VietVet.100SRW
Unverified
Greetings to everyone,
I thought I'd share just a few thoughts here as part of the intro. After you guys/gals get to know me, you'll find that I'm not usually at a loss for words. So, if you have a question about something and you're wanting an accurate & complete answer, I think you'll find that I'm the kind of person you can rely on to bring you solid info you can take to the bank.
Here's a short sit rep on VietVet.100SRW (Steve Miller). I'm a 4th generation military serviceman. My great-grandfather served in the British Army in the 1890s before he and his family emigrated to America. My grandfather, Al Miller, served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman/electrician during WW I. He wanted to service again during WW II, but sought a Comms Officer billet since he was married with two high school kids (my Dad & his older sister). Al had a Ham Radio License for 20 yrs and used that as his ticket to join a maritime union as a Merchant Marine Comms Officer and sailed on several brand new Liberty & Victory ships. In fact, he kept a diary during the war. Based on my background as a military historian I was able to flesh-out a complete story of his first sailing in 1942. USCG, Navy and Nat'l Archive records really helped in putting the whole story together. After completion of the research I wrote a book about his first roundtrip on an armed merchant ship in WW II. The book went on-sale in Dec 2011 through Amazon.com and my editor's publishing contract with them. If anyone who is a member here on Shadow Spear and would like a copy, let me know. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can buy one from Amazon. The title is: "First Sailing of the S.S. Smith Thompson: Serving in the Merchant Marine in WW II."
My father also served in the Navy with his hitch straddling the last year of WW II, thru the first year of the Korean War in 1951. I served in the Air Force during the last few years of the Vietnam War and was privilged to serve in USAF's first and only unit to take drones into combat reconnaissance during Vietnam.
After several decades of work starting after I finished my USAF hitch, including several DARPA sponsored black programs, I started teaching college at night for some extracurricular activity. That effort kept expanding; I began to do corporate seminars and and classes for professional trade associations. This led to writing magazine articles as a SME for contract negotiations, leadership, international strategic sourcing and many other topics.
The speaking/training gigs led to doing book reviews for various trade group memberships. I eventually got into military history research and doing book editorials for that genre. I still do management consulting and professional speaking; but begin spending more time doing military history research. Several years ago I started doing non-profit military service mentoring. I reach-out to area schools and other young adult forums to help these great kids and our future leaders figure out if military service is right for them. This service is done on a "branch agnostic" basis in lieu of playing adjunct recruiter for just the Air Force, or just officer candidates, etc.
When I provide military mentoring for our country's best & brightest, it's my philosophy that most of us are likely to preferences for a MOS or AFSC; or whether college is something the candidate is looking at. I've developed some techniques that help young adults really get to the core of their career goals and their likes & dislikes. This is done with placing emphasing on which branch to choose after other criteria is sorted-thru, first.
I am a firm believer that if you put a little bit more emphasis on decision-logic and getting to the root of what it is that you want to do & what sacrifices and/or effort you willing to invest to get where you want to go - you'll be much less likely of ending-up doing something in the military you are not interested in, and are ready to bailout before you've even started.
I'd like to touch briefly on my family. For nearly all military men & women, we will have to make some value judgments at least once in our career; where we need to weigh what everyone else is telling us - that being your spouse, or your close-in family (mom, dad, sister, brother), your CO, your career advisor, your clergy, your peers or your drinkin' buddies. I'm a firm believer in being a man who subordinates his wants/desires until I've considered the comments and advice of those around me. When I review another person's chosen path and how that's working for them, their success in subordinating themselves is an important evaluation factor.
I can honestly say that when I've looked at a person's life summation they've left behind - whether they were able to lead a long & full life, or left this part of their life story far too soon, I now have the opportunity to see the person's legacy; and rightly or wrongly, they no longer have a direct say in what they left behind. Literally, their personal wants & desires cannot force an outcome anymore - whether it would've been a good choice or not. The only Q&A that matters anymore is if the departed has left this existence, such that the people and institutions they left behind are better off than before because the person pledged themselves and all they had and all who they touched, to be just a little bit better than it was before they arrived.
I love my wife, Kim, my four kids, my brother & sister, and knock on wood because I'm 56 and my parents - God bless them - are still with us & thriving. I pledged my life and what little I have, to the betterment of these souls today and in the eternities.
And how about my pledge to all of you? And all the other lives I've come in contact with? For you who have made the choice to serve your country for awhile, or as your life's work, I think you've already learned that humans are designed & built for service. As a SOF member or other role you've chosen to pursue - you've already seen that your success and everyone else's is interdependent on each other. You've chosen to serve in a manner that if you arrive at juncture where someone has to go "all in," you've already made that choice, if need be.
In closing on this note - hey, you don't know me and I don't know you...yet. But I've made numerous "all in" decisions already; but the marker has not been collected, so far. Someone might read this and decide, "man, he's full of bologna!" Nope. There's folks who'd read this that know me, and they'd say, "Yep; go ahead - ask him for help; you'll." For example: I already authorized PayPal to give ShadowSpear $25 a month and I haven't even been verified or checked-out, yet. Hey, I'm cool with that; I made my decision to serve 39 years ago. It's important to keep this forum going...whether it's me contributing - it's only my money that's contributing, or both.
Unlike you younger guys who've got it goin' on between the ears and in the legs, you'll have to settle for "between the ears" from me. Two back surgeries have guaranteed I'm not running any real marathons. But...between the ears - I'll race ya!
