MicroMentor - A Free Business Mentoring Program For Entrepreneurs

It has been a pleasure being part of the MicroMentor Team for the last 11 years of our dramatic growth in volunteer mentoring services worldwide. 

MicroMentor Assistance

SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

Why Do They Ask If You Are A Protected Veteran In A U.S. Job Application?

Image:  U.S. Department of Labor

The companies to which you are applying are doing business with the Federal Government. As such they must abide by the law with regard to hiring protected veterans and report statistics on their compliance. That is why the application data regarding protected veterans is tracked.

The definition of a protected veteran under the law is below:

“DEPARTMENT OF LABOR”

“The law, sometimes referred to as VEVRAA or Section 4212, requires employers doing business with the Federal government to take steps to recruit, hire and promote protected veterans. It also makes it illegal for these companies to discriminate against protected veterans when making employment decisions on hiring, firing, pay, benefits, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, and other employment related activities.”

You are a “protected veteran” under Section 4212 if you belong to one of the categories of veterans described below:

Disabled Veteran

A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military and is entitled to disability compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to disability compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

Other Protected Veteran

A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

Recently Separated Veteran

A veteran separated during the three-year period beginning on the date of the veteran’s discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military.

Armed Forces Service Medal Veteran

A veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, participated in a U.S. military operation that received an Armed Forces service medal.”

Am I A Protected Veteran?

FREE SMALL BUSINESS GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING BOOKS AND SUPPLEMENTS

The below table of contents reflects free small business federal government contracting materials available at Small To Feds.


You may download the book, Small Business Federal Government Contracting and its supplement from the "Box" in the right margin below at this site.  Blue topic titles are the basic book and red topics are contained in the supplement. 

Use the links beneath the table to access more recent articles at Smalltofeds since the publication of the book and the supplement.

(Please click on image to enlarge)

RECENT MATERIAL LINKS (Not included in Above)

SMALL BUSINESS COMPANY TRAINING

MANAGING INDUSTRY TEAMING RELATIONSHIPS

UTILIZING THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) 

GOVERNMENT CONTRACT BID PROTESTS 

UNSOLICITED GOVERNMENT CONTRACT PROPOSALS

VITAL TIPS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

FIXED PRICE VS. COST PLUS IN CONTRACTING 

MAKING AN ASUTE BID/NO BID DECISION 

THE TRUTH IN NEGOTIATIONS ACT (TINA) 


All articles are kept current on the web site.  The latest version within the book can be reached by simply clicking on the article live links.

You may also benefit from the free "Reference Materials" in the "Box" in the right margin.  Contract agreements, incorporation instructions for all the US states, guidance on marketing and business planning are all included. 

Other free books by Ken Larson, available as downloads from the "Box" include:

"A Veteran's Photo/Poetry Journal of Recovery
From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder " 

"Odyssey of Armaments" My Journey Through the Defense Industrial Complex"

PTSD - A Veteran's Photo/Poetry Journal of Recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

View On Behance

Free in Adobe format in the Box Net cube in the right margin of this site.

In 2005 Ken Larson underwent treatment at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota for PTSD, having self-treated the illness since returning from Vietnam in 1968

He chose not to be treated when advances in care became available in the mid 1980's, driven by a need to keep his security clearances in the defense industry. That dilemma is described in his book," Odyssey of Armaments" and is a story for another time.

This journal has been a powerful catalyst in Ken's recovery. It combines thoughts as he worked his way through a traumatic past with favorite photos of nature taken in his odyssey. The resulting marriage of written word and visual expression permitted resolutions to issues that haunted him.

Although the journal is still a work in process, it is published here in the hope it may educate and perhaps assist others like him who have suffered from PTSD to come out of the darkness and into the light.

An Independent Commission Will Review The Military’s Suicide Prevention Efforts

 

  Airman Karla Parra/Air Force

"MILITARY TIMES" By Meghann Myers

"Despite more than a decade’s worth of effort to prevent suicides among service members, the numbers continue to rise, including a 16-percent jump during 2020.

