In the US Military, you earn 30 days paid vacation a year (actually 2.5 days/month), starting from the first day you enter boot camp. If you don't use it, you can accrue up to 90 days in total before you have to "use it or loose it". Between assignments (typically three year assignments) you can take 30 days leave prior to reporting to your new command. Otherwise, you request leave and depending on operational commitments it's approved or not.
However, while overseas on an operational deployment, you get the fun of working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months on end. So, I suppose you truly earn your leave. Paid vacation - chance to get shot at. hhmm.. Not sure if that's a good trade off or not!
Government work - especially defense contractor work - can be very lucrative. DoD doesn't care what the stock market is doing, has loads of money to spend, and has some very nice toys to play with. Some friends from my previous assignment were hired up by SAIC and now make very nice money - without a degree.
I'm enlisted in the Navy, E-6 level, with 9 years SYSADM and Networking experience - and I make about $52K a year, with a cost of living allowance for the SOCAL area. Half of my pay last year was tax free when I deployed to the Arabian Gulf. woot.
I am a registered voter in your district, and serving my country in the Navy; currently stationed in Pensacola, Florida. I am writing to voice my strong opposition to HR 2885, "Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act of 2003".
The findings in Section 2 of the bill could easily apply to regular web browsing (HTTP) or USNET Newsgroup readers. As reported on the 7th of September 2003, by Saul Hansell, in the New York Times, "Aiming at Pornography to Hit Music Piracy", the RIAA strongly backs this bill, obstinately for the "protection of children". The truth is that this is another attempt by the RIAA to infringe upon the rights of consumers, to limit the use of new technology to distribute music, and to prevent independent musicians from legally distributing their music outside of the RIAA's monopoly.
The irony of the RIAA's stance is that they are guilty of sexualizing children through the behavior of performers like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, and other young women who project a hyper-sexual image. Teen and pre-teen girls view these performers as roll models, and try to dress and act in their image. Young girls dressing in skimpy outfits encourages the deviant adults who prey on children. The RIAA and MTV put children at greater risk due to the behavior of the artists they promote.
Child pornography is evil, and those peddling in such material should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, excessive government regulation of an entire class of software in the effort to "protect children" is the wrong direction we should take. Sufficient laws are on the books to effectively prosecute Child Pornographers, and more importantly to protect children. HR 2885 is an oblique attempt by the RIAA to further protect its monopoly on the creation and distribution of music. If this bill comes to a vote, please vote "NO".
Perhaps counterproductive for your carrier, but I've ran into an impressive array of Mainframe and Minicomputers in the Navy, particularly in the Intelligence/Cryptology field. At the tender age of 19, I was assigned to administer a PDP11/70 based broadcast server. I was given a full bookshelf of manuals, and told "go figure this out..". This was 1994. I still have the faceplate from that beast from when we decommissioned it. Next in my parade of obsolete equipment was an AT&T 3B2/600 running SVR4. Not exactly "Mainframe" material, but old and cranky regardless. Then a VAX server monster running VMS. In a big ugly building in Hawaii, all sorts of ancient IBM, DEC, SGI, Sun, Hp and even Cray are still alive and well.
Typically the Navy assigns one SYSADM to a big mainframe, issues them a pager, and wishes them good luck. You'd be amazed how quickly you learn something when you know that you are the only one available (with the proper security clearance) to fix something, and your not getting to sleep until it's done.
I've found that the factory manuals are pretty good. Hard to read and dry as a bone, but the important stuff is all there. I haven't checked eBay, but that might be a place to start.
Often, defense contractors hire technically inclined individuals for part time employment. You'd be amazed at the kind of hardware you can get your hands on with that sort of job. Getting the required security clearance is the only real hurdle.
Slashdot Mirror
In the US Military, you earn 30 days paid vacation a year (actually 2.5 days/month), starting from the first day you enter boot camp. If you don't use it, you can accrue up to 90 days in total before you have to "use it or loose it". Between assignments (typically three year assignments) you can take 30 days leave prior to reporting to your new command. Otherwise, you request leave and depending on operational commitments it's approved or not.
However, while overseas on an operational deployment, you get the fun of working 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months on end. So, I suppose you truly earn your leave. Paid vacation - chance to get shot at. hhmm.. Not sure if that's a good trade off or not!
Government work - especially defense contractor work - can be very lucrative. DoD doesn't care what the stock market is doing, has loads of money to spend, and has some very nice toys to play with. Some friends from my previous assignment were hired up by SAIC and now make very nice money - without a degree. I'm enlisted in the Navy, E-6 level, with 9 years SYSADM and Networking experience - and I make about $52K a year, with a cost of living allowance for the SOCAL area. Half of my pay last year was tax free when I deployed to the Arabian Gulf. woot.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
My letter:
Dear Congressman Inslee:
I am a registered voter in your district, and serving my country in the Navy; currently stationed in Pensacola, Florida. I am writing to voice my strong opposition to HR 2885, "Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act of 2003".
The findings in Section 2 of the bill could easily apply to regular web browsing (HTTP) or USNET Newsgroup readers. As reported on the 7th of September 2003, by Saul Hansell, in the New York Times, "Aiming at Pornography to Hit Music Piracy", the RIAA strongly backs this bill, obstinately for the "protection of children". The truth is that this is another attempt by the RIAA to infringe upon the rights of consumers, to limit the use of new technology to distribute music, and to prevent independent musicians from legally distributing their music outside of the RIAA's monopoly.
The irony of the RIAA's stance is that they are guilty of sexualizing children through the behavior of performers like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, and other young women who project a hyper-sexual image. Teen and pre-teen girls view these performers as roll models, and try to dress and act in their image. Young girls dressing in skimpy outfits encourages the deviant adults who prey on children. The RIAA and MTV put children at greater risk due to the behavior of the artists they promote.
Child pornography is evil, and those peddling in such material should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, excessive government regulation of an entire class of software in the effort to "protect children" is the wrong direction we should take. Sufficient laws are on the books to effectively prosecute Child Pornographers, and more importantly to protect children. HR 2885 is an oblique attempt by the RIAA to further protect its monopoly on the creation and distribution of music.
If this bill comes to a vote, please vote "NO".
Very Respectfully,
Craig Newcomb
Perhaps counterproductive for your carrier, but I've ran into an impressive array of Mainframe and Minicomputers in the Navy, particularly in the Intelligence/Cryptology field. At the tender age of 19, I was assigned to administer a PDP11/70 based broadcast server. I was given a full bookshelf of manuals, and told "go figure this out..". This was 1994. I still have the faceplate from that beast from when we decommissioned it. Next in my parade of obsolete equipment was an AT&T 3B2/600 running SVR4. Not exactly "Mainframe" material, but old and cranky regardless. Then a VAX server monster running VMS. In a big ugly building in Hawaii, all sorts of ancient IBM, DEC, SGI, Sun, Hp and even Cray are still alive and well. Typically the Navy assigns one SYSADM to a big mainframe, issues them a pager, and wishes them good luck. You'd be amazed how quickly you learn something when you know that you are the only one available (with the proper security clearance) to fix something, and your not getting to sleep until it's done. I've found that the factory manuals are pretty good. Hard to read and dry as a bone, but the important stuff is all there. I haven't checked eBay, but that might be a place to start. Often, defense contractors hire technically inclined individuals for part time employment. You'd be amazed at the kind of hardware you can get your hands on with that sort of job. Getting the required security clearance is the only real hurdle.