Get A Job!

So this is the thing I hate the most about the military, okay maybe not the most, I hate it most when they take my spouse away for long periods (or short periods) of time.  But this is a close second; finding a new job with each new move.  Even if you are a full-time mom, the thought has to have crossed your mind, how on earth would you get a job if you had too.  You probably live thousands of miles from the last place you held a job, you have been out of work for a while, and you aren't even sure what skills you have any more.

Your post has resources you may not know about.  All installations have someone who is there just to help with spouse employment.  They aren't random people off the street; these are people with degrees in human resources who have been trained in how to help resumes, train you for interviews, and help you to figure out what your next step should be.  I went in to our local center to get some help with my resume.  I have no consistency in my resume and my experience is all over the place, and I was starting to work from home as a contractor part-time, but I wanted an additional job, and I had no idea how I should be presenting myself to employers.  The person there sat down with me and for three hours, told me how to stress my strengths and rewrite my resume to show my best side and minimize some of the things I didn't want to be glaringly obvious.  

So if you are thinking about or having to find a job, make the spouse career center the first stop.  In additional to help with resumes and interviewing, they also have job lists from all around the local area and can help you with the contacts that will help you to get the job!

Thoughts on Security

We all know there are bad guys out there, and in some vague, very out there sense, they intend us harm, but that doesn't mean us in the me, myself personally way, right?  I don't want to make anyone paranoid or freak them out, that is not my point.  Rather, I hope you will think about the things you do, what your spouse does, and ways you can make your family more secure.

The first area you should think about is your internet footprint.  How easy is it for someone to find out information about you?  Recently someone called my spouse because they were moving into our ward and needed some help moving.  Using just this guy's name, and the fact that he had an "801" area code phone, I found him, some of his Army buddies, found out where he did his training, what his wife's name is, saw pictures of his family, and I know his wife is pregnant.  Blogs are a wonderful way to share information with family and friends especially when you are stationed far from home, or your spouse is deployed.  But they are also a great way for people who would do you harm (and not just terrorist, but con artists, identity thieves, child molesters, you name it) to find out tons of information about you.  That does not mean you have to stop blogging, just make your blog private or use only initials and don't say where you are.  Same thing with social networking sites.  They can be a great way to keep in touch, but think about ways you can limit you and your family's exposure.  For work I have often been tasked with finding contact information for different people.  I am always amazed at how easy it is with little more than a name to find the person and all sorts of information about them.  So think about limiting your family's internet footprint.  Try googling your names and see what pops up.  And take steps to cut out some of that exposure.

My other area of concern is don't relax just because you live on base or are stationed in a small town.  We currently live on post and the family next to us never locks their doors.  The car doors are always unlocked.  This might just be some big city paranoia coming out, but lock your doors.  Creepy people can get on base and more and more housing areas are becoming unrestricted, so anyone can come on.  I recently heard of a teenage girl's party being held at a military housing community center was crashed by a number of local gang members who read about the party on  a social networking site.  The housing area was open and the gang members walked on unrestricted until they got in a fight and shots were fired.

So don't be scared, be smart.  Review your family's footprint.  And don't stop being cautious, just because you live on post.