These are people who crave new sights daily, new vistas. They drive tens of thousands of miles and their office is at the controls of a giant ultramodern million-dollar machine.

Behind their seat is a fully-equipped lounge and bedroom, with all comforts. They live self-contained. And many make very very good money.

Yes… they are truck drivers. Truckers. Long-haulers. Concrete Cowboys.

Like I said, in the USA, truck drivers and driver/sales workers hold over 3 million jobs. The truck transportation industry is HUGE— it employed 27 percent of all truck drivers and driver/sales workers in the United States. And another 26 percent worked for companies engaged in wholesale or retail trade.

Sounds like maybe a good fit for you? So, what about training, qualifications, and the big one— advancement?

Education and training for a long-haul driver, as for for any walk of life, is key to success both finding employment, and in making a living.

Most prospective truck drivers take driver-training courses at a technical or vocational school to prepare for CDL testing.

What is CDL? It’s what separates the big rig drivers, who make the best money, from all the rest.

Truckers, who operate trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 26,001 pounds, or who operate a vehicle carrying hazardous materials or oversized loads, need a commercial driver’s license (CDL).

Training for the CDL is offered by many private and public vocational-technical schools. (Only a standard driver’s license is required to drive smaller trucks.) Driver-training courses teach students how to maneuver the big rigs on crowded streets and in highway traffic. These courses also train new drivers how to properly inspect trucks and freight for compliance with regulations.

Some States require prospective drivers to complete a training course in basic truck driving before getting their CDL. Some companies have similar requirements. (People interested in attending a driving school should check with local trucking companies to make sure the school’s training is acceptable. )

The Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) certifies driver-training courses— at truck driver training schools that meet industry standards and Federal Highway Administration guidelines, for training tractor-trailer drivers.

Employers usually have training programs for new drivers who have already earned their CDL. This is often informal and may consist of only a few hours of instruction from an experienced driver. Some companies give 1 to 2 days of classroom instruction covering general duties, the operation and loading of a truck, company policies, and the preparation of delivery forms and company records.

New drivers may also ride with and observe experienced drivers before getting their own assignments. Drivers receive additional training to drive special types of trucks or handle hazardous materials. Driver/sales workers receive training on the various types of products their company carries so that they can effectively answer questions about the products and more easily market them to their customers.

Licensure is a key requirement, and one that your school of choice will help guide you through.

Federal and State regulations govern the qualifications and standards for truck drivers. Drivers must comply with all Federal regulations and any State regulations that are in excess of those Federal requirements when under that State’s jurisdiction.

Truck drivers must have a driver’s license issued by the State in which they live. Drivers of trucks with a GVW of 26,001 pounds or more—including most tractor-trailers, as well as bigger straight trucks—must obtain a CDL. All drivers who operate trucks transporting hazardous materials or oversized loads must obtain a CDL and a special endorsement, regardless of truck capacity.

In order to receive the hazardous materials endorsement, a driver must be fingerprinted and submit to a criminal background check by the Transportation Security Administration. In many States, a regular driver’s license is sufficient for driving light trucks and vans.

To qualify for a CDL, applicants must have clean driving records, pass written tests on rules and regulations, and demonstrate that they can operate commercial trucks safely. A national database permanently records all driving violations committed by those with a CDL, and issuing authorities reject applicants who have suspended or revoked licenses in other States. Licensed drivers must accompany trainees until they get their own CDLs. A person may not hold more than one driver’s license at a time and must surrender any other licenses when issued a CDL. Information on how to apply for a CDL may be obtained from State motor vehicle administrations.

Although many States allow 18 year-olds to drive trucks within their borders, a driver must be at least 21 years of age to cross State lines or get special endorsements. Regulations also require drivers to pass a physical examination every 2 years. Physical qualifications include good hearing, at least 20/40 vision with glasses or corrective lenses, and a 70-degree field of vision in each eye. They must also be able to distinguish between colors on traffic lights. Drivers must also have normal use of arms and legs and normal blood pressure. People with epilepsy or diabetes controlled by insulin are not permitted to be interstate truck drivers.

