DoDLive | Department of Defense Blog

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable: Improving the Defense Industrial Base

Filed under Bloggers Roundtable by glenn.selby on May 11, 2012 at 1:45 pm {no comments}

Mr. Eric Rosenbach, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy

On May 14, we held a DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable with Mr. Eric Rosenbach, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy and Mr. Richard Hale, Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity.

They discussed the Pentagon’s recent initiatives to improve Defense Industrial Base (DIB) network defenses and allow DIB companies and the Government to reduce damage to critical programs when defense information is compromised. The United States continues to face a significant risk that critical defense information residing on DIB networks and systems can be compromised by malicious cyber actors resulting in potential economic losses or damage to United States national security.

For information on the most recent announcement, please visit: http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=15266

Joining us on the call were Chuck Simmins of America’s North Shore Journal, Michele Cowell of Military Matters, Sandra Erwin of National Defense Magazine, Phyllis Zimbler Miller of Mrs Lieutenant blog, Gail Harris of Foreign Policy blog, Jared Serbu of Federal News Radio, Zach Biggs of Defense News, Sharon Weinberger of Wired.com and Jim Wolf of Reuters.

Listen to the roundtable audio here.

Read the transcript.

DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable: Highlighting the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP)

Filed under Bloggers Roundtable by glenn.selby on May 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm {no comments}

Robert L. Gordon III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy)

Robert L. Gordon III, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy), recently participated in a DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable.

Mr. Gordon highlighted the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), a targeted recruitment and employment partnership that connects American businesses with military spouses who possess essential 21st century workforce skills and attributes, and are seeking portable, fulfilling careers. MSEP provides partners with an exciting, ongoing opportunity to network with the Department of Defense and other American businesses to better understand and respond to the employment needs of military spouses.

More than 30 new partners will be inducted at an MSEP Induction Ceremony at the Pentagon on May 17, 2012.

Since June 29, 2011, over 394,977 jobs have been posted by MSEP partners on the MSEP jobs career portal and 20,529 military spouses hired by MSEP partners.

Listen to the roundtable.

Read the transcript.

Joining us on the roundtable were Chuck Simmins, of America’s North Shore Journal; Dale Kissinger, of Military Avenue; Amy Bushatz, of SpouseBuzz; Thom Goering, of Navy Cyberspace; Karen Francis, of Liberal Army Wife; Molly Blake, of Blue Star Families; Wendy Poling, of My Military Life; and Kelly Hruska of Military Family.

Career Opportunities for the Mobile Military Spouse

Filed under DoD News, Family Focus Friday by nmcfarland on May 11, 2012 at 8:42 am {no comments}

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day! To celebrate our military spouses we’re focusing on helping them along in their careers. Have you heard about the Military Spouse Employment Partnership career portal? It was designed to help military spouses, faced with frequent moves, find meaningful employment, network and even strengthen their skills. Check out the MSEP career portal online for more info.

Family Focus Friday: Generations Of Service In The Sky

Filed under DoD News, Family Focus Friday by jtozer on May 11, 2012 at 7:36 am {no comments}

Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Skvarna, an instructor loadmaster, holds his father's and grandfather's aircrew wings as well as his grandfather's World War II aircrew diary. Skvarna is a third-generation aircrew member and carries these items with him on every mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nicole Mickle)

A member of the Skvarna family has served in the skies to defend the United States since World War II.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew Skvarna, an instructor loadmaster with the 17th Airlift Squadron, 437th Airlift Wing, said pinning on his aircrew wings, lacing up his combat boots and boarding a military aircraft is a family legacy.

The story begins in 1942, with a 17-year-old Czechoslovakian-born teenager, Edward M. Skvarna, Matthew’s grandfather. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Edward M. enlisted in the Army Air Corps, hoping to become a pilot.

“My father joined the military for two reasons,” said Edward B. Skvarna, Matthew’s father. “He wanted to see the world, and he didn’t want to be stuck working in the steel mills of Pittsburgh his whole life. For him, being an aircrew member during World War II was everything he dreamed it would be. He loved the dangerous aspects of flight missions and the adventurous skies of combat.”

During the Pacific campaign, Skvarna and his aircrew soared through the darkness of enemy-infested skies and gathered photo intelligence in a B-29 Superfortress, one of the heaviest long-range bomber aircraft flown during the war.

On one mission, the eldest Skvarna was preparing for battle as a right gunner on the B-29. He was colorblind, and even though that disqualified him from becoming a pilot, he did qualify for other jobs to the advantage of the Allied forces.

“Being colorblind didn’t slow my grandpa down,” Matthew said. “It was during that flight over the Japanese harbor when he proved that.”

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Going Green: Afghan Agriculture

Filed under DoD News, Go Green! by jtozer on May 11, 2012 at 7:35 am {no comments}

Penny Coulon, a south district contracting officer representative, checks for wilting leaves on a recently sown patch of lettuce. She combined hydroponic gardening and aquaculture - raising of aquatic animals - to create the south district’s first-ever aquaponics garden. (Photo by Dave Melancon)

It is not the biggest farm in Afghanistan, but it is one of the newest and perhaps, one of the more experimental.

Tucked away next to a shaded break area and concrete bunker on the east side of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District -South compound on Kandahar Airfield, half of a 300-gallon plastic water tank sits on a shipping pallet.

Mounted on another pallet, about a foot above the tank is the other half filled with golf ball-sized gravel. The lower tank is about 80 percent filled with water; and a system of recycled garden hoses and household plumbing keeps the water flowing from the lower tank onto the rocks in the upper.

Sticking through the stones are plants – lettuce, peppers, broccoli and rebar-staked tomato plants. A couple dozen tadpoles graze on the algae growing in the lower tank’s sides and bottom.

Penny Coulon, a district contracting officer representative, combined hydroponics and aquaculture to create the south district’s first-ever aquaponics garden.

Coulon, who deployed to Afghanistan from the USACE Sacramento district, said she stumbled upon the idea for an aquaponics garden in Afghanistan while researching different gardening systems for her home garden. Aquaponics seemed ideal because of its simplicity, chemical-free fertilization, fewer weeds and insects and no bending requirement.

“I figured I could kill two birds with one stone,” she said. “I can have the fish and I could have vegetables as well. Then, I thought, this could work here.”
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