Am I a product of my environment?

That's a question that requires a little more than a simple yes or no.  So, in this post I'm going to share my take on this timeless question. 
    Personally, I feel that everyone is influenced by there surroundings. The experiences you've had are what mold your perception of the world.  I don't want to get all psychological on you but take a second and think about it.  This is the reason why democrats and republicans will never see eye to eye.  Neither are wrong on there views, there just seeing them from different places.
   I once heard my favorite motivational speaker Jim Rohn say, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Think about who those five people are for you.  Are they successful?  Are they happy?  Are they where they want to be in life?  The good thing about life is that we have a choice.  Everyday is a chance to start fresh.  If you don't like the environment your in, change it.  If you can't physically change your environment you have to change your mindset until you can.
"Live everyday as if you're where you want to be, then when you get there you'll be experienced" -Jot Lyfe  

Life in Afghanistan.

Think you have it bad?

   Imagine looking out of your window and seeing a blimp hovering about 80 feet in the air all day every day equipped with military grade cameras with very high resolution, night vision capabilities, a laser that can aquire your distance with a click of a button and even fire missiles at you if you are caught committing a serious enough crime.

  What if all you ever had to look forward to was growing up to work someone elses fields and all you received out of the deal was a hut to live in and a few animals to live off of.

  No shoes, tattered clothing, no television, no smart phone, no formal education system, no sanitation system, no internet, no healthcare and a highly unreliable government.  

Let me make it clear that there are big cities over there that have many of the luxuries that we have here in America, but Afghanistan is mostly made up of small villages under these very conditions.

  When I left for afghanistan I had no idea what awaited me.  I had that mindset that everyone living in that country were terrorist or at least supported terrorism in the U.S.-boy was I wrong.
There are families that work fields owned by the Taliban but they are forced to.  Their lives are on the line.   The lives of there children.   Taliban come by at night and collect the crop.  Our military has spent years training their police force and national army on tactics and weapons handling but just as any where else there are corrupt cops who don't uphold the law and extort these people even further.   They are constantly living in fear.
  As a medic,  I'll never forget the day we were patrolling through a village and met with the village elder in hopes to receive information on who was doing what and when.  He was the oldest and the village was named after him.  We went in and had chai (hot tea) and began our meeting.  The tea isn't bad,  the only problem was we were drinking hot tea in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the summer.

 Anyway, as sort of a peace offering I would initiate a little medical clinic.  There were always lots of complaints of headaches, back pain, leg pain.  Its funny because I would treat everything with Motrin.  Then the interpreter ask if I had anything for the elder.  I said "Of course, what's wrong?" He told me that he couldn't feel his legs and asked if I would be able to give him some pills to bring the feeling back.  I ask how long has this been like this and he told me for about a year.   After doing a quick assessment which was pretty much just touching and squeezing different places to see if he could feel them. ...Nothing.  He had been paralyzed for the last year and spent 90% of his day, everyday,  sitting in that very spot.

After explaining to him what his condition was and that there was nothing I could do for him he told me well thank you any way and asked for something for his headache.  I felt so bad I gave him a whole container of Motrin.

     I'll never forget that day or that village.  So when you feel like complaining about something minor or you think you have it bad, remember that there are people with it much worse.

100%percent true story.  Signing off.

-Jot Lyfe

I don't care what others think of me...

Maybe you should a little.  I'm not saying you should let the opinions of others dictate how you live your life but no one has ever become successful alone. 
I was once told by a mentor to model yourself like someone in a position or job you want and dress for the job you want not the one your in.
Great advice!  But its not always that easy.  Having a Type A personality, its not always easy to take advice like that.  "I don't want to imitate someone else."  That's the first mistake.  Don't see it that way.  Just pay close attention to how they handle things, observe the way they carry themselves.  Keep in mind though, they are human and no one is perfect.
   In the military i've spent a lot of time with a marine unit.  As a clinic supervisor I was expected to be the "bulldog".  I was expected to yell and scream.  That wasn't me.  I never fell into that role.  There were even superiors who thought i wasn't a fit in that position because I "lacked" those qualities.
The truth is, I didn't lack anything.  I have vocal chords.  I know profanity.  I could have easily been that person but it wasn't me.
I don't respond well to that sort of behavior so why inflict that upon someone else.  People worked for me because they respected me not because they were afraid of me.
I even had a fellow supervisor say "I'm not here to make friends."  I just laughed because everyone hated working with/for him any way so it was funny to me.
The truth is, you don't have to be in it for friends but if subordinates don't respect you they won't work for you at least not to their full potential.