Other qualifications may be necessary, and again, your school of choice, once you’ve qualified with the needed training, can help you thread the needle.

Federal regulations require employers to test their drivers for alcohol and drug use as a condition of employment and require periodic random tests of the drivers while they are on duty. Drivers may not use any controlled substances, unless prescribed by a licensed physician. A driver must not have been convicted of a felony involving the use of a motor vehicle or a crime involving drugs, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, refusing to submit to an alcohol test required by a State or its implied consent laws or regulations, leaving the scene of a crime, or causing a fatality through negligent operation of a motor vehicle. All drivers must be able to read and speak English well enough to read road signs, prepare reports, and communicate with law enforcement officers and the public.

One thing to remember is that many trucking companies have higher standards than those required by Federal and State regulations. For example, firms often require that drivers be at least 22 years old, be able to lift heavy objects, and have driven trucks for 3 to 5 years. Big firms prefer at least a high school graduate, or higher, and require annual physical examinations.

In the US, about 56 percent are heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers; 31 percent are light or delivery services truck drivers; and 13 percent are driver/sales workers.

Yes, in the USA alone, and all over the globe, trucking is a huge business with big opportunities.

Truck drivers can advance to jobs that provide higher earnings, preferred schedules, or better working conditions. Long-haul truck drivers primarily look for new contracts that offer better pay per mile or higher bonuses.

Because companies entrust drivers with millions of dollars worth of equipment and freight, drivers who have a long record of safe driving earn far more than new drivers. Local truck drivers may advance to driving heavy or specialized trucks, or transfer to long-distance truck driving.

You may consider business courses as well, and continue your education— smart ambitious truck drivers can advance to dispatcher or even manager.

If this life is cut out for you, find the right truck driving school, and become your dream— as always, educate, educate, educate!

With the world being ripped by climate change— with floods and drought and oil spills— Green is the very opposite of waste, the antidote to devastation by greed, right?

Okay, so you support Green initiatives and solutions— but what are you going to do about it? We’re not just talking about recycling and driving a hybrid car. We’re talking about dedicating your life. To a Green career.

And, exactly what is a Green Career? And why should you be interested? The answer is maybe not as obvious as you’d guess.

A Green career not just about helping the world. It gets even better— green careers are also about job security, and the bottom line— Green jobs make good money.

Here’s the definition used by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET): “A Green career can be any occupation that is affected by activities such as conserving energy, developing alternative energy, reducing pollution, or recycling.”

First, the best; lets take a look at the so-called “Higher Demand Green Occupations”.

We’re talking jobs with good future growth potential. In these fields, the job duties aren’t changing— but the occupation itself will profit from ever-increased demand for Green goods and services.
Green Mass Transit specialists— an increased demand for public transit.

• Green Agricultural Inspectors, who will help meet the increased demand for organic and sustainable farming techniques, and new government regulations.
• Green Contractors, who will be needed to work on green construction or retrofitting projects.
• Green Public Relations Specialists, with expertise in marketing Green products and/or services.
• Green Farmers and Ranchers, who may need to expand sustainable farming practices.

Then there are the cutting-edge ‘New Green’ occupations, emerging because of exciting new Green trends.
• Energy Auditors, who conduct audits to determine how energy-efficient homes or buildings are.
• Chief Sustainability Officers, who oversee Green activities at their organizations.
• Wind Energy Engineers, who design and develop wind farm systems.

Let’s take a look in much greater detail at some of these.

Renewable Energy Generation includes careers related to developing and using energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass. This sector also includes traditional, non-renewable sources of energy undergoing significant green technological changes (e.g., oil, coal, gas, and nuclear).

Green Transportation includes careers related to increasing efficiency and/or reducing environmental impact of various modes of transportation including trucking, mass transit, freight rail, and others.

Energy Efficiency includes careers related to increasing energy efficiency (broadly defined), making energy demand response more effective, constructing “smart grids,” and technologies not yet even imagined.