To get a better idea of the scope of the issue, Congress mandated an independent review commission in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act and, on Tuesday, the Pentagon announced it would begin getting it off the ground."

______________________________________________________________________

“It is imperative that we take care of all our teammates and continue to reinforce that mental health and suicide prevention remain a key priority,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo signed Tuesday. “One death by suicide is one too many. And suicide rates among our Service members are still too high. So, clearly we have more work.

The commission will study suicide prevention and behavioral health programs across the services, including site visits, focus groups, interviews and a confidential survey of troops at every location visited, much in the same way an independent review commission on sexual assault went about its mandate last year.

“He’s seen enough to know that we we’ve got to do something different, that we’ve got to try to take additional and more creative action here,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said of the secretary’s concerns.

The first nine bases on the list are:

• Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska

• Fort Wainright, Alaska

• Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska

• Fort Campbell, Kentucky

• Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

• Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada

• Naval Air Station North Island, California

• Camp Humphreys, South Korea

• North Carolina National Guard

Alaska has made headlines in recent years with its disproportionate suicide rate among service members. U.S. Army Alaska alone confirmed in December that it had seen 10 confirmed suicides in 2021, with several more deaths still under investigation.

Austin “spent a lot of time when he went out to Fairbanks, talking with troops and commanders about the challenges there with respect to mental health and suicide,” Kirby said of the secretary’s trip to Alaska last summer.

The other installations were chosen in consultation with leaders, Kirby said.

Alaska has made headlines in recent years with its disproportionate suicide rate among service members. U.S. Army Alaska alone confirmed in December that it had seen 10 confirmed suicides in 2021, with several more deaths still under investigation.

Austin “spent a lot of time when he went out to Fairbanks, talking with troops and commanders about the challenges there with respect to mental health and suicide,” Kirby said of the secretary’s trip to Alaska last summer.

The other installations were chosen in consultation with leaders, Kirby said.

“So, I mean, it was a team effort to come up with this list,” he said. “And … it’s the initial list of installations. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the end all list here.”

Despite more access to behavioral health resources than ever before, some service members still struggle to push through their concerns about seeking treatment, while others experience long waits to access care on their bases.

I think the secretary believes that one problem that we have to get after is the stigma of seeking help for mental health problems, which is still a problem in the military,” Kirby said. Many service members still have the impression that seeking mental health treatment will negatively affect their military careers, from favorable assignments to deployments to promotion chances.

One specific measure Austin is interested in is firearms storage, Kirby said.

More than 60 percent of military suicides are carried out with a personally owned firearm, according to DoD data. Research on suicide has shown that the decision to end one’s life is largely an impulsive one, and that even having to remove a weapon from a locked safe can give someone enough time to reconsider.

“And one of the things that he wants to do is is is work with commanders on storage of the firearms in the home or on base and make sure we’ve got that,” Kirby said.

The department has 60 days to tap members of the commission, according to the memo. After that, site visits will begin no later than Aug. 1, with an initial report due to Austin by Dec. 20. Congress will receive the findings by Feb. 18."

If you or a loved one is experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, you can confidentially seek assistance via the Military/Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255, via text at 838255 or chat at http://VeteransCrisisLine.net."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members. Follow on Twitter @Meghann_MT

Vets Suicide Independent Commission

"Drone Warrior" - A Stunning First Hand Memoir

Amazon.com

GQ.com

After a careful review by the Intelligence Community for Publication, Drone Warrior has performed a stunning service, giving the reader a gut level feel for U.S. War from a decorated soldier's perspective. 

Those of us who served in Vietnam and similar conflicts since can totally relate to this masterpiece of  honesty.  

___________________________________________________________________

Brett Velicovich pulls no punches. The mental stress, teamwork, tragedy and after effects in this modern, technological killing process can be felt with every line.  The impact on the man himself and on those with whom he worked has not been spared in its detail and its effects. 

