I have had several discussions with friends of mine of late that have given me considerable pause. Like many of the folks I know, I’m want to spout ill considered sound bites from the left regarding the current situation in Iraq and US’s part in it. A good friend of mine said “We’re not qualified to comment on what’s going on in Iraq, the US is not at war in Iraq, the Marine Corp, the Army, the USAF, they are at war”. It made me think, he’s right (as ever). You and I are likely not feeling the deep seated fear, patriotism, or need to volunteer to fight in another country to help resolve the humanitarian suffering. Our armed forces are doing something about it (for right or wrong).
Another friend of mine has just been deployed (you can follow along his blog at SgtGrumpy). I think he puts it best at the end of this post School yourself about the surge :
If you are against the war, or for the war, please get literate on the reality, take time to read (TV doesn’t count) before you open your mouth. As a fighting man, I believe I can ask that much of you, those who I would kill and die for to keep safe.
I have not done enough reading or thinking to qualify as someone who can comment … have you?
Filed under: USA, government, other people
Well, it has been a while since I wrote anything here (quick Google blog search on this term showed up ~107M posts to this effect!). So a new resolution to post on a much more frequent basis is in order. Part of the reason for the lapse in posts (and as some have noted quality of the posts) is explained by the following …
I have been struggling with a career-quake of (religious tome of your choice) proportions. I have drifted into a career trajectory that was aligning me and my career with the US Federal Government. The catalyst was that I was offered a senior government position (probably half a step from CTO of a government agency). This caused me to look long and hard at where was I going, career wise, where was my family going, was I happy, what was going to make me happy in the long run, you know, the usual stuff.
My wife reminded me of something we had talked about at length prior to getting married: we will be an international family. I am from NZ, my wife grew up in China, we both live in America, we want our kids to grow up exposed to different cultures. Not just visiting them, but LIVING them. We can think of no better preparation for living in the 21st and 22nd century than global exposure.
After much sole searching and working out what I want to do next, I have decided to return to commercial consulting. Working with commercial clients, building new dynamic web2.0 web presences, creating innovative capabilities that will take client further, and generally solving much more interesting problems much quicker than I have been in the fedgov.
I will chronicle my move from Federal consulting to commercial over the next few months and spend a little time diving into why I made the choice I made. My ultimate goal is international experience and taking myself and my family somewhere new … where that is remains to be seen. Please read along, follow the journey! It promises to be quite a ride!
Filed under: NZ, NZ vs USA, USA, consulting, government, personal improvement
