Not so Abnormal by Tony Green

The military has many jobs that require traveling. A person may be required to spend some time away from home. The circumstances vary from peace time where a mission may take only a few days to complete to a war time situation the mission continued until victory is achieved. In most cases, opportunities existed to breathe fresh air and bask in sunlight during moments of non-activity. Not in the case of the submariner.
As a submariner there are times where you are required to go a month or more without breathing fresh air and seeing sunlight. The air is generated from oxygen generators on board which produce oxygen by the distillation of the seawater the submarine travels through.

The air was regulated, however, if mission requirements called for not going to the surface to get fresh air the results were over time the oxygen levels would decrease slightly below to begin to make everyone a little drowsy.

In addition, as the cycle of the rise and setting of the sun sets your sleep patterns the effect of not seeing sunlight is mitigated by the fact the submarine operates on 18 hour days. Once you body gets used to the schedule the sun is barely missed at all. This may be a bit abnormal to most people but simply another day in the life of a submariner.

Once the submarine pulls back in port the first breath of air coupled with the experience of the first warm rays of sunlight are like a rebirth. The return to port signifies a return to normalcy on only to savor the outdoors but also a time for reuniting with loved ones who you have had no contact with. Sometimes though of your loved ones are what keeps you going during the long times while you are away.

In a sense, I guess I was not so abnormal after all.

Troubleshooting by Tony Green

The scenario is along these lines. A complex mechanical electro system is not functioning. As this system is producing revenue creating its designed product there is a lot of money at stake if the system is not brought back to normal operation quickly. Your job is to repair the equipment and return it to operation.
Where do you start? There could be an infinite amount of things that may have caused the problem. You realize that the pressure cooker is about to begin unless progress is made.
Suddenly you remember the seven step troubleshooting procedure you learned while you were in the Navy as a nuke.
You identify and elaborate on the symptoms, identify the list possible faulty components, and narrow down that list to the one that you suspect is causing your problem and finally create a possible retest procedure after performing a root cause analysis.
Yet, the system is still not working. You relax and try a few more things. As this process occurs you ensure that you are thinking positive thoughts as you have initially been stumped yet were eventually successful. After a few additional adjustments to your list of what may be causing the problem you find your culprit and the system is brought back into operation.
After breathing a sigh of relief that the crisis has been averted and receiving kudos from management you reflect on how you got the job done once more.
In the end you used two things: a process of determining the problem and a true belief that you would figure out the solution. Yes, with that you can fix anything…

The future of Nuclear Power by Tony Green

As an Ex-Navy Nuke I observed first-hand the efficiency of nuclear power. Prior to advent of nuclear power ships and submarines were powered by diesel generators and batteries. The maneuverability of the ship was affected by limited battery power and by having to use the diesel generator while the batteries charged. The nuclear reactor, which provides electricity and propulsion, gave ship the ability to have an unlimited source of power. This enables the time a ship can be at sea to be limited only by the food it had the ability to carry or have access to.
During the early 1970’s the nuclear option was examined for civilian’s plants. Hundreds of nuclear power plants constructed around the country and around the world. The benefits were nuclear energy plants produce electricity through the fission of uranium, not the burning of fuels. This reduced the use of fossil fuels. In addition, the use of nuclear power reduced the amount of harmful emissions to the air.
As a result the general public had no problem with the construction of nuclear power plants. However, public opinion has changed drastically after the accidents at Chernobyl, in the Soviet Union and Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
At Three Mile Island a meltdown almost occurred due a failure of to the plant's main feed-water pumps and other numerous operator errors. At Chernobyl, the workers were performing an experiment with the reactor's safety systems during which the computer-controlled safety systems were disabled which resulted in a large explosion of the reactor spreading radioactivity all across Europe.

In the time since these accidents many people have begun to forget these incidents that together successfully clouded the public view of Nuclear Power. With the absence of other alternative power sources, lowering gas reserves, and the commercialization of green solutions may be years off the public may be ready examine other options as there are overwhelming power needs that will need to be filled. Nuclear Power can be that option. It can be operated safety and efficiently as the United States Navy has shown. Clearly Nuclear Power will emerge as a viable option to solve the power needs of an industrial society. America and the world will not only observe that utilizing Nuclear Power makes too much sense not to but there may not be other viable alternatives.

Photo courtesy of http://www.freefoto.com/

Tea with my failure(By Tony Green)

Recently I had yet another sales interview on my quest to enter technical sales. Why at this point of my career? Quite simply, I am a people person and most sales positions can pay the money I want.
During this quest I have interviewed with some people who told me that I had no previous sales experience. Sales are about overcoming objections and in my estimation, if I could not overcome the interviews objection then I did not deserve to be in sales.
When the interviewer pointed to my lack of sales experience I tried to sell him about some of my pre and post application support and account manager experience. After a good dialog we agreed these were sales related but not exactly sales.
I told him I dabbled in sales and was looking for the opportunity to fully immerse myself. In an attempt to persuade him I told him I was ready to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, he not looking for a dabbler, he was looking for tea, in other words an experienced sales person whom we agreed I was not. In the end, even though, I made a good accounting of myself I was not what this company was looking for. Therefore the question was since I have been identified as dabbling in sales, and the goal was to fully enter the sales profession did I want sugar or lemon with my tea (failure)?
As I thought about it I was temporary glum but I could only be sad for a short time. In true sales fashion toward my quest to get into sales I had get mentally ready for the next interview. Tea anyone?

No thank you (by Tony Green)

Occasionally while I am working the topic of military service comes up. Generally, once you tell someone your served in the military you get the comment “interesting” or “Wow” or ”Where were you stationed?”
But once in a while I get heartfelt “Thank you for your service”. Every time I hear it I am slightly surprised as most people, in my opinion, forget those who sacrifice either their time during times of peace or their lives in times of war for their security.
On any given holiday, there are always some military personnel on patrol somewhere in the world. Of course, on a few holidays it was me.
Although being away from loved ones came with the job being away from loved ones is always difficult on the service members and their families. However, if you know that thanks to your effort that your loved ones will be safe from oppression it makes it easier to live with. Even still, I remembered that it was sometimes difficult to see the appreciation and worth of what you were doing.
Therefore, the acknowledgment that a person is even thoughtful enough to realize the price servicemen and servicewomen pay for their freedom makes a big difference in making me realize why I was out there.
So in that case, my reply for thanking me for my military service is thank you for making feel my service was worthwhile is they are the reminder of what and who my military service was all about.