How many times have we done something “Just for a class”?  Well, that was how my blog started, but I’m having fun with it now!  The feedback from not only my classmates, but from friends who saw the link in my emails opened my eyes to how many people want to see who “the TIger” really is.  I plan to continue the blog for a bit, adding content to it that explains me.

Thus, the purpose behind me starting the blog was to get a grade in class, but the purpose has shifted into a means of sharing.  And sharing blindly, it is- As I can’t see who’s looking like I can on Facebook, and even if they leave a comment, they often are anonymous since I don’t know people’s google logins.  I hadn’t had much time to post the last few weeks, but my previous blog was full, and I just restored my news blog (Http://www.bmtgrad.info/HOMETOWNNEWS/) , so now I can concentrate more on this.

I used the rolling hills photo as the backdrop of my blog because I wanted to add that sense of sky, like the vast sky a pilot experiences as they slip the surly bonds of earth to dance on the skies with their “Plane in the Air”- part of my blog’s name.  The second half of the name- “Bombs on Target”- isn’t represented here.  It’s the dirty side of the job that frankly just comes with it, isn’t a planned part of it.  Planes in the Air, Bombs on Target.  That’s what it is about, and the Burgandy was close to red, the White backdrop and the Blue from the skies (and the pretty girls’ eyes) makes a great addition to a somewhat military-themed blog.

The content, although slim at this point will come from me.  Not just because I type it, but because I rarely give anyone a glimpse inside of the Tiger.  Having been a Military Training Instructor, everyone thinks I’m this gruff, agitated individual who has no heart.  Inside of the Tiger is a fun individual, who likes to take off that gruff exterior and share occasionally.  The content of the blog will become something of an insider’s view.  Not everyone knows about the site, though I did provide a link for 2 weeks in the signature of my emails- so several close friends have had the opportunity to see.  Some of them emailed comments, others posted them, but in the end, I found that people were interested in what the TIger was about.

Of course, with the class coming to an end, and since it’s a capstone course, many of my ‘school’ visitors will move on, and I’ll be left with this social experiment to share with “TIger” fans, the people who know me- Fellow Military Training Instructors, former trainees (who get a kick out of learning that I’m human), and close friends.  Even my sister found the site one night, and remarked she never knew about my dedication to PITA-BOT.  

In all, PITA-BOT is a place for me to share.  It highlights why I serve, and has the opportunity to answer questions people were afraid to ask, since I was so mean to 1,057 of the Air Force’s finest Airmen.  This will also be a place to share a little more with those who serve and always asked “Is he REALLY like that all the time?”  Nope- I just believe we are all about Planes In The Air and Bombs On Target.

TIger Cubs

"TIger Cubs" is the nickname given to those whom I've trained over the years.  Since I'm "the TIger", why not have TIger Cubs?  Okay, Corny.
However, I would be remiss in not recognizing those young men and women I've trained.  They have a unique advantage over me, which I'll explain.
I joined the military during peactime.  As a matter of fact, it had been 15 years since we fired more than a few shots in anger at another country.  I joined a safe-haven. Needless to say, it hasn't been that way since that time.  We've fired more shots from our planes since I joined than we fired on the ground during WWII! 
TIger Cubs all joined during times of war.  I stood up during peacetime and said "YEA, I'll FIGHT FOR THE USA!" but that means nothing when you compare it to the 1,057 young men and women who stood up in the middle of a war and said "ME, TOO!".  Sure, there are many more than just TIger Cubs, and they deserve to be recognized, too.  But they didn't have to survive the TIger.  :-D
I always used to say "I live my life off of page 7 of the Air Force Times."  I did.  That used to be the page that they listed the previous week's combat losses.  And I did- I went home every Tuesday night and looked on the list, Praying that I didn't see a name I recognized.  They move the list around now, but to this date, I've never seen a TIger Cub listed.  And for that I give thanks daily.
I have learned of a few injured in "the zone" but they are all tough.  I know- I made them that way, I like to think.
Of course, it doesn't mean I haven't lost any of them.  God is watching over 2 TIger Cubs.  One who was victim of a horrible homicide, and one who fell to the evils of suicide.  God Rest to Airmen Santos and Anthe.  Gentlemen-Airmen, May you rest in peace.

Who is the TIger?

TIger comes from my "go-by" name, Tony.

