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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 11/02/2021 01:51:31

Good Morning.

Have you voted today?


Here in Waltham and this Commonwealth, it's an "off-cycle" election. Nothing statewide or national, it's purely a municipal election. My friend and Ward Counselor is running un-opposed. He'll be the only incumbent that I will be voting for.

Waltham has a large slate of increasingly old and ineffective legislators - I won't vote for any incumbent this year. At least two members of City Council have been councilors since I cast my first ballot in this city twenty-five years ago. It's long beyond the time for change.

What's happening in your neighborhood?

But it is Tuesday, so let's at least pretend to have some military news. As a Pinoy, with family that lived through the Japanese occupation, this story does not sit very well with me.


When Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro returned from his trip to Japan, he fired off a tweet that touted his tour of that country's "Aircraft Carrier Izumo." It was a short comment that recognized an important new naval reality for the longtime ally.

Japan's pacifist constitution meant its naval forces have relied on ships carrying helicopters for self-defense, not fighter jets -- and it avoided using the term aircraft carrier -- since the end of World War II.

Del Toro, whether intentionally or not, gave a public U.S. acknowledgment of a historic shift by Tokyo toward its past as a carrier power. Late in 2018, the Japanese announced plans to refit two helicopter carriers including the Izumo for U.S.-built F-35B Lightning II fighters, part of an increasingly urgent effort to counter growing Chinese sea power.

A Navy spokesman said, "The tweet does not signal a change in how the U.S. officially recognizes the ship."

Japan has a self-defense force, what most outsiders would recognize as a military, but its constitution proclaims that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained," meaning that it has historically avoided any military action or buildup considered offensive.

"Governments have argued that Japan has the right to maintain capabilities and use the 'minimum necessary level of self-defense,'" explained Jeffrey Hornung, a scholar on Japan at Rand Corp. "Historically, anything that exceeds that is considered war potential, and therefore it violates the Constitution."

Traditionally, there were four things that undisputedly fell into that category, Hornung explained: intercontinental and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, long-range bombers, and aircraft carriers.

However, in recent years, Tokyo has increasingly debated more robust military capabilities, such as the fixed-wing aircraft carriers, as fears over the rise of China grow.

The Izumo is a helicopter destroyer that at 27,000 tons fully-loaded is larger than Italy's aircraft carrier, the Garibaldi.


In that long ago age, China was our ally against Imperial Japan. My, how times have changed!

Shifting gears, as we go deeper into the post-Afghanistan era, we're likely to encounter more and more veterans in civilian life. I am fortunate that the company where I work is very veteran-friendly; we've gone out of our way to have hiring events at several local veteran's shelters and we had a solid corps of drivers from that community. Alas, all pre-covid; we have yet to make that outreach again.

In any case - did you ever wonder what it was like for those returning service members? Sometimes it ain't pretty.


As you exit the military, with its unique "family" culture, and enter the civilian sector, resist getting too close to people at work at first. At the outset of your civilian employment, early relationships can prove unhealthy to your career goals.

In the military, you enjoyed familiar relationships with those around you. You worked, ate, slept and conducted your missions in close proximity with those you served alongside. Naturally, you developed tight bonds and supported and protected each other to ensure everyone was safe and healthy.

One of the hardest parts for most military personnel as they retire or separate from the military is worrying that they may not find others who will "have their six," look out for them and provide the familiarity and camaraderie they grew accustomed to in the military.

For many veterans, making friends early at a new job is a form of comfort. As such, they connect with the first friendly face that offers to show them around the office, help them fill out paperwork or find a great lunch spot near the office.

While this might seem a natural and appropriate way to acclimate to a new work environment, who you befriend early on can prove problematic later.

An example:

Consider what happened to Adam. Fresh out of the Navy, Adam describes himself as a "people person." He loves to be around others, engages fully in conversations on diverse topics and thrives when he's helping others. In his first job after the military, Adam was hired into a regional financial firm where he'd be working as an entry-level adviser. Working in finance fulfilled his passion to help people learn how to protect their income.

Adam's associate, Susan, greeted him enthusiastically on his first day on the job and offered to show him the ropes. She provided him with background on the office (who he can trust, who he should avoid and who likely won't be working there in a month) and where he could find supplies and snacks.

Those first few days on the job, Adam felt safe with Susan and relied on her to answer questions he didn't feel comfortable asking his manager or team colleagues. Susan became a sort of unofficial work mentor to Adam.

Unfortunately, her advice and guidance to Adam was misleading and ill-formed. Susan found it challenging to make work friends and tainted Adam's perception of others in the office. Without realizing it, Adam had adopted her perceptions of his colleagues and began treating them negatively. He resisted forming collaborative relationships, sharing his insights and experience with his team (Susan said this was a quick way for them to "steal" his ideas) and ultimately, Adam began to be excluded from important conversations.

In Adam's example, his intuition failed him, and he befriended a colleague whose reputation at the company was ill-informed and manipulative. Because he resisted his better judgment and trusted Susan, his own reputation became tarnished.

(MORE)


Let that be a sobering thought in that we still fail our veterans on a daily basis. There is always work to be done.




 
 

5 comments (Latest Comment: 11/02/2021 20:28:41 by BobR)
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