Best
I thought I'd share just a few thoughts here as part of the intro. After you guys/gals get to know me, you'll find that I'm not usually at a loss for words. So, if you have a question about something and you're wanting an accurate & complete answer, I think you'll find that I'm the kind of person you can rely on to bring you solid info you can take to the bank.
Here's a short sit rep on VietVet.100SRW (Steve Miller). I'm a 4th generation military serviceman. My great-grandfather served in the British Army in the 1890s before he and his family emigrated to America. My grandfather, Al Miller, served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman/electrician during WW I. He wanted to service again during WW II, but sought a Comms Officer billet since he was married with two high school kids (my Dad & his older sister). Al had a Ham Radio License for 20 yrs and used that as his ticket to join a maritime union as a Merchant Marine Comms Officer and sailed on several brand new Liberty & Victory ships. In fact, he kept a diary during the war. Based on my background as a military historian I was able to flesh-out a complete story of his first sailing in 1942. USCG, Navy and Nat'l Archive records really helped in putting the whole story together. After completion of the research I wrote a book about his first roundtrip on an armed merchant ship in WW II. The book went on-sale in Dec 2011 through Amazon.com and my editor's publishing contract with them. If anyone who is a member here on Shadow Spear and would like a copy, let me know. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can buy one from Amazon. The title is: "First Sailing of the S.S. Smith Thompson: Serving in the Merchant Marine in WW II."
My father also served in the Navy with his hitch straddling the last year of WW II, thru the first year of the Korean War in 1951. I served in the Air Force during the last few years of the Vietnam War and was privilged to serve in USAF's first and only unit to take drones into combat reconnaissance during Vietnam.
After several decades of work starting after I finished my USAF hitch, including several DARPA sponsored black programs, I started teaching college at night for some extracurricular activity. That effort kept expanding; I began to do corporate seminars and and classes for professional trade associations. This led to writing magazine articles as a SME for contract negotiations, leadership, international strategic sourcing and many other topics.
The speaking/training gigs led to doing book reviews for various trade group memberships. I eventually got into military history research and doing book editorials for that genre. I still do management consulting and professional speaking; but begin spending more time doing military history research. Several years ago I started doing non-profit military service mentoring. I reach-out to area schools and other young adult forums to help these great kids and our future leaders figure out if military service is right for them. This service is done on a "branch agnostic" basis in lieu of playing adjunct recruiter for just the Air Force, or just officer candidates, etc.
When I provide military mentoring for our country's best & brightest, it's my philosophy that most of us are likely to preferences for a MOS or AFSC; or whether college is something the candidate is looking at. I've developed some techniques that help young adults really get to the core of their career goals and their likes & dislikes. This is done with placing emphasing on which branch to choose after other criteria is sorted-thru, first.
I am a firm believer that if you put a little bit more emphasis on decision-logic and getting to the root of what it is that you want to do & what sacrifices and/or effort you willing to invest to get where you want to go - you'll be much less likely of ending-up doing something in the military you are not interested in, and are ready to bailout before you've even started.
I'd like to touch briefly on my family. For nearly all military men & women, we will have to make some value judgments at least once in our career; where we need to weigh what everyone else is telling us - that being your spouse, or your close-in family (mom, dad, sister, brother), your CO, your career advisor, your clergy, your peers or your drinkin' buddies. I'm a firm believer in being a man who subordinates his wants/desires until I've considered the comments and advice of those around me. When I review another person's chosen path and how that's working for them, their success in subordinating themselves is an important evaluation factor.
I can honestly say that when I've looked at a person's life summation they've left behind - whether they were able to lead a long & full life, or left this part of their life story far too soon, I now have the opportunity to see the person's legacy; and rightly or wrongly, they no longer have a direct say in what they left behind. Literally, their personal wants & desires cannot force an outcome anymore - whether it would've been a good choice or not. The only Q&A that matters anymore is if the departed has left this existence, such that the people and institutions they left behind are better off than before because the person pledged themselves and all they had and all who they touched, to be just a little bit better than it was before they arrived.
I love my wife, Kim, my four kids, my brother & sister, and knock on wood because I'm 56 and my parents - God bless them - are still with us & thriving. I pledged my life and what little I have, to the betterment of these souls today and in the eternities.
And how about my pledge to all of you? And all the other lives I've come in contact with? For you who have made the choice to serve your country for awhile, or as your life's work, I think you've already learned that humans are designed & built for service. As a SOF member or other role you've chosen to pursue - you've already seen that your success and everyone else's is interdependent on each other. You've chosen to serve in a manner that if you arrive at juncture where someone has to go "all in," you've already made that choice, if need be.
In closing on this note - hey, you don't know me and I don't know you...yet. But I've made numerous "all in" decisions already; but the marker has not been collected, so far. Someone might read this and decide, "man, he's full of bologna!" Nope. There's folks who'd read this that know me, and they'd say, "Yep; go ahead - ask him for help; you'll." For example: I already authorized PayPal to give ShadowSpear $25 a month and I haven't even been verified or checked-out, yet. Hey, I'm cool with that; I made my decision to serve 39 years ago. It's important to keep this forum going...whether it's me contributing - it's only my money that's contributing, or both.
Unlike you younger guys who've got it goin' on between the ears and in the legs, you'll have to settle for "between the ears" from me. Two back surgeries have guaranteed I'm not running any real marathons. But...between the ears - I'll race ya!
Best