Back in 2003, when I was selected as a Military Training Instructor for the Air Force, My boss referred to me when speaking to others as "Tony the TI", so it evolved into the GRRRRREEEEAAATT name of "Tony the Tiger" and eventually, just TIger (TI capitalized for Training Instructor).  Pretty boring story, not full of excitement like you expected.

However, I do have a good nickname story for you.

I worked with one instructor who took on the fact that I was fast in completing tasks and called me "FLYING VEE", like the motorcycle.  His boss was a very blunt-speaking, intimidating individual.  One day in the hallway, I acknowledged this instructor with his nickname, and he replied "Hey, Flying Vee, how's it going?"  and his boss was standing there and asked "Why do you call him the Flying Vee?"  the other instructor explained that prior to my present assignment, I was on leave of absence as a circus performer for the Air Force.  He said I was a trapeze artist.  NOW, I thought the boss realized he was joking.

The next day, in the cafeteria, I heard the boss' loud voice calling for me:  "VINING!  Get over here!" and I promptly went to speak to him.  (remember, I am almost scared of this individual, anyhow.....)

"Sgt Vining, I was just telling the commander about your being a trapeze artist for the Air Force, and he was wondering if you knew his brother, who......"  I didn't hear anything else but Blah, blah, blah.....

So there, I was, explaining that THE OTHER INSTRUCTOR was only joking, and watching this supervisor sink in his chair looking like an idiot, having just lied to the Commander.

Yes, better than the TIger story, but I don't use the Handle "FLYING VEE" for obvious reasons.

How to Build a Good Blog

How to Build a Good Blog

“Using the knowledge gained from your research and review of other professional Blogs, create your own Blog using the instructions provided by Google in the Blogspot Website. ”  I read these words and wondered what I was going to write about.  A friend offered a suggestion- “Just do the bare minimum, get a grade.”

I can’t do that.  I’m a perfectionist.  If I can’t be the best at it, I don’t like to do it.  So, doing the bare minimum wasn’t going to work.  I began my research on how to build a blog that will attract attention.  I want to be on the Honor Roll, not the Wall of Shame.

I found that the most common advice was “be yourself!”  Don’t try to be a fake, write what you know about and write well.  This really makes sense. Ensuring that you have a well-flowing document will keep the reader engaged on your blog, the same as if you were writing a paper for school.  It also brings to the front the need to keep traffic flowing.  The more traffic you engage by your writings, the higher your rankings will be in the search engines!

From Ihelpyoublog.com (2007), came the gem: “Do an interview with key people in your niche.”  What another great idea.  If your blog is about working in the military, why not have a question and answer with the Recruiting Supervisor in your area?  It will not only help your blog become more rich with real content, it will also offer more traffic, as that person will also refer to your blog if it is well-written and highlights their points.

Ensuring it is really your point that is being broadcast is also important.  You are the subject matter expert in your writing, and it is best that you offer your knowledge and not just make up a stance because someone wants you to.   Tap into the knowledge you have, and also tap into the resources at your disposal to provide the facts, and provide them from your stance.  This also will ensure your traffic is able to understand the level of your writings and you will make the people of your level and abilities the most to visit your blog.  I like to relate this to the old adage: “It’s better to dazzle them with brilliance than baffle them with B.S.”

In order to ensure people know you aren’t just a strong-headed single-thinker, it is important to offer many points of view, and reassure the visitor that you have thought out the points you are making, you have done your research and completed all the steps you need to be making the point.  Make sure that within your post, you prove that you have thought from inside and outside the box. 

Another great point commonly found in my research was to ensure you are solving the problem.  Don’t just layout an issue, layout an issue that you also offer the solution for.  It’s easy to complain about politicians, but how would you handle the situation.  In addition, this will help to maintain your audience, as they can think more critically about your topic, since you propose an answer.  One site I ran across had many posts about the bad decisions made by our Mayor.  Okay, but since it didn’t offer an alternate solution, how do we know what the Mayor should have said or done in that situation?

Another great piece of advice I found was “Make a post turning a negative into a positive through humor” (ihelpyoublog.com, 2007) I am a person who looks at humor as a good thing.  I often turn bad situations into a funny joke.  Blogging in that style could also help keep a traffic flow in your site, by entertaining your visitors. Also taking a serious stance yet offering a funny photo or graphic (minding copyright) also makes a good blog better.