Having left the service, Brett is now involved in harnessing and controlling the technology for peaceful purposes like wildlife preservation and management.  Those of us who have made similar transitions applaud, commend and recommend the book and the man. 

Read it to become informed and consider the billions we are spending on this warfare today as well as the impact on our youth and our future. 

Drone Warrior

Women’s History Month – 8 Woman Soldiers Who Changed US Military History

 

All Photos – Military Times

“MILITARY TIMES” By Dylan Gresik

“Women have dutifully served their country since the days of the American Revolution. From breaking barriers in combat to challenging the status quo across eras, here are eight female soldiers who changed the course of history for the U.S. military.“

________________________________________________________________________________

“Cathay Williams

“The Union Army had pressed Cathay Williams into service as a young girl to cook and launder clothes for XIII Corps. She grew accustomed to military life and being on the march, which must have made her later deception easier. (U.S. Army)

Pvt. Cathay Williams began her journey with the U.S. military in a support role during the Civil War, forced to serve due to her status as a captured slave, the National Park Service noted. After the war, Williams became the first Black woman to enlist when she joined the Army under a male pseudonym, William Cathay, in 1866, the Army noted.

“A young, female, unmarried former slave,” Williams joined the Army without a full medical examination, and she was assigned to the 38th U.S. Infantry Regiment – which would become part of the famed Buffalo Soldiers, according to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Suffering from smallpox, Williams was discovered to be a woman while undergoing treatment and honorably discharged in 1868. She continued in her work as a military cook at Fort Union, New Mexico. Her story was documented in the St. Louis Daily Times in 1876.

Williams was the first Black woman to enlist in the U.S. Army and the only known female Buffalo Soldier.

Dr. Mary E. Walker

Dr. Mary Walker was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights, and the first woman ever awarded the Medal of Honor for her service as a surgeon during the Civil War. (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

In 1861, 29-year-old Dr. Mary Walker applied to become a surgeon with the Union Army, as she had been one of the few female physicians in the country prior to the start of the Civil War. She was rejected but remained on as a volunteer, leveraging her skills to treat the wounded, AUSA noted.

Two years later, Walker finally received an appointment to serve an assistant surgeon in the Army, after spending additional time as a field surgeon in Virginia, according to an Army story. In the latter years of the war, Walker was captured by Confederate forces, held in squalid conditions as a prisoner of war, yet another in a long line of abuses due to her status as a woman.

She lobbied for women’s causes and for her service during the war, she was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1865. The award was later rescinded in 1917 due to her status as a civilian, but President Jimmy Carter restored the award in 1977, the Army noted.

Dr. Mary Walker remains the only woman to have received the Medal of Honor in U.S. history.

Harriet Tubman

The rechristened and self-liberated Harriet Tubman launched an illustrious career as a member of the Underground Railroad. Tubman was the “Great Emancipator,” leading scores of escaping African Americans to freedom, often all the way to Canada. She built up a network of supporters and admirers, including William Lloyd Garrison and William Seward, to name but two who lauded her efforts. (Library of Congress)

Beyond being the legendary “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, shepherding enslaved persons to freedom, Harriet Tubman also aided the Union’s military effort in the Civil War. Early in the war, Tubman served as a nurse for Union regiments before moving on to a larger role as spymaster and military scout.

Under the direction of War Secretary Edwin Stanton, Tubman recruited locals throughout conquered areas in the South to pass information along to Union commanders and assist in assault preparations. Her group’s work led to a successful assault on Jacksonville, Florida, and the Combahee River Raid in June 1863, as Military Times previously reported.

Decades later, Tubman finally received recognition — to a degree — for her military service during the Civil War, as she had been kept out of official military documents. In 1899, Tubman was granted a pension, officially validating her widely known contributions to the Union cause.

