Quick Update

Well this is just going to be a quick update.  The weekend was a blast! I had a great chance to spend time with my fellow Team Green members in NOLA.  Great experience in such a cool old city. 

Tonight when I got back I had to prepare a few last minute items for the morning.  I have to be up at 5:45 am to head off to the airport and leave by 6:15 to start checking in Corps Members as they arrive on various planes.  The chaos ensues tomorrow.  I'm ready for it! 

I will update y'all in a bit when I have more time as my FQS position (my specialty position) has changed greatly. I am no longer going to have a team and will instead be a Strategic Support Team Leader and am deployable as an individual rather than as a team throughout the country.  This is designed for projects that may only need or or two people to work on versus an entire time.  I will also be working in JFO's and HQ and other offices supporting what teams are doing in the field.  More of an explanation and update soon. 

Bed time for me as I have to be up in less than six hours. 

Hands of Peace and Such

Well last week finished off with a few sessions that really gave insight into the situation Team Green will be facing over the course of the next ten months.  Our FEMA POC(Point of Contact) A.C briefed us on what we should expect.  We also were able to get some insight from a former Team Leader who now works at CNCS HQ in Washington, D.C.  It was great hearing what she had to say, as she is a seasoned TL and received recognition as the Southern Region FEMA Corps T.L of the year last year.  Aside from that I learned one of the most important things I've learned all year! 

I am now proud to say I'm a Team Leader for Summit in charge of a Mass Care mixed team.  I'm extremely excited for the next few months and look forward to always being on top! (Summit motto for now) 

This past weekend was a blast for me!  I got to head over to the Vicksburg National Military Park and check that out.  It was so cool seeing the park and noticing the vast difference between Gettysburg and Vicksburg parks.  I had previously been to Gettysburg a few years ago.  The park does a remarkable job at memorializing both the Union and Confederate Armies efforts. I spent two hours there with a friend and it wasn't even nearly enough time to see everything I wanted to see!  I will post pictures later, sorry guys I'm pressed for time now :-(.  

The training sessions this week have been great for the most part.  The stress is starting to get to some of us.  Its only a matter of days before the Corps Members arrive on campus!  They all arrive on August 26 (next Monday)!  I am going to apologize in advance, because my blog posts will become much more sporadic from here on out.  Life is about to get really crazy for me!  I have already been working hard preparing for my members to arrive.  I called each and every Corps Member who will be assigned to my Temporary Team and welcomed them and gave them a chance to ask questions and a person to serve as a POC. I am really beginning to allow these acronyms flow off my tongue now.

With all that is going on, I have begun working with three fellow Team Leaders on a project that I will disclose at a later date.  It's very exciting and directly related to Emergency Preparedness and Management.  It's taking up a great deal of time but i'm so very excited to see the end result and how it will benefit our campus we call home for the next ten months of our lives.  

The next two days will be spent by preparing for the arrival of Corps Members and final training sessions and a Team Leader Training wrap up and final debrief.  We as TL's also are tasked with presenting a debrief to the NCCC staff tomorrow about our Positives, Even Better If's, and Suggestions regarding the TLT.  

The best yet however is against better judgement, I'm going to have an amazing weekend with great people this weekend in NEW ORLEANS!  It will be a great cultural learning experience for me and a ton of fun with great new friends!  Pictures will come I'm sure.  

Well time to get food and head off to bed.  Good night everyone!   

Flexibility

The definition of flexibility is defined as being: 1.capable of being bent, usually without breaking; easily bent: aflexible ruler. and 2. susceptible of modification or adaptation; adaptable: a flexible schedule

This is something that we've come to get used to hearing our entire time here.  Even more specific, the term FEMA-Flexible is commonplace.  We had to be flexible the last day or so.  I mentioned a few days ago that we'd be heading up in a Black Hawk helicopter.  Well that wasn't able to happen today unfortunately.  Mississippi is gearing up for the potential landfall of a Tropical Storm.  Our plans for today initially included flying in the Black Hawks and visiting the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency office in Jackson, MS.  Both of those plans were quashed with the coming of the storm.  The state is preparing for the tropical event to make landfall within the next week or so and therefore they did not have time for us to visit.  

Instead of that though we did something else that was pretty darned cool!  We visited the largest Nuclear Power Plant in the United States that is only a few miles from Vicksburg.  It was so cool seeing the EOF (Emergency Operations Facility) for the plant.  We were able to get a little bit of insight into what is involved in preparing for a more man made disaster that could occur.  

After going to the plant, we then headed off to a Military Park that was right down the road.  I got to see the Mississippi River for the first time ever today!  It is huge!  Also while at this park, we got the chance to walk around and view the historical artifacts present.  