Finally, try something fun occasionally.  I thought about “Theme week” where the title of my blog made the title of my favorite song (ie; Monday “Cat’s got my Tongue”, Tuesday “In light of the past”, Wednesday “The life and times of a Tiger”, and “Craddle and Cantelope- raising a melon child”), all about something interesting in my life, and bringing out “Cat’s in the Cradle” a song about how I grew up- that was my dad, and that’s me in there.

Whatever you choose for your blog, target your audience, write your style, and keep it real.  Make it fun or funny- your choice, but make it so people WANT to visit.

References

101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle  retrieved March 6, 2011 from http://www.ihelpyoublog.com/20070316-101-great-posting-ideas-that-will-make-your-blog-sizzle

Handing Difficult Employees

Handling a Difficult Employee

This situation must be handled with care.  You have a lot to consider when dealing with a hostile work environment, not the least of which is how a member will react when confronted.  You must arm yourself with the guidelines of your company, and expect that person to become irate when confronted, the same as they have done to cause this counseling.

I would begin by allowing my supervisor to know about the complaints, allow him/her to review the information gathered from other employees, and ensure that management has buy-in to my reasons for counseling.  This is important to ensure that the employee has less action for recourse if they choose to do so. 

Secondly, documentation would be important.  First, you should make note of actual situations you have witnessed, and ensure that you counsel the member on the spot for those infractions, though privately.  This ensures you have actual first-hand accounts you will be able to present if needed or if questioned by the employee in formal counseling.

The process of confronting the employee should be done in private.  It would be best to create a comfortable atmosphere, and it is important that it be done in private, such as an office or a closed public area like a break room.  This would allow for the member to vent their feelings and their side of the story without others in the immediate area overhearing, and could give you some insight as to the behavior.

In many cases, being frank and to the point is often the best way to handle a counseling session.   However, with difficult employees, this can be more confrontational.  You should approach them by stating why you are meeting with them, but find more reasoning behind their behavior.  This gives them an ‘out’ and will allow the counseling to move along at their pace, so that putting the employee into a defensive mode is avoided.

After the employee is led through the conversation on why they have exhibited that behavior, it is time to lead them into a mutual acknowledgement that the behavior is unacceptable.  In almost every occasion, you can use the documentation from above, along with the information you have gathered over time to have the employee agree that they were wrong, and that the behavior they have exhibited is not appropriate for the work environment.  This is the time to remind them of your on-the-spot corrections of the exhibitions.

Finally, decide the path of recourse with the employee.  Inform them of future steps, and allow the member to help develop the plan with you.  Value their input, and they will see that you have a vested interest in maintaining their employment, and will be more willing to correct their behavior.  You must be fair with them, and treat them the same as you do every employee in the same situation.  However, establishing that this documented counseling is a step towards their dismissal and making clear goals for them to follow in future instances.  Make it very clear, however, that future complaints will lead to a written counseling, and eventually termination. 

Predocumentation is important in these cases.  Ensuring that all employees know the level of service and camaraderie that is expected of them through solid company policy will be important to avoid wrongful termination claims, or claims of emotional distress against you as a manager.

I got the beat.....

“I got the beat, I got the beat, I got the beat, beat, beat.”  That’s what people would sing as they walked down the road with their radios on their shoulders.  Only taking 8-12 “D” sized batteries, the old Boom Boxes are now considered large, even for a home stereo.

We have evolved from those days, into the Walkman, the discman, portable cassette players and now the .mp3 players.

Earphones and headphones can be found all over the place now.  And the nearly 12 pound boom box of yesterday now fits in your pocket.  With music itself having evolved to digital, four-channel sound stored on optical discs, digital memory became the source of music, and that digital memory has gotten smaller and smaller.

As the discman was pushed to the side, the iPod came into play, and now you can find an iPod the size of your palm that delivers video content and hooks up to the internet as well as and iPod that fits in the little change pocket of your jeans and delivers the same high-quality sound as it’s much bigger, boom box cousin.

Even better than the older boxes, we can fill our tiny digital music players off of the internet for a few cents a song.  Yes, times have changed, and our portable music has grown with the times, never failing to disappoint.

Internet as a media boon

The Internet itself is a media technology that has been more recent in it’s comings.  Started just to deliver text information, we can now download songs, albums or even entire movies in minutes at home, and I can use my iPad portable computer to set my video recorder at home!

