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Nov
01

Military to Civilian Transition Timeline for Veterans

November 1, 2012 By

November 1, 2012 By

Summary points in this post as part of Military Success Network’s Moving from the Military to the Marketplace series:

One (1) year in advance of separation from military – build networks, use social media, and review your resume and transferrable skills
Six (6) months out – begin direct and specific contact with growing network, practice interview skills
Three (3) months out – ship out resumes and cover letters, freshen contacts in real and on social media
Exit – welcome to your new work life, or retool to fill networking and skills gaps

Opportunity, it is said, is luck meeting preparedness.

Switch the order of those 3 ingredients in the formula and you still get the same thing: success. [Read more…]

Oct
09

Healing our heroes at the Valhalla Project part 1

October 9, 2012 By

October 9, 2012 By

Gordon Cucullu is co founder of the Valhalla Project

MilSuccessNet Guest Contributor
Gordon Cucullu

Transition takes on a new face and unexpected pace with the Valhalla Project. Guest contributor Lt. Col. (Ret.) Cucullu writes about the concept first voiced by his wife, Chris Fontana. The co-founders created this project to help  active duty service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve forces as well as some specially selected civilian war zone workers in healthy transitions. 

Participants are active in nature, community projects to maintain the unique setting and pick up skills while enjoying a respite from the individual challenges of their lives.

Genesis of the Valhalla Project

In summer of 2010, my wife and I were homeless. Not in the sense of
sleeping under the overpass in a Kenmore large appliance box, but we really didn’t have a home per se any longer. [Read more…]

Oct
04

Sputnik 1 arrives first in space 55 years ago

October 4, 2012 By

October 4, 2012 By

Sputnik 1 remembered On Military Success Network

Sputnik 1 Photo via http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov

It was 55 years ago today, October 4, 1957, that the last frontier for humanity was breached. Sputnik 1, the first man-made object in space, was launched in a surprise move by the Soviet Union, much to the shock of America, held at that time to be more advanced in the space race.

Five days earlier, the Soviet Union experienced a radiation contamination accident (from a nuclear fuel plant) known as Kyshtym disaster. The Russians had to evacuate thousands of people, but they kept the reason for that action a secret for 20 years.

Sputnik on the other hand was truly a remarkable achievement. Although the USA launched its own satellite, Explorer 1, less than 4 months later, the cherished first spot was lost forever.
[Read more…]

Oct
01

Home from the Iraq Odyssey part 3 of 3

October 1, 2012 By

October 1, 2012 By

Transition is the thread that binds the last portion of Phil Nerges’s Iraq odyssey to his book, Iraq Journal–Sketches from the Contracting Life. He had made it out alive to recreate his life back home. Nerges saw no literature about the contractors and their families to aid in his own transition after his final return stateside. Within 3 years he had compiled a book to reflect their stories.

In the fall of 2011, Helena Kaufman interviewed Phil Nerges about his mission to share the life of contractors working alongside the military in Iraq. The first posts were published just before we heard President Obama’s announcement of the end of war in Iraq.

The book is based on emails home, in fast and frightening times. Nerges used his love of language and photographer’s eye to capture sights, sounds and memories made while he sorted his life and then began the transition home.

“More than military men and women are coming back,” says Nerges. Transition is the upcoming experience for tens of thousands of military personnel returning from America’s longest wars. [Read more…]

Sep
26

Where in the world is Lt. Col.(Ret)Gordon Cucullu?

September 26, 2012 By

September 26, 2012 By

In this post we interweave the topics of:
  • Valhalla Project
  • Gordon Cucullu’s special day, book and project
  •  Military Police regiment’s 71st celebration

At last contact, he is doing a world of good, along with his writing and life partner, Chris Fontana at Valhalla, in Yellville, Arkansas.

Photo of Gordon Cucullu author of Warrior Police

Gordon Cucullu, Image credit bookperk.com

Retired Army Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu was in the Special Forces and saw combat in Vietnam and El Salvador. Now this Green Beret is seeing action as an author, columnist, and speaker, much of it in support of the Valhalla Project.

He’ll be reporting in soon with an official update to Military Success Network on what’s happening at Valhalla. It’s designed as a working and recreational retreat for post-9/11 combat soldiers and war zone civilian workers. Transition from military to civilian life is uniquely supportive at Valhalla. [Read more…]

Sep
23

Working at ground level with the military in Iraq

September 23, 2012 By

September 23, 2012 By

Phil Nerges, contractor with the U.S. Army, imaginatively captured the alien landscape of Iraq and kept notes of its impact. Since his return he has published Iraq Journal – Sketches from the Contracting Life. Now in its second and expanded edition with 8 additional chapters and numerous blog posts, the effects and memories of his original experience evolve along with him.

Today, we revisit those first experiences working alongside America’s troops, on the ground and in Iraq.  This series of 3 articles appears with profiles of military members interviewed by Helena Kaufman on her site and first appeared on Lanterloon.com in November 2011. [Read more…]

Sep
14

Phil Nerges writes about contractors’ lives in Iraq

September 14, 2012 By

September 14, 2012 By

The trio of posts presented by MilSuccessNet about Phil Nerges are based on an exclusive interview with Helena Kaufman and first appeared in Lanterloon, a site with “writing about the 1% that serves in the military,” in October 2011.

Photo of Phil Nerges

Phil Nerges (photo credit Dustsong.com

Originally entitled, Guess Who’s Coming Home From the War?  this is the  first in the posts about Nerges who writes about the life and work of contractors embedded with the military. A new and expanded version of his book Iraq Journal—Sketches from the Contracting Life, is set to launch next week on Amazon. It features eight new chapters plus updates from the version he published earlier this year. 

Now, to the “back story” on this talented man: [Read more…]

Sep
11

Remembering 9/11 and counting on each other

September 11, 2012 By

September 11, 2012 By

Today is 11 years since the dates 9/11 became forever a part of our collective memories, world-wide, and we remember.

Innocents who had not officially enlisted that day to be warriors lost lives and affected countless others lives in our communities. We also remember those who rushed in selflessly to help, to try to save lives.

Military Success Network respectfully remembers.

Simulation in training of journalists covering conflict zones

We’re also remembering those who answer the call of duty to capture history, journalists who help us make sense of the world around us. If the life saving skills of any one of the  brave police, fireman or other heroes who rushed to help in 9/11 were present in peers at a conflict zone, it is likely that some might not succumb to  wounds and die.

[Read more…]

Sep
10

From Navy service to civilian life..part 1

September 10, 2012 By

September 10, 2012 By

Leon Scott served in the Navy and is now a transition coach

Leon Scott’s journey from navy “polliwog’ to professional career coach was not known to me when I first heard him clearly boom his message across a crowded room. Then I saw him.

He stood out, even in a room of weekly business breakfast networkers. We were all gathered to share the allotted 20 second introductions to our service or product and request for appropriate referrals from others in the room. [Read more…]

Sep
03

A Republic State of Mind in San Marino

September 3, 2012 By

September 3, 2012 By

Coat_of_arms_of_San_Marino

San Marino Coat of Arms with the single word motto: Freedom

As proud as we are of our ‘republican’ constitution in the United States of America, there is a nation out there that has been a republic well before us and has an older constitution. Abraham Lincoln was its honorary citizen. It might be hard to find it on the map even if you know where to look. But it is there. And it’s been there for the last 17 centuries. [Read more…]

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