-Jot Lyfe

Times are changing....fast

Sometimes I sit back and think...

     When I was a kid I remember going out into town with my mom to pay bills.  Online bill pay didnt exist. I don't know if that's true, I'm sure it existed but one thing for certain was my mom wasnt tech saavy enough to even consider the thought.  She had a check book with every single transaction scribbled on the back in a way that only she could read it but one thing for sure...she never missed a payment.
     I remember when 3 way calling was the shit.  If you had a Cordless phone you were living the good life. If you didnt have one it was cool too because you had about 20 foot of stretchy cord wrapped around your arm so you could go anywhere in the house. 
     Remember dial-up?  The dreaded sound of your computer getting an internet connection and then all of a sudden you'd hear "You've got mail" because pretty much everyone had AOL.
     Kids got spankings....growing up in my house we didn't get spankings.  We got beatings.  Spankings didn't hurt.Spankings were done with a hand or a paddle.  Beatings left it up to your parents imaginations.  My mom would grab whatever she could get her hands on....in the military that's called a weapon of opportunity.  Nowadays parents are losing there children for disciplining them in such fashion.
     I remember older people saying things like..."back in my day" or "you kids have no idea."  I hate to say it but we really didn't and kids these days really don't.

-Jot Lyfe

To join or not to join?

TO JOIN OR NOT TO JOIN???
 
   Everyone has their own personal reasons for wanting to join the military.  A few of the big ones are travel, education, meet new people, life experiences or to continue to legacy of family members.  All of which are very good reasons.  As a member currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Navy, I must let you know that my experiences are based on my "Naval service"  so keep in mind that although we fight the same fight, different branches of services go about it in their own way. 

Tip #1
Have your goals in mind-short and long term.

  Its okay to have some uncertainty.  Lets face it, for many of us that's why were joining any how.  What I mean is have and end in mind.  If one tour (4-5years) is all you want to do, prepare for that because time flys.  If you want to retire from the military it is still important to plan.  Making rank in the Navy isn't the hardest thing in the world but it isn't going to be a cake walk either. 
   Whatever job you choose (rating) you will be expected to continually seek education and become a subject matter expert.  Advancement is achieved by taking a semi-annual exam which will be scored against your peers and your annual performance evaluations which encompass a slew of things; professional knowledge, quality of work, personal job accomplishment/initiative, leadership,command involvement, community involvement, military bearing/appearance and teamwork.  I told you it wasn't a cake walk!  All of these individual traits receive a score and are averaged out to make up your performance mark average (PMA). 
Tip #2
Don't believe everything you hear.

  I'm not writing this to bash on recruiters but lets face it some of them are a little less than honest.  I was lucky because my recruiter gave it to me straight from the begining.  It helped that he was from my hometown and I had gone to school with his cousin but I've heard horror stories of recruiters making promises that were not fullfilled.  You'll be fine if you just remember that they have numbers to make and to some people, withholding information is not lying

Tip #3
Become your own attorney.

Relax...not literally.  What I mean is do your own research.  Don't expect someone else to have all of the answers for you.  This goes hand in hand with Tip #2.  The great thing about the military is that all rules and regulations "instructions" are readily available.   Be the person who actually references these.

Tip #4
Every place is worst than your last.

Not really...Its one of those grass is greener situations.  You'll be sooo ready to leave a place until you arrive at your next place of duty and begin to miss your last duty station.  That's just the nature of the beast!

and last but not least........

Tip #5
Make the best of your situation.

  My first duty station was Portsmouth, Va.  I was furious when I found out because I had buddies going to cool places like Hawaii, Italy and Spain.  Well after my first year there I met a young lady, now we are happily married with a beautiful son.  So you never know!
I hope I've been of some assistance.  These tips will hopefully prepare you for a successfull and exciting career.

I realize that there are many things that I haven't covered in this blog because this blog would begin to look more like a book.  What I'm trying to say is that the U.S. military policies are constantly being revised.  I'll try to add additional tid bits as I see fit or upon request.
   This morning I was looking over my original contract agreement and something new surfaced.  I was promised
  

-Jot Lyfe