Military to Federal Career Guide:

Ten Steps to Transforming Your Military Experience into a Competitive Federal Resume (Paperback)

by Kathryn K. Troutman (Author), Emily K. Troutman (Technical Editor), Ed Roscoe (Foreword)

"In addition to USAJobs.gov agency and contractor websites e.g. www.HireVeterans.com for job listings, sometimes "who you know" does make a difference, even for Federal or government contractor.

Ten Steps to Transforming your Military Experience into a competitive Federal Resume. The first and only comprehensive guide to Federal Jobs and the Military Federal Resume for enlisted personnel and officers. The U.S. Government is hiring former military personnel at all salary levels! In an easy-to follow, step by step process this book will teach you Where to work, How to find jobs, How much you can earn and How to apply and How to interview

BOOK: In A Time of War

The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002

The dramatic story of West Point’s class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime.

They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would “take the battle to the enemy,” the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.

In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates—the army’s newest and youngest officers—lead their troops into harm’s way again and again.

Innovative Supplier Hiring Veterans Now!

iGPS Joins HireVeterans.com

by Marcy Bulstrom

Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS Company LLC) is revolutionizing the world's supply chain by providing manufacturers, suppliers and shippers of unitized loads with the world's first RFID-tagged all-plastic pallet pool. Manufactured to exacting standards, iGPS's pallets are edge rackable, lightweight, extremely durable, consistent in size, hygienic, and – thanks to embedded RFID tags – fully traceable.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida with operations in Dallas, Texas, New York and Bentonville, AR, iGPS is now hiring to fill the needs of the new demand created by its forward thinking innovative products. To meet the hiring challenges, iGPS has partnered with HireVeterans.com, an industry leading job board for U.S. Veterans.

What does iGPS offer?

Back to Part I:  Make Believe Maverick

    "Next up, Baghdad! "

    The myth of John McCain hinges on two transformations - from pampered flyboy to selfless patriot, and from Keating crony to incorruptible reformer - that simply never happened. But there is one serious conversion that has taken root in McCain: his transformation from a cautious realist on foreign policy into a reckless cheerleader of neoconservatism.

    "He's going to be Bush on steroids," says Johns, the retired brigadier general who has known McCain since their days at the National War College. "His hawkish views now are very dangerous. He puts military at the top of foreign policy rather than diplomacy, just like George Bush does. He and other neoconservatives are dedicated to converting the world to democracy and free markets, and they want to do it through the barrel of a gun."

Make-Believe Maverick

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

by Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone

    At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

    McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door.

    There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam - call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

The Changing Face of War

by Joseph Kobylak

In my war, the battle for world domination, more than 10 million Americans served at one time or another.
Among the hundreds of men I served with, only George Keerwar was a family man. He had a wife and two small daughters. He, like myself, was caught up in the draft, six months before Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, George and I survived the battles we were engaged in, including the Battle of the Bulge. I know that I am a throwback.

To me, to put mothers and daughters into the line of fire is so repugnant that I cannot put it into words. The National Guard is a family-oriented militia to be used only if the United States were to be under attack and as the last resort. This president sought refuge in it when his turn might have come for active duty in his war. That this president would use them in a preemptive war is to show how vacuous and bankrupt his moral concept is.

President Bush prides himself on being a decider. I remember how he stared into space for eight minutes when informed that the United States might be under attack on that September day, only to be led like a bewildered sheep by the Secret Service to a safe haven.

Damage Vice-President Cheney Did to the United States

Sarah Palin says she will increase the Power of the Vice Presidency

One of the worst things the George W. Bush administration has done to the United States of America is the arrogantly taking of power that did not belong to the Presidency or the Vice-Presidency. It's painful to see the lasting damage both President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have done to our Constitution, the basic foundation of the United States.

The Constitution was never meant to be partisan, to be bent to achieve the goals of one political party over the basic Democracy it created. Under Cheney's Vice-Presidency, serious attempts have been made, and powers not granted have been taken, to change the set-up created by the U.S. Constitution. This travesty of politicians sworn to protect the United States who have, at the highest levels of government, attempted rape of the Democracy Americans hold most dear will be the ultimate non-legacy of the Bush Administration. 

What did George Bush do? He looked the other way while his Vice-President Dick Cheney grabbed power he had no right to take.  What did Dick Cheney do?

Willie Nelson & Charlie Daniels Veterans Day Signature Guitar Raffle

Operation Firing For Effect (OFFE) has begun selling raffle tickets for a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, red, white, and blue Trinity River guitar signed by both Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels

The raffle tickets are $1 for each entry, and you can enter as many times as you wish. You do not have to be present to win! The drawing will take place in New York City on the 11th of November during sceduled Veterans Day events. The exact location is still being arranged and will be posted on WWW.OFFE2008.ORG in the near future.

Willie Nelson’s inscriptions reads; “Thank You For Serving”. Charlie Daniel’s inscription reads; “God Bless Our Veterans”. To the best of our knowledge, the OFFE guitar is a very unique one-of-a-kind guitar with both the signatures of Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels proudly displayed on it.

Changes coming to disability claims process

by Rick Maze

Lawmakers have high expectations that they can reduce the backlog and processing time for veterans’ benefits claims through a combination of new procedures, including two pilot projects.

The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, which passed Congress on Saturday and is being prepared for submission to the White House for President Bush’s signature, pushes the Department of Veterans Affairs to use electronic filing and processing of claims to try to improve the speed of claims decisions, reduce the disparity in decisions involving similar issues and cut the number of claims decisions that end up being overturned.

The bill also creates a new authority to provide a temporary disability rating for some veterans who have severe and multiple disabilities that are not fully healed. Stabilized and unstabilized disabilities that have an impact on employment could be considered in assigning the temporary rating that would be used to provide disability compensation during the first year after leaving the military.