Backtracking a bit, Wednesday was a day full of a lot of vital information.  I learned my Myers-Briggs personality type which will help me compare myself to my CM's when they arrive and figure out who is most fit for specific positions.  The best part of the day was the late session we had. We had the pleasure to hear Retired US Army Brigadier General Robert Crear, a native of Vicksburg, MS.  Click Here for a biography of the General.  He is truly inspirational.  He did a full 360 degree turn around in his life, beginning his life in Vicksburg as a child and returning here as a Colonel and Brigadier General commanding the Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg Division as well as serving as the President and Commander of the Mississippi River Commission that controls the entire Mississippi River and its tributaries from the Canadian Border to the Gulf of Mexico.  He served as President during the Hurricane Katrina disaster that struck Mississippi and Louisiana.  He gave so many insights on leadership that I can not get into completely right now.  A fun fact that he gave us was that Coca Cola was invented here in Vicksburg!  That's a fun fact. He also gave us some insight on how it was to grow up in the deep south during the implementation of the infamous Jim Crow laws.  It is a huge part of understanding the past and the history of the place that we call home for the next 11 months.  It has given me the initiative to really research and learn more about the City of Vicksburg and the surrounding areas from a historical perspective.  

Ok well time to go enjoy a new food for dinner tonight. What-a-burger will be new and supposedly very good! So much for eating healthy.  I guess I can take one day off from it.  Anyways tomorrow shall be an exciting day as we will find out our Unit Assignments!  I cannot wait.  I hope to be placed on a Mass Care team! I will update everyone tomorrow.  

For now I bid you all farewell for the night.  

Diversity

When you hear the word diversity what what do you think of as a definition? According to Merriam-Webster, diversity is defined as "the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : variety; especially : the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization."

The definition of diversity is much more in depth than just describing it as being the inclusion of different types of people in a group or organization.  Diversity is much more than that to me and to many other people.  It is so simple to say that in order to be diverse you need to include all people, but in reality it is much more than inclusion.  It is much more about fostering and generating understanding within the community that you live in.  The community one lives in is much more broad than the geographic community they reside in.  An individual is a part of more than one team.  If someone works at a place of employment they are a part of the community within the employees within that place of employment.  At the same time they are part of a different community within their network of peers and friends.  

With that being said there are many factors that go into an individuals understanding of what diversity means.  As I am from a small rural community in Northern New York, the understanding of diversity is much different by the general population than what it would be in somewhere else (i.e. a larger metropolitan city).  Where I come from, the population is above 90 percent Caucasian, English speaking, Christians.  Speaking with one of my good friends here who is African American and is from the U.S. Virgin Islands mentioned that where he is from Caucasian is within the minority and African American,Afro-Caribbean, and Hispanics being the clear cut majority.  This just adds perspective to the issue at hand.  Diversity and its understanding is all situational and based on vastly different levels of background and understanding (or mis-understanding in some cases).  

The last two days we focused on going through diversity training.  As a group Team Green learned a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a team as a whole.  We all come from vastly different experiences.  We all have different backgrounds and upbringings.  Some of us are from cities, some from rural areas, some of us are one religion, others are of a different religious belief, while others are spiritual but do not identify as being a particular religion.  Some of us have vastly different exposure and experience with issues surrounding the LGBT community.  While we all have had varying levels of difference and diversity in those aspects, we also have vastly different levels of exposure to other cultures and other beliefs than what they were brought up with.  Even though we have all come from many different places and backgrounds we have all managed to come together and have worked so well together and are constantly learning from one another.  It is truly inspirational working with this diverse group of people I am proud to call part of my Team Green family now.      

I am extremely grateful that I pushed myself and I exposed myself to a vast number of diverse cultural, religions, and geographic experiences that allows me to be much more open-minded than what some people are that are from small communities.  Lets work together to break stereotypes.  An inspirational quote I took away from the day and a half of diversity training is as follows: 
"Saying that you are color blind is not the right approach to go with, we need to understand that part of who a person is, revolves around their varying ethnic, demographic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds."  

People are who they are today because of who they were in the past.  Everyone learns from their past experiences and takes a little bit out of each life experience. 

While I learned a great deal of material while in this training which included conflict management, meeting facilitation, becoming an ally, and so many more little things.  The most important take away from this experience was not the material but the experience and the exposure to the astounding amount of courage was exhibited by so many people in this training.  Even further than that, I feel as if I have so much greater of an understanding of everyone who I am lucky enough to work with over the course of the next 11 months.  I also feel much more understanding of some of the pieces that go into this puzzle.   

I have a much greater understanding of the great people that I am going to be working with over the course of the next 11 months.  I'm so impressed with each and every person's willingness to try new things and open up to each other.  We have come together to form a united front in Team Green!  I look forward to what the future holds for us.  