Green Construction includes careers related to constructing new green buildings, retrofitting residential and commercial buildings, and installing other green construction technology.

Green Energy Trading includes careers related to buying and selling energy as an economic commodity, as well as carbon trading projects.

Energy and Carbon Capture and Storage includes careers related to capturing and storing energy and/or carbon emissions, as well as technologies related to power plants using the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technique.

Green Research, Design, and Consulting Services encompasses “indirect jobs” to the green economy which includes activities such as energy consulting or research and other related business services.

Environment Protection includes careers related to environmental remediation, climate change adaptation, and ensuring or enhancing air quality.

Green Agriculture and Forestry includes careers related to using natural pesticides, efficient land management or farming, and aquaculture.

Green Manufacturing includes careers related to industrial manufacturing of green technology as well as energy efficient manufacturing processes.

Green Recycling and Waste Reduction includes careers related to solid waste and wastewater management, treatment, and reduction, as well as processing recyclable materials.

Governmental and Regulatory Administration is a profession that includes Green careers with public and private organizations that are associated with conservation and pollution prevention, regulation enforcement, and policy analysis and advocacy.

So you see there is an incredible buffet of life and job choices for you, if you are willing to dedicate yourself to the college degree most applicable to your choice of profession.

Every institute of higher learning has programs to put you on your chosen path. Just inquire, and commit to do the work.

So, you are a Greenie and want to affect change?” It begins with YOU. Educate, educate, EDUCATE!

Brain scans of thirty-year-olds on meth, for instance, are very similar to the scans of elderly Alzheimer victims— jagged black holes in the brain mass.

Humans can buy drugs that at first mimic the feelings of joy, validation, success. But the price is more than money, the price is a greater need for more and more of the drug that supplies the on-demand feelings, the mood enhancements weaker with every dose.

In a society of instant gratification, pleasure can be bought. On the street or in a doctor’s office. That pleasure is the Big Lie. It feels real at first, but it is a lie.

People choose different chemicals, often due to different friends, different backgrounds. Alcohol, nicotine, heroin, meth, coke, food, and all the other chemical addictions. Then the behavioral ones like sex, dieting, TV, gambling. But always, the need is more, more, more, until there is no more high, only the need itself, enduring, burning, eating away at the very core of life. Yes, the pleasure can be bought, but the price is always rising, until there is no pleasure, only the addiction.

Where can addicts— when they hit bottom, when they see the big lie— seek help?

First, and this is the biggest step, arguably, they must want the help. It can’t be a family member or loved one wanting help for them. The must have hit bottom hard enough to want it for themselves.

That’s where you— the Addiction Counselor— comes into their life. You are more than a rescuer. You are a healer, their last chance at survival.

Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors like you fight the ravages of alcohol, drugs, gambling, eating disorders. You counsel individuals to help them to identify behaviors and problems related to their addiction.

And there are so many addicts now. Your counseling can be done on an individual basis, but often you do counseling in a group setting. You do crisis counseling, daily or weekly counseling, and sometimes drop-in counseling supports.

You are trained to assist in developing personalized recovery programs; you help to establish healthy behaviors and you also provide coping strategies. Often, you work with family members devastated by the addictions of their loved ones. This is some of the hardest emotional work you do…. or anyone ever does.

You widen your approach with conduct programs and community outreach. You try to prevent addiction by educating the public. You work with individuals, families, and groups to address and treat mental and emotional disorders and to promote mental health.

And you are trained in all the side-effects of addiction, and the co-disorders— depression, anxiety, addiction and substance abuse, suicidal impulses, stress, trauma, low self-esteem, and grief.

How did you become this amazing person— this Addiction Counselor?

You invested yourself in education and training. Education requirements vary with the occupational specialty and State licensure and certification requirements. A master’s degree usually is required to be licensed or certified as a counselor.

Counselor education programs in colleges and universities often are found in departments of education, psychology, or human services.