Mary A. Hallaren

Col. Mary Hallaren became the first official female soldier to join the U.S. Army as Director of the Women’s Army Corps. (AP)

Col. Mary Hallaren became a member of the first training class of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (later, Women’s Army Corps, or WAC) in 1942 before commanding the largest all-female unit to serve overseas. In 1948, while serving as WAC’s director, Hallaren “was instrumental” in advocating for women to be fully integrated as “permanent regular members” of the military beyond just wartime, according to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Hallaren, who had originally enlisted in the military following the Pearl Harbor attack, later became the first commissioned officer in the Regular Army, not a medical role, in 1948, according to the Army’s Center of Military History.

“To me there was no question that women should serve,” Hallaren said, as reported by the New York Times.

Marcella A. Hayes became the first black female to receive aviator wings in the U.S. Armed Forces in November 1979 when she completed Army helicopter flight training at the U.S. Army Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, Alabama. (Army)

Marcella Hayes, who began her military career as an ROTC cadet at the University of Wisconsin, became the first Black female pilot in the U.S. military in 1979. She graduated Army Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, earning her paratrooper badge during her training as a helicopter pilot, the Army Women’s Foundation reported.

Hayes became the 55th woman to earn her pilot wings, before being assigned to the 394th Transportation Battalion in Germany, the unit’s first black soldier and first woman leader. She went on to marry Dennis Ng, also in the Army, retiring in 2000 as a lieutenant colonel.

Linda Bray

Capt. Linda L. Bray, 29, from Butner, N.C., with the 988th Military Police Company from Fort Benning, Ga., poses in the Army’s Quarry Heights base in Panama City Jan. 3, 1990. She led 30 MPs in an attack on Panamanian Defense Forces kennels the night of the American invasion, resulting in intense combat with PDF soldiers and a cache of weapons captured. (AP)

Capt. Linda Bray was one of over 700 women to participate in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989, as she led the 988th Military Police Company, according to the Army. There, she became the first woman to command American soldiers in battle, a trailblazing role that launched a reflection about women in the military.

“I joined the Army for the excitement, the challenge, the experience and loyalty to my country,” Bray said at the time, according to the New York Times. “I haven’t been let down a day.”

Bray’s role in combat forced the U.S. military to reevaluate their prohibition on women in the role, which ultimately culminated in an end to the ban by then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in 2013, the Seattle Times noted.

Kristen Griest & Shaye Haver

1st Lt. Shaye Haver, left, and Capt. Kristen Griest talk on the phone Aug. 20 with Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who called to congratulate them on being the first women to earn the Ranger Tab. (Patrick A. Albright/Army)

Capt. Kristen M. Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye L. Haver became the first two women to complete Army Ranger School and earn their Ranger tabs in 2015. Both graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, the two soldiers became the first females of over 77,000 tabbed soldiers since the Ranger School’s inception in 1950, according to an Army story.

Griest was a military police platoon leader, and Haver was an AH-64 Apache pilot, who both looked at Ranger School as the highest challenge to prepare them to lead soldiers.

“The reasons I chose to come were the same as the men here: to get the experience of the elite leadership school and to give me the opportunity to lead my Soldiers the best that I can,” Haver told the Army at the time. “I think if females continue to come to this course, they can be encouraged by what we have accomplished, but hopefully they’re encouraged by the legacy that the Ranger community has left.”

Since Griest and Haver shattered this barrier, over 30 female soldiers have earned Ranger tabs, including enlisted soldiers and National Guardsmen, Army Times reported.

Ann E. Dunwoody

Army Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody was pinned by Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey, left, and her husband Craig Brotchie during her promotion ceremony at the Pentagon, making history as the nation’s first four-star female officer. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess/DoD)

Retired Army Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody became the first woman to reach a four-star officer rank in the history of the United States military in 2008. Dunwoody, who led Army Materiel Command before her retirement in 2012, remained a pioneer throughout her decades-long service. In 1992, she became the first woman to command a battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division during the First Gulf War, according to the Purple Heart Foundation.