In the beginning, the internet was designed to allow researchers at various universities to share their findings.  Once that network was established, some of those researchers realized that this new medium could be used to deliver the same text research to people in their homes.

As time progressed, content evolved to delivery of photos, videos and even interactive items.  It was a slow progression to watch for those of us who worked the internet every day, but very fast as the technology front goes.  It was 20 years to go from black and white televisions to color, but only 10 years to go from text to full motion video content on the internet.

Not only the net itself on our desktop, but the internet has helped to advance the technology of television with internet-ready TV’s, GOOGLE TV, Apple TV and other internet content.  We deliver music to our portable devices through the internet, Movies and shows are delivered to the television. 

I am sure it won’t stop at where we are.  We have gone from large computers with heavy tubes to handheld devices receiving the content, and it’s sure to grow from there.

Radio and portable music

Radio, another media technology, gave rise to television.  But it hasn’t died and gone to the wayside on it’s own.  Radio, too has been a part of the technology boom.  Once standing nearly waist high and weighing more than most people should lift alone, the radio is now found in every new U.S. Automobile and also has been found to deliver digital, online content from over the air or satellite; and even gone from also playing 8 track tapes measuring 5x6x1 to compact disks as thin as a quarter and the diameter of a saucer.

Far from the days of the AM radio coming as an option, today’s car stereo offers quadraphonic sound (four speakers, different content) and even preset equalizer settings that ensure we have the optimum sound experience. 

As with television, radio content delivery has changed.  Not only do we have the standard AM/FM delivery, we now have added satellite content and CD/DVD music to the radios of yesterday.  With over 300 stations available via satellite, you can choose any genre of music, or even strictly talk show radio. 

Now, we even have the additional Video content in our cars.  Though unlawful in most states for the driver, many cars now come equipped so that passengers can enjoy movies (or more likely cartoons) while riding. 

The common portable music players can even be interfaced with many newer car radios and in-home stereos, meaning that we can get out of our car and enjoy the same music and videos we have in one location with us all the time.

Television

Television is one of the most evolving media technologies out there.  Todays television far exceeds the capabilities and the imagination of it’s inventor, Philo T Farnsworth.  Once used as a video-radio, the television has evolved from black and white pictures of people standing in front of a microphone, to three dimensional, High Definition digital content delivered over the air, via satellite, and even from the internet to your TV.  Using a line from an older TV ad, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

One of the first advances that came about was the transition from black and white to color television.  According to Rosenberg (2010), it was   June 25, 1951 when CBS first aired a color television program.  It took some time before homes were infused with color TV’s, but it wasn’t the last of advancement in TV.

            As time moved on, Black screens, and later the advent of plasma screens changed television.  That didn’t even stop the inclusion of new technology.  LCD, LED, 3 Dimensional Television later joined the roundup. 

            We have not only improved the picture associated with television, but also the sound.  Whether speaking of the early, 2 channel sound we gained with stereo TV in the 70’s or even Dolby surround sound of today’s models, the experience of television hasn’t only increased our Audio and Video experience, either.

            Content delivery has also evolved.  Cable Television has met a match with satellite delivery, and even high-definition, 3 dimensional television experience of to-the-home Fiber-Optic television.

Color TV First Introduced, About.Com (2010).  Retrieved February 21, 2011 from    http://history1900s.about.com/b/2010/11/10/color-tv-first-introduced.htm

What's PITA-BOT?

PITABOT is an acronym I came up with many years ago in the Air Force.  It means "Planes In The Air, Bombs On Target."

It's what the Air Force is about.  The Air Force is comprised of people and equipment, and together they make PITABOT happen.

Being a simple communications geek for 15 years in the Air Force it was easy to consider myself expendable.  After all, I pulled wires and put them in, occasionally took a card out of a piece of Comm equipment and replaced or repaired it; and spent many hours trying to get 2 pieces of equipment to talk to each other.

I wasn't expendable.  They Security troop out there protecting our base needed his Comm repeater; and he had no idea how to fix it.  I had the technology.

I woke up to the PITABOT concept in 2004, and have lived it since.  The simple every day tasks I do to support the warfighters are important.  I may not have ever fired a gun at an enemy troop, but when my firing team picked up a radio and said "WE NEED SUPPORT, WE'RE TAKING FIRE!" and their air support arrived without a US Casualty, that was my work. I was just as important to that process as the Airman who pulled a trigger.