Courses frequently are grouped into core areas, including human growth and development, social and cultural diversity, relationships, group work, career development, counseling techniques, assessment, research and program evaluation, and professional ethics and identity.

In an accredited master’s degree program, 48 to 60 semester hours of graduate study, including a period of supervised clinical experience in counseling, typically are required.

So… do you have a strong desire to help others who are in desperate need? Are you a person who can be incredibly patient, and inspire respect, trust, and confidence?

Do you possess the high physical and emotional energy necessary, to handle the highs and low of stress, when counseling addicts?

If the answers are a resounding Yes!, then go for it— educate, educate, educate!

Forget homework. Party like the world ends tomorrow… because, hey, who know for sure if it won’t?

The ultimate cool, if the professor says something you don’t want to hear or learn, just leave. It’s pure nihilism, the utmost coolness to get up and walk out during the lecture.

Or you can go the other way— be purposefully annoying. That makes the other students laugh. At least, the cool ones will laugh.

Make up weird questions, and ask them in funny ways. You can work in your own life lessons that way, and make the professor think you are way cool.

The best thing about being cool? The other students will look up to you for wasting class time and breaking the boredom of actual learning.

Here’s another cool approach— act smarter than the professor. Think up one point and argue that one point and keep it up all through class— get your argument going with the professor and no matter how many times you’re proved wrong, never let go.

This way some of the other cool students will be convinced you’re right— because they haven’t studied the material any more than you have. Above all, make a big assumption and stick to it— the wilder the better.

Forget different points of view. Those are for losers. You’re right. And you’re cool.

Never waste cool clothes money or party funds on something lame like, say, buying a text.

Google everything. This way you don’t even need to take notes. How can that not be cool? Plus, in an emergency, you can always borrow notes. When you’re cool, everyone wants to do anything you want, right?

Download your papers from the web. Always ask for an extension to hand them in, because this makes you look like you did the work and need more time. That’s so cool.

Never bother trying to learn anything that won’t be tested. Always ask the professor if stuff will be on the exam. Work smarter, not harder, right?

I hope these little tips help you on your road to graduating.

If you are flipping burgers 10 years from now, at least you were cool in school, right?

And isn’t that, after all, the object of higher education? To liberate minds— to bring understanding of our world, from all places and all peoples, together.

Dispelling doubt and ignorance and xenophobia is essential to mankind’s survival. Education is our greatest hope.

So now, working toward a true worldwide intellectual community, many US students are being drawn toward the Mideast. In fact, its the most rapidly growing study-abroad program— US college students choosing their “away-year” in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Amazing. How many US students are reaching out this way?

A 2010 report from the Institute of International Education, (a private nonprofit group that administers the Fulbright program for the US government), states that American students— studying in Arabic-speaking countries— went up from just 562 in 2002, to a whopping 3,399 in 2007. And the numbers climb every year.

Looking elsewhere abroad, over 33,000 American students went to study in the United Kingdom in 2007. Then there is the 13,000 US students in China.

Still, US students are going to the Arabic-speaking countries in much fast-growing numbers. Between 2006 and 2007 the number went up 60 percent— China had only a 19 percent increase for US students, and England, a mere 1.9 percent.

Why do they do it?

Most say they want to learn beyond their own parochial barriers, and personal borders. They go to break out of their own limits, and after 9-11, they want to experience the Arab world.

So, pretty adventurous, these students. And just where do they go?

Some are studying at the American University in Cairo, studying Arabic. They are immersing themselves in cultural, social and religious matters far more complex than those in say, England, or Spain or Germany.

One reason for this is the Critical Language Scholarship Program, begun in 2006 by the US State Department. It is designed to encourage college-age students to study Arabic, (as well as 12 other listed languages, including Punjabi and Azerbaijani).

Over 12,000 students applied for the Arabic program since its inception, with 800 being awarded scholarships.

The American University in Cairo already has enrolled over 7,000 students. The provost said she has “absolutely seen a surge in U.S. students’ interest in the region.”