“I have never considered myself anything but a soldier. I recognize that with this selection, some will view me as a trailblazer,” Dunwoody said on her promotion at the time. “But it’s important that we remember the generations of women, whose dedication, commitment and quality of service helped open the doors of opportunity for us today.”

Dunwoody was a fourth-generation Army officer, and she released a book on leadership in 2015.”

8 Military Women Who Changed History

About Dylan Gresik

Dylan Gresik is a reporting intern for Military Times through Northwestern University’s Journalism Residency program.

THERE ARE NO WINNERS IN WAR

 

Military Veterans Can Jump-Start Careers In IT With This New, Free Program

Veteran and Apprenti graduate Mike Cooper addresses the crowd at the 2018 Amazon Apprenti graduation. Also in attendance (from left to right) was Apprenti Executive DirectorJennifer Carlson, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Ardine Williams, Amazon’s senior vice president of business operations. (Photo provided by Apprenti

“MILITARY TIMES”

“Many veterans face a frustrating catch-22 upon exiting the military: Most jobs require experience, but it’s almost impossible to get experience without a job.

That’s where a program like Apprenti comes in. It removes the burden of experience and education by immediately placing qualifying veterans in relatively well-paying technology apprenticeships, where they will learn the skills required to succeed in the industry.”

________________________________________________________________________

“A lot of those who come to us are not prepared to go back to college for four more years and use their GI Bill that way,” said Jennifer Carlson, executive director of both Apprenti and the Washington Technology Industry Association Workforce Institute, based in the state of Washington.

“They want to go to a job,” she continued. “This is a great transition point with a much more accelerated time investment to a career.”

It’s a simple process: Veterans take a free online assessment that tests them on both basic math abilities and soft skills like leadership qualities and critical thinking. They have two tries to pass it and must wait three months before trying again if they don’t.

Once they pass, the top one-third of candidates will be offered interviews at tech companies including but not limited to industry giants like Microsoft and Amazon. They will stay in this apprenticeship — earning a median salary of $51,000 per year, plus benefits — for a minimum of one year, and if all goes well, they will be offered a permanent job upon graduation.

The program is GI Bill-eligible, so veterans will be able to use the benefit to pay for living expenses. And some of the larger companies Apprenti places candidates in are even willing to help out with university tuition for veterans seeking a more formal education once they are hired on full-time.

According to Carlson, 85 percent of the participants Apprenti places are retained by the company with which they did their apprenticeship. She also said that 46 percent of placements begin the program without a degree of any kind, but they still land jobs with titles like software developer and system administrator.

“These are middle-skills jobs, not entry-level ones like a help desk,” she said. “These are jobs that have natural career progressions, and you’re going to grow with your company.”

These apprenticeships are different from internships, which usually require affiliation with a university, only last about three to five months and tend to be less focused on doing one specific job.

None of that applies to these apprenticeships, which are open to anyone 18-and-over, last at least a year and ensure you receive training in the role in which the company hopes to retain you.

“You are a hire. You are in that job. The company is paying you a training wage, which is where you get to earn and learn,” Carlson said. “Internship is try-before-you-buy, and apprenticeships are train-to-retain.”

A group of Apprenti participants pose in 2017 before they embark on their one-year apprenticeships with Amazon’s web-services division. (Photo provided by Apprenti)

Apprenti has only been around since late 2016, but Carlson said that the number of graduates these companies keep has already grown from a “handful or two” to the hundreds. She expects to place over 450 apprentices in tech jobs around the country in 2019.

Carlson said that 58 percent of Apprenti placements are veterans, many of who are feeling stuck, despite often having professional experience and some education.

“When we look at where competency lies, you have a lot of people who choose to go to second-tier colleges and who are working while in school,” Carlson said. “They have skills, they did the college thing, they just didn’t do STEM. So they have the competency to do the work, but they have no pathway in, short of going back to school and taking on that debt.”