What a Week!

Well last week was quite a week for all of us down here! We started off the week with a bang and learned a great deal about the campus we call home.  Please take a look at my last post for that update.  Tuesday was an incredibly long day for all of us, however it was completely worth it and necessary.  We were able to really learn a lot more about what we're going to be doing over the course of the next 10 months.  The person in charge of training for FEMA was our guest speaker / trainer for the day.  She is one of the nicest and most down to earth people I've met so far.  She put our role in FEMA much more into perspective for all of us as a result of this training.  I now better understand where exactly we fit in now.  Who know that FEMA was really not that large of an agency.  I was able to really gain a better understanding of what it is we'll be doing and what positions I could aim for.  Different teams of FEMA Corps members will have different specialties that focus on different areas of Natural Disaster response, recovery, education, and mitigation.  I also understand my role as a Team Leader much more now.  I understand that as a TL I will have a much more hands off job.  I will be primarily responsible for maintaining administrative functions within my team and will not have a specific assigned FQS position as my members will have.  With that being said when I am not concentrating on administrative tasks, I really can focus on learning as much as I can and making the most out of the time I spend with FEMA. 

After the all day training on Tuesday with the FEMA contact, Wednesday was a little bit of a change in pace.  Wednesday we focused on learning the policies and procedures that govern our Southern Region Campus within the NCCC community.  Following that we learned about processes in place to help facilitate member development.  Small pieces of time were also spent on learning what happens during transition periods (the period of approx a week between spikes [deployments]) and what specialty roles can be assigned to CM's while serving.  After training, we spent about an hour getting ready to leave and then departed for Camp Shelby where we were to spend the night.  We drove down there and spent the night at the military installation.  It was certainly a new experience staying in military barracks. 

The following morning (Thursday) we woke up bright and early to begin the Leadership Reactionary Course at Camp Shelby.  The premise behind the Reactionary Course is to put leaders up to a challenge and test their leadership ability.  There are specific tasks that have a military objective (makes sense as they are on most military bases :-)).  Anyways I have linked here a YouTube video to show some examples of what the reactionary course is.  It is not the exact one at Camp Shelby, but it is one similar.  Reaction Course Link There is both a dry side and a wet side that tests one's leadership ability.  Each separate element a different member of the group is put in charge to be briefed and come up with a plan and then execute the plan to achieve the end result of completing the task.  It was a great learning experience and will help all of us in the future.  It was absolutely exhausting doing this in the 90+ degree heat of the day, but was completely worth it in the end. 

After the day out on the course was complete, we packed up in the 15p's and headed up to Jackson, MS for a traditional ropes course experience.  Friday would begin very early for us.  We were awake and started the course at a little after 7 am!  We were able to build a little bit off of what we learned the previous day.  Yay Fighting Mongooses, we Fight!  That was the team name of the group of fellow TL's I worked with that day on the Ropes course.  We even had our own chant we made.  I got to rock climb for the first time.  It felt great getting up to the top and looking down to see what I had just accomplished.  Plenty of firsts for a lot of us here throughout the experience.  We all opted to work right through lunch so that we could go out to lunch in Jackson!  Goodness it was worth it!  We went to a place called Two Sister's Kitchen for lunch.  It was an all you can eat buffet of real southern food that included a dessert!  Had some spectacular fried chicken, fried catfish, grits, mhmm so good!  Best part was that dessert came with it.  Got some wonderful bread pudding drizzled with chocolate and bourbon sauce! Best dessert I've had in a lot time.  Two Sisters Kitchen  We had the greatest view from our seats.  It was a great view of the Mississippi State Capitol. 

Following that we all finished up lunch and headed back home to Vicksburg.  We were all exhausted and needed to wind down after a long week.  I have really come to appreciate any down time we have.  Well the weekend went by swimmingly and its time to go eat.  Looking forward to what this next week has in store for us.  Thursday is going to be the best as we'll be going up in Blackhawk Helicopters!  I can not wait for this! It will be one of those experiences of a life time!  Till next time...

The Beginning of a Great Week!