Which brings us to then infamous day, 9-11, 2001. Before 9/11 the Cairo university had 50 to 75 American students studying each year, compared with around 350 a semester now.

American University in Washington, which has had a 400 percent increase in the number of students studying in the Middle East since 2004, stopped sending students to Beirut after 2006.

One student— Anna Oltman, 21, a senior at Franklin & Marshall College— studied in Egypt. “For better or worse,” she said, “and certainly not unintentionally, 9/11 linked our generation of Americans with its parallel generation of Middle Easterners. We need to get to know them.”

Yes. Oh yes. And ask yourself— if there can ever be peace among diverse cultures, how else is it possible, than through understanding one another?

Educate, educate, educate!

The prospect is horrifying. A great modern city is a hive, an enormous petri dish, teeming with life of all kinds— and every life-form is competing for dominance, fighting to feed upon every other life form there. Viruses outnumber all else. Streets littered with dead and dying people of all ages is not a surreal nightmare, but the fate of unprepared populations.

The question should be, not COULD it happen, but WHEN will it happen?

If a disease vector could be predicted, that forecast might give precious time for a vaccine to be developed and inoculations distributed. And for extreme preventive measures to be taken in all other ways, to defend the live of millions of inhabitants at risk.

Vectors of disease have ever plagued mankind, from smallpox to cholera to yellow fever to malaria. The infernal list of viral disease goes on and on. Viruses are perhaps mankind’s number one competitor to dominant life on earth. They are cunning, seemingly intelligent, always mutating to evade our defenses and to attack in mass.

When cholera and yellow fever spread during the 18th century, “medical geographers” drew maps to show infected areas. But these pioneers really had no way of knowing where an epidemic would strike next.

Now, a new category of science has opened— the Disease Mapper.

What on earth is a Disease Mapper? And why do they earn upwards of $150K/year?

They become the scientist who can show us where the disease may strike next. Their educational requirements are varied— a Ph.D. or at least a Master’s in a tech field, plus expertise in a particular disease.

This whole new class of researchers is using the latest satellite imagery, cheap computing, big databases, (and free tools like Google Earth). They work to reveal how epidemics spread around the globe.

Who are these Mappers? How do they become mappers?

One pioneer of plague prediction is Dr Simon Hays, an Oxford University researcher. Dr Hays developed a global map (of malaria— the planet’s top killer of human beings). Hays sought to track current outbreaks of the dread disease, and far more— to help predict future ones.

Data from NASA satellites can help plot a picture of rainfall, temperature, vegetation, and other variables in regions where malaria has struck. Hays correlates it with data like infection rates and hospital reports— to create a map of the disease and its projected spread through the vectors of humanity.

The demand for disease mapping is urgent and is growing. Increasing public awareness of environmental hazards is at an all-time high. Public health authorities are being pressured to investigate and to even predict geographical clustering of diseases. That means maps of disease tendencies, and coming vectors.

Everyone wants to know: “Where will disease strike next?”

Do you crave flexible hours, not to mention travel to exotic locales? Do you want to help Mankind avoid the horrors of plague? Disease mapping may be your destiny.

Who’s hiring? Universities, governments, the United Nations, some consultancies.

The intelligentsia of all societies know that plagues are coming, and will always come.

But where will it strike? That’s the answer that only a Disease Mapper can even hope to answer. And the answer can save thousands, even million, of human lives.

You’re retained by the Sultan of (X), for the OPEC conference. You dress as the billionaires all dress, to blend in. You wear a sharp suit of dark cloth. A gold Rolex.

And the $2000 suit is deftly tailored so that your shoulder holster makes no armpit bulge. The Sig P225 has a single-stack mag, narrow profile, and if seven rounds isn’t enough, fourteen wouldn’t help anyway.

The Rolex on your wrist was a gift. One of the sultan’s aides brought out a gold gray on your arrival. A dozen different styles of Rolexes on the tray. You were invited to pick one. your welcome gift. All the bodyguards were given their choice. This is your sixth time and your six watch.