The other part of this equation is the boon to the tech sector, which Carlson described as being severely understaffed across the board. She said that the industry currently has 2 million vacancies, yet only 65,000 students a year are graduating with the necessary computer-science degrees to fill those roles.

Through her experience with the group based in Washington state, Carlson determined that tech companies were reeling both from this labor shortage and a lack of “people who were actually work-ready coming to them, which they didn’t feel many college students were.”

Enter Apprenti.

“Our thesis is that we can find highly competent people, without regard to pedigree,” Carlson said.

So, if you’re a veteran unsure what to do next and are interested in tech jobs — or just want to find work with benefits that could pay a median annual salary of $78,000 after a year of on-the-job training — Apprenti might be exactly what you need to jump-start a new career.”

https://rebootcamp.militarytimes.com/transition-tips/education/2019/02/12/no-experience-no-problem-vets-can-jump-start-careers-in-it-with-this-new-free-program/

Minnesota Veterans Home Hastings and The State's Growing, Progressive Program for Veterans Care

Photo:  Dakota County Tech College

Panoramic Photo Tour - MN Vets Home Hastings - Use "Open Index Feature"


Editors Note:  I enjoyed participating in the following podcast featuring the veterans community in which I have resided for the last 15 years.  With 3 more homes on the horizon in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston, adding to the existing 5 vets homes in  the state, Minnesota is at the forefront of health care for its military veterans.  

Ken Larson 

"Minnesota Military Radio"

"This week we meet with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and learn about the Minnesota Veterans Homes, discuss Military and Absentee Voting with Secretary of State Steve Simon, find out about the upcoming Nearly Naked Ruck March and get an update from our County Veteran Service Officer. Guests include:

• Douglas Hughes – Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs
• Mike Anderson – Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs
• Ken Larson – Vietnam Veteran
• Steve Simon – Minnesota Secretary of State
• Mike Waldron – Nearly Naked Ruck March
• Robby Robinson – Goodhue County Veteran Service Officer"

Podcast link: (Turn On Your Computer Sound) Minnesota Military Radio

$62,000,000,000 USAF FMS Contract For Lockheed Martin F-16’S

Lockheed Martin/USAF Tee-shirt $19.59 – $40.59:

"THE PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT"

“The Air Force awarded an eye-watering $62 billion contract for overseas F-16 customers August 14. In a world amid a pandemic, you’d think there’d be smarter things to spend $62 billion on."

"POGO - Supply Chain of Fools"

Department of Defense Contract Award Announcement

War Weary, Pandemic-Strapped America and Its Soldiers

Image Oocities.com

As the pandemic-strapped U.S. continues into a second decade of the war on terror and a new war on COVID 19  our citizens and our volunteer military are growing disinterested in warfare and focused on re-aligning our priorities.  

The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) has made grand strides in technology, spending billions on new air craft and naval vessels, cyber warfare tools and sensors, while we have downsized combat soldiers to stand in the job line or wait for admission to veterans’ hospitals as our health care infrastructure was sacrificed for war profiteering. 

CRITERIA FOR WINNING

“THE ATLANTIC”

“Although no one can agree on an exact figure, our dozen years of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and neighboring countries have cost at least $1.5 trillion.

Yet from a strategic perspective, to say nothing of the human cost, most of these dollars might as well have been burned. “At this point, it is incontrovertibly evident that the U.S. military failed to achieve any of its strategic goals in Iraq,” a former military intelligence officer named Jim Gourley wrote recently for Thomas E. Ricks’s blog, Best Defense. “Evaluated according to the goals set forth by our military leadership, the war ended in utter defeat for our forces.”

In 13 years of continuous combat under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the longest stretch of warfare in American history, U.S. forces have achieved one clear strategic success: the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Their many other tactical victories, from overthrowing Saddam Hussein to allying with Sunni tribal leaders to mounting a “surge” in Iraq, demonstrated great bravery and skill. But they brought no lasting stability to, nor advance of U.S. interests in, that part of the world.

