar situation -- start typing into Google the general stuff we're looking for, let Google Suggest spell it all out (thanks, Kevin Gibbs!), and then start calling people for information and quotes.
Again, being new to all this, we have/had some pretty basic questions (i.e. If we buy the suite, is that price for the suite itself, or is it per person?) so we needed to speak to a real live person on the other end of the call.
The first number I tried went right to an automated voice prompt, which started with the "Due to a high call volume..." bit which I would've thought was going to have me wait a bit (which I was perfectly willing to do) before speaking to someone. But alas, it just took me into the company's voicemail.* Huh?!?! They asked me to leave a message with my number, which I did, before promptly moving right on down my list of other companies' numbers to call.
Now, to their credit, they eventually did get back to me, but not before I had already spoken to a couple other companies and gotten quotes (and the quotes, mind you, were almost identical to the dollar for the same cruises, which makes me think all these companies must somehow be in cahoots).
When I got back on the line with Company No. 1, I tried explaining their procedural flaw, even going out of my way to tell the person I was speaking to that this wasn't anything directed towards her but instead towards whoever in management set their policy. Well, she either didn't understand what I was saying, didn't care, or it was some element of both. Whatever. On principle, considering the quotes were identical, I ended up buying the tickets from the next company down the line (the one that was able to put a real live person on the line with me when I called).
I have several good friends that are either in business school, have recently graduated, or are about to start. My own "Plan A" for right now would have me joining their ranks after my next deployment. And to anyone writing business plans, whether for an academic or a real-world purpose, the first piece of input I'd wish to give is this: Don't neglect the human element.
It's great that we can call Generation Y the "digital natives." It's great that we have the Internet almost anywhere we go these days. It's great that we have phones that can make toast, iron our clothes, and floss the poppy seeds out of our teeth (well, almost).
But that doesn't change this very basic fact -- When someone calls you out of the blue, credit card in hand, willing to drop an entire paycheck on your service, and you deny him the chance to even speak to a real live human being before disconnecting, well, your business plan completely and utterly sucks.
And it doesn't take a fancy-pants MBA to figure that one out.
* Just to be clear, this wasn't something where the customer was presented with the option of leaving a message in lieu of wasting time/phone minutes being on hold. If the choice were given, that'd be totally different, and I'd have no source of righteous indignation with which to write this. But the whole point is that, much like a Bank of America phone tree to nowhere, it was the company dead-ending me, which leads me to pretty quick but resolute, "No thanks," in return.
I've never been on one, she's never been on one, and really, neither of us has ever been out on the big blue ocean, even with a combined five years' active Navy time between us.
So anyway, we've decided the cruise thing might be a cool way to spend the honeymoon, because it'd be something new, a cool chance to get to somewhere new, and sort of no-frills (we just have to get to Boston, and the rest is pretty much being done by someone else).
Neither of us cruise novices has any idea how this stuff works, so we did what anyone else might do in a similar situation -- start typing into Google the general stuff we're looking for, let Google Suggest spell it all out (thanks, Kevin Gibbs!), and then start calling people for information and quotes.
Again, being new to all this, we have/had some pretty basic questions (i.e. If we buy the suite, is that price for the suite itself, or is it per person?) so we needed to speak to a real live person on the other end of the call.
The first number I tried went right to an automated voice prompt, which started with the "Due to a high call volume..." bit which I would've thought was going to have me wait a bit (which I was perfectly willing to do) before speaking to someone. But alas, it just took me into the company's voicemail.* Huh?!?! They asked me to leave a message with my number, which I did, before promptly moving right on down my list of other companies' numbers to call.
Now, to their credit, they eventually did get back to me, but not before I had already spoken to a couple other companies and gotten quotes (and the quotes, mind you, were almost identical to the dollar for the same cruises, which makes me think all these companies must somehow be in cahoots).
When I got back on the line with Company No. 1, I tried explaining their procedural flaw, even going out of my way to tell the person I was speaking to that this wasn't anything directed towards her but instead towards whoever in management set their policy. Well, she either didn't understand what I was saying, didn't care, or it was some element of both. Whatever. On principle, considering the quotes were identical, I ended up buying the tickets from the next company down the line (the one that was able to put a real live person on the line with me when I called).
I have several good friends that are either in business school, have recently graduated, or are about to start. My own "Plan A" for right now would have me joining their ranks after my next deployment. And to anyone writing business plans, whether for an academic or a real-world purpose, the first piece of input I'd wish to give is this: Don't neglect the human element.
It's great that we can call Generation Y the "digital natives." It's great that we have the Internet almost anywhere we go these days. It's great that we have phones that can make toast, iron our clothes, and floss the poppy seeds out of our teeth (well, almost).
But that doesn't change this very basic fact -- When someone calls you out of the blue, credit card in hand, willing to drop an entire paycheck on your service, and you deny him the chance to even speak to a real live human being before disconnecting, well, your business plan completely and utterly sucks.
And it doesn't take a fancy-pants MBA to figure that one out.
* Just to be clear, this wasn't something where the customer was presented with the option of leaving a message in lieu of wasting time/phone minutes being on hold. If the choice were given, that'd be totally different, and I'd have no source of righteous indignation with which to write this. But the whole point is that, much like a Bank of America phone tree to nowhere, it was the company dead-ending me, which leads me to pretty quick but resolute, "No thanks," in return.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Operation BROKEN PIPE
Yup, it's happening all over again.
And yes, it makes sense. 30-some towns and cities' worth of people need drinking water, and no one is standing "at the ready" with both: a) the logistical capability to quickly supply it, and b) the ability to direct hundreds of people to spring into action at a moment's notice. The Massachusetts National Guard is being tapped for the appropriately named Operation BROKEN PIPE.
I think the real key here is part b. There are probably private companies that have impressive logistical capability, but they can't exactly scramble all their people together at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and have them all ready to go by 5:00 a.m. Sunday.
True to the nature of the dual mission, I got to spend all day Saturday doing MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) in a mock Afghan town, trying to differentiate good guys from bad guys and being friendly while on constant guard for threat. The late afternoon and evening was staff weenie stuff (MDMP, or the Military Decision Making Process), looking at a Brigade-level OPORDER, and then right at 2300 came the word that State Active Duty (SAD) was coming, and that all our guys would be standing by in their armories to await tasking this morning by 0500.
So it's back from Bourne to Reading, and standing by for further direction.
And yes, it makes sense. 30-some towns and cities' worth of people need drinking water, and no one is standing "at the ready" with both: a) the logistical capability to quickly supply it, and b) the ability to direct hundreds of people to spring into action at a moment's notice. The Massachusetts National Guard is being tapped for the appropriately named Operation BROKEN PIPE.
I think the real key here is part b. There are probably private companies that have impressive logistical capability, but they can't exactly scramble all their people together at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and have them all ready to go by 5:00 a.m. Sunday.
True to the nature of the dual mission, I got to spend all day Saturday doing MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) in a mock Afghan town, trying to differentiate good guys from bad guys and being friendly while on constant guard for threat. The late afternoon and evening was staff weenie stuff (MDMP, or the Military Decision Making Process), looking at a Brigade-level OPORDER, and then right at 2300 came the word that State Active Duty (SAD) was coming, and that all our guys would be standing by in their armories to await tasking this morning by 0500.
So it's back from Bourne to Reading, and standing by for further direction.
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