So today was the beginning of what I think is going to be a great week.  Today started off with the lovely surprise of not having PT until the evening so I was able to get an extra two hours of sleep!  Sleep is an important commodity around here!  The first session this morning was extremely interesting, as we were able to learn about some of the rich history of the place that we call home for the next eleven months.  It turns out that the Southern Region campus sits on the grounds of the Episcopal Church's All Saints School.  The Episcopal diocese of the states of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

The school opened in the early twentieth century as an all girls private faith based liberal arts prep college/high school.  Well after its inception, in the 1970's the school became co-ed.  In the 1960's the school did away with its college portion and just kept its status as a high school.  This will be especially interesting to know for Ms. Evans :).  Anyways the school ran as a private high school up until 2006 when enrollment hit a low of around 80 total students.  At this point the Board of Directors decided to close its doors because they were no longer breaking even financially.  Shortly thereafter this point in time it so happened that AmeriCorps was in the midst of searching for a new location to house its Southern Region Campus.  Following the destruction cased by Hurricane Katrina in the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf coast.  AmeriCorps NCCC members responded to the region shortly after the disaster occurred and wowed many people.  A few years after this this campus was officially named as the new Southern Region NCCC Americorps campus.  This is just to give y'all an idea of where i'm staying over the course of the next few months. For more info please visit the following website: http://allsaintsweb.com/ 

After learning a great deal this morning we switched into learning about the 'Pillars of Service' that have been adopted by the Southern Region.  This activity just goes to show how diverse a group of people we have here and despite that we come together to do great things!  I'm outstandingly impressed with the progress our group has made over the last past weeks.  We will continue to understand each other and really become a homogeneous and well oiled Team Green! Also I cannot forget to mention that Team Green is now up to full strength!  Woo go Team Green!  Our final two TL's arrived today and they're already fitting in very easily.  They're awesome and will have no problem adjusting to this new environment with so many great individuals surrounding them.  

"I'm Sean and I need help."  The next activity that we did directly affected many people despite the simplicity of it.  The activity centered around helping each person understand the importance of asking for help and not just saying "nah I'm good I got this."  We are Team Green we are the leaders and part of being a leader is to recognize when help is needed and in turn have an idea as to whom you should reach out to in order to obtain that help.  By granting us a chance to practice to ask for help I feel it made everyone realize that we really are each others resources and that we need to know when to ask each other for help.  Joseph one of the counselors on this campus is wonderful!  His response when asked what the Team Leaders had in place as a support mechanism, he replied "they are their own support group."  This is inherently true and we will come to understand this over the course of the next ten and a half months.  

I was able to really get into my comfort zone today and participate and facilitate some adventure based learning activities.  It's crazy to think how long it'd been since I've had the opportunity to do so but I was grateful to be given the chance and I was able to just slide right back into the mindset and it felt great.  I will gladly be a resource to any fellow TL that comes to me and wants help.  

By far though the coolest part of this day was a briefing of what is to come over the course of the next week.  We will be traveling Wednesday night to Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center for the US Army National Guard and Reserves and also is known as a prime M1-Abrams tank training ground.  We will be going through the Leadership Reactionary Course there that will test us and we will be evaluated and given feedback on how we can become better leaders.  This will be challenging but rewarding.  With every great learning experience comes a great challenge.  After that we will be traveling back up to Jackson, MS to attend a Ropes Course that will allow us to come together as a team.

Last but certainly not least I found out that next week at some point in time the TL's will be split up into two groups and will be going up in Black Hawk Helicopters!  This is going to be insane!  We're going up to tour the Mississippi River Delta region as well as fly over the Tornado affected areas of Yazoo City and get as close as we can to a Nuclear Power Plant to also get an idea of the potential for a human created disaster that is very close to us here in Vicksburg.  This is going to be an experience of a lifetime going up in not just a helicopter but a Black Hawk, one of the most well known and historical helicopters in military history.  I cannot wait for what comes.  

Well getting close to bed time, I've become an old man now and want go to bed by midnight each night.  Will catch up with everyone again Friday.  

Second Week Finished

Well we all successfully completed the 2nd week of TLT.  We're half way done with the TLT training.  I feel like the second part of this past week we all really came together as Team Green!  On paper at first sight the training scheduled for Thursday and Friday did not seem like that much fun or that cool.  After delving into the details though it ended up being one of the most important training sessions that we've had so far.  It really allowed us to learn about one another and whom we will work best with under certain circumstances and who to go to for varying situations.  

As a result of that we understand each others personalities much more than we had previously.  I really am glad that it happened this way.  The trainer we had was outstanding.  Cole McMahon is a charismatic and engaging speaker that made a day and a half presentation much much better than it could have been. 

Another thing I forgot to write about the other day was my first experience trying Alligator.  It was surprisingly good.  The saying "it tastes like chicken" really does apply to it except it tastes similar to chicken but ten times better!  I also got to eat some good ole southern Cat Fish too!  That's some good stuff dang!  

Well the weekend is here now and it's time to relax and recoup for a bit in order to prepare for the busy week we have next week.  Next week we should be learning what our final Teams and Units will be.  We will have the assignment and will obviously have to wait to get the team members assigned to us part way through CTI.  I'm ready to get out on the road.  Its going to be a lot fun next week!