When ISIS troops overran much of Iraq, the forces that laid down their weapons and fled before them were members of the same Iraqi national army that U.S. advisers had so expensively yet ineffectively trained for more than five years.”

The Tragedy of the American Military 


RISK ASSESSMENT

Our government has not considered the risks, the indigenous cultural impact, the expense and the sacrifices required to sustain the nation building that must occur after we invade countries in pursuit of perceived enemies and place the burden of governance on military personnel who are not equipped to deal with it or manage USAID contractors who have profit motives in mind and corruption as a regular practice.

“POGO”

"Cost-plus contracts have long been criticized by government watchdogs like the Project On Government Oversight and waste-conscious lawmakers. Most recently, incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) bluntly stated that these contracts are “disgraceful” and should be banned."
  
Your Tax Dollars Defrauded

 THOSE WHO HAVE FOUGHT ASK GOOD QUESTIONS

‘NEW YORK TIMES”

“There are 26 veterans from the United States’ two most recent wars serving in the House and Senate.

Many say their experience in Iraq and Afghanistan taught them that the American military cannot fix what is fundamentally a cultural and political issue: the inability of governments to thwart extremism within their own borders.

Ted Lieu of California, said he would not support giving the president the formal authority he had requested because, like many veterans, he finds it difficult to see how the conflict will ever end.

“The American military is an amazing force. We are very good at defeating the enemy, taking over territory, blowing things up,” said Mr. Lieu, who served in the Air Force and remains in the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. “But America has traditionally been very bad at answering the next question, which is what do you do after that.”

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan now serving in Congress have emerged as some of the most important voices in the debate over whether to give President Obama a broad authorization for a military campaign against the Islamic State or something much more limiting.”

Veterans in Congress Bring Rare Perspective

NO SKIN IN THE GAME

"THE ATLANTIC"

“A people untouched (or seemingly untouched) by war are far less likely to care about it,” Andrew Bacevich wrote in 2012. Bacevich himself fought in Vietnam; his son was killed in Iraq. “Persuaded that they have no skin in the game, they will permit the state to do whatever it wishes to do.”
 The Tragedy of the American Military

BUYING OUR WAY OUT?

Foreign aid in the billions continues to the Middle East.  US weapons export sales have reached a crescendo, increasing by 31% to 94 countries. with the Middle East receiving the line share.

US Arms Exports Increase 31% 

A single Weapon, the 1.4 Trillion dollar F-35 will soon account for 12% of our total national debt.

The 1.4 $Trillion F-35 Aircraft 

QUOTE BY ERIC PRINCE, EX- CEO BLACKWATER:

“NATIONAL DEFENSE MAGAZINE”

"The world is a much more dangerous place, there is more radicalism, more countries that are melting down or approaching that state." 

At the same time, the Pentagon is under growing pressure to cut spending and the cost of the all-volunteer force keeps rising, Prince said. 

"The U.S. military has mastered the most expensive way to wage war, with a heavy expensive footprint." Over the long run, the military might have to rely more on contractors, as it will become tougher to recruit service members. 

Prince cited recent statistics that 70 percent of the eligible population of prospective troops is unsuitable to serve in the military for various reasons such as obesity, lack of a high school education, drug use, criminal records or even excessive tattoos. In some cases, Prince said, it might make more sense to hire contractors.”

What's Eric Prince Been Up To?

QUESTIONS FOR THE READER:

Did not the Roman Empire run into these issues when they outsourced their wars and went to the baths?

Image: Photolibra

What makes us believe this worldwide war of attrition can continue indefinitely and that our younger generations are going to be willing to enlist and/or pay the bills, especially when our health care is now at the top of the agenda. 

 

Can we insist our government representatives consider these factors and plan ahead?

Future generations, their wealth, health and treasure will depend on our answers.