Robert Littlejohn:
CLASS OF 1966
East Troy High SchoolClass of 1966
East troy, WI
Robert's Story
June 1966... seems so long ago now... some times. Perspective is a word that I been able to engage with a number of times since then. I was not very good at school while I was at East Troy. I expected that I would graduate and then go to work at Trent Tube, or maybe some where in Waukesha. In actuality I started working at Admiral Television in Woodstock IL after graduation. I also took the SATs and applied to UW - Whitewater. I was so very surprised when I was accepted without a probationary period. But working night shift is detrimental to a young mans love interest and she found another guy to hang out with while I was working. Given the option she decided she didn't want to stop seeing the other guy. Hello Air Force!
My second engagement with perspective was my first morning of basic training in San Antonio TX. After getting to bed at nearly midnight we were abruptly... yep, that would be a good word for an idiot flipping on the lights and banging on a trash can lid with a ball bat at 0430 hours (military time for 4:30 AM). This was my initial shot of the new life phase I had just entered. Basic was not terribly hard but definitely life changing. It is important for the individuals will to be broken or worn down so that the corporate or group will can be installed and be dominant. Many people look at this as a bad thing. I see it as a good thing because it causes you to react in an expected manner when situations arise as they do in life and action must be taken quickly. Technical school was next and another brush with perspective was waiting for me. I was still fairly laxidasical in my approach to studying and drew additional mandatory study hours. Until reality of what my errors in recording current weather conditions could mean. Example; an error in the altimeter at your airfield changes the position of the aircraft in the air at a rate of 10 feet per 1/100th of an inch of altimeter. So what does that mean? If the altimeter reading is actually 29.93" and you record it as 29.87" this equals 60feet change in altitude. So the aircraft will be 60 feet above the runway at the normal touchdown point. The error could be made simply by misreading the barometer. If the numbers were reversed it would put the aircraft 60 feet below the runway at the normal touchdown. This realization of the responsibility I would have on me caused me to nearly fail out of the school. Change of perspective!
There have been many other examples of brushes with perspective in my 23 year Air Force career. Many of them driven by the voice of my wife, whether actually said or simple understood in my mind, saying "that is not going to be good enough." This caused me to be able to be promoted, receive the job assignments that would also advance my career. They also persisted through my professional life allowing me to complete my under graduate with honors and just miss honors on my graduate degree and graduate certificate. It also drove me to receive the five commercial certifications I hold many of which are required to be able to work in my area of expertise, Cybersecurity.
Perspective has been a constant in my life. But sometimes it is like the brass ring. It is there until you reach for it and then it takes on a life of its own. Although perspective is something you need to have you also must know that your perspective is exactly that... yours. It has served to guide me in my life and the types of work I have chosen to do. If you try to dictate what your perspective is you will be wrong.
Another thing that has become apparent to me is what I call sayings. Such things as: "You don't know what you don't know." and "If you want it bad you are going to get it bad." In many cases these have come to be only thought provokers. I have enjoyed developing that understanding of them and there really are so many. Some I call Bob-isms such as: "Everybody has to be somewhere." and "Wherever you go, there you are."
So here I am 67 years old and the support contract I have been working on for three years has been awarded to another company. What do I do now? I ask myself, "what are you going to do?" Most companies don't like guys like me because I have all the e...Expand for more
xperience they need but I also am making good money because of it. They all want to go younger and cheaper to increase the profit margins. However in my line of work you can get the credentials with younger/less experience and therefore cheaper is a matter of "perspective" (my old friend). I have been in the position of having to hire people in this geographical area and there is a definite dearth of credentials available in the "midlands" of the country. So it will be interesting to watch the next few weeks, stay tuned. More to follow.
OK, I am back and have some news. The contract has been protested by my company (well founded in my opinion). We have had our current contract amended to take it through the protest period, 31 May 2016. The source of our protest was the fact that we have been doing this work for the past 7 years and have received superior ratings on our contract reviews. During the evaluation process the source selection committee said our past performance was not relevant. So we are continuing on with the work. the other bit of news is that I have been accepted as an adjunct professor at Webster University in the Math and Sciences Department. My courses will be in the Cybersecurity Graduate program. This will be my first work in academia and with my alma mater. I have previously developed and presented senior management level seminars in Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) through Potomac Forum Ltd. in Washington DC for five years. So, I feel I am competent however, I do still get butterflies when doing public speaking.
I have also had another perspective change. Normally when I am looking for, being recruited, during interviews... the whole hiring process, I have always made the decision on what would be best for the family and have also withstood the onslaught of, "You always do whatever you want with no thought to how I may feel about it!" Here is the perspective change. When it became apparent that a new company had won the work and the incumbent employees would be recruited by them, I initially decided and voiced to Carol that I wouldn't be accepting employment with the new company. She of course asked me why. I explained that new companies take over contracts from successful incumbents by cutting expenses and this is accomplished through offering lower salaries or pay cuts to the current employees. She asked me how much difference I thought we would see. To which I answered that I expected it to be a $35-40K cut. She said that I should not rule anything out because even if that were true it wold be better than not making any money. So I have decided and have verbalized to her that we will make the decision together (aka I will do whatever it is she wants done). Believe me when I say that this is a HUGE paradigm shift for me!
I have received my first teaching assignment and it will be in the summer session. I will be teaching computer network security n the Masters program for Cybersecurity. I am really excited to be able to do this. I have felt personally that this is more something that we become than it is merely something we do. As I reach the latter days of my life I realize that I am not as agile both physically and mentally and am encouraged that I can pass some of my experience along to the younger practitioners coming up in this profession. I also hold to the belief that the person who actually gets the most out of a class is the on presenting it. After all they do a tremendous amount of study and preparation in developing the course materials and being able to regurgitate it for the students. And so the study begins...
And so my first teaching assignment has ended with 6 As and 1 B being posted. Some fine work was turned in during the presentation portion of the class showing forward think on the part of the Masters candidates. The reviews came back with sufficiently high enough marks to result in me being offered the same course in another venue for the Fall 1 term. This course will be taught on Scott AFB which will cause me to only have a five minute commute from my work site instead of the 35 minutes to the downtown campus in St. Louis.
More to come in this on-going saga...
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