You move in the swim like a fish in a school. But you are an individual power— invisible in the human mass, and on high alert.

Nobody notices how you stay in your defensive zone, keeping between the man whose life you are determined to protect, and any face you do n to know— including journalists, other bodyguards, anyone who could kill.

You trust no one. You are a Bodyguard.

How did you become such a person ? How did you rise through the ranks to such heights of service and salary?

You were trained in a large police force, and you paid your street dues. You served in an elite military unit, and learned your skills there. Then you worked with a seasoned bodyguard and learned how to act and how to react and how to read crowds and how to keep protective layers between client and potential threats.

You went to college and learned history, and languages. You know the political situations involved and are fluent in the language of both client and human threat vectors. You know the customs, and you know how to show respect, and how to blend in. And you know how to protect, and how to kill, if you must.

Most of all, you know how to avoid violence— that is your ultimate goal— prevention.

And the mundane issues— you’ve earned licenser and certification. Yes, it’s not required in many parts of the world. Your repuation is your license.

But in the USA, most states require that any type of guard be licensed. To be licensed as a guard, individuals must usually be at least 18 years old, pass a background check, and complete classroom training in such subjects as property rights, emergency procedures, and detention of suspected criminals.

Drug testing often is required and may be ongoing and random. Guards who carry weapons must be licensed by the appropriate government authority, and some receive further certification as special police officers, allowing them to make limited types of arrests while on duty. Armed guard positions also have more stringent background checks and entry requirements than those of unarmed guards.

You’ll be subjected to deep-screening programs that peel back your background. Criminal records and fingerprint checks are the norm for bodyguards. Also, character references, no serious police record, and excellent health— beyond that, you need to be fit and look fit. You must be mentally alert, emotionally stable, and physically fit to cope with emergencies. Guards who have frequent contact with the public should have good communication skills.

Other qualifications? Passports and driver’s licenses, wherever you work.

What screens will there be? Rigorous hiring and screening programs consisting of background, criminal record, and fingerprint checks are becoming the norm in the occupation. Applicants are expected to have good character references, no serious police record, and good health.

Superb observation skills and excellent verbal abilities are as essential as quick reflexes.

Your work leaves no room for second chances. It is a matter of life and death.

That’s why the pay is so high, for the top rank of world-class bodyguards.

For ex-military and police vets, ASIS International offers the “Certified Protection Professional” for a transferrable validation of your knowledge and skills. Check it out at: http://www.asisonline.org/

Back in the day, Viet Nam. He was a Marine major in G4 stationed out of DaNang. The generals were going to do a tour of the fire bases, so someone upstairs wanted fire extinguishers at each command post in case of “some intangible possible emergency”.

So he and his adjutant were in a Huey, (transporting fire extinguishers), when the B-52 strike happened. He never really knew about the strike. No one let them know it was coming or would happen. All he remembers now is the white light… and waking in a mass body bag… smelling burned meat.

When the bag was finally unzipped, his eyes couldn’t blink. Hands were pulling other bodies out of the bag, he could smell them, and he fought the paralysis and then finally, heroically, he managed to kick one leg. Someone said, “Hey, this one’s alive!”

Now, my friend swims one-armed daily. He never has quit on himself. He competes in swimming in the Senior Olympics, even though his left arm looks like a child’s arm and the left leg worse— that was the side of the Huey the B-52 strike was on. And he’s bald now too, because of the chemo for the agent orange cancer (that the powers-that-be finally admitted was real and was diagnosed last year.)

But, he never gives up, this Marine vet. His daily swim training for the games keeps him oxygenated, and he smiles more than his early-Alzheimer room-mate, another Vet, in the home where they live.

My friend has incredible courage. He got here in a blast of white light. And he got here because he got so much help after that blast.

And he got here because he never gave up.

Wounded or not, a USA Vet should look to the Federal Government for help with a new start in life.

That’s one story, my friend the Marine officer. If you’re a Vet, you know how your story went.

Well, it’s not over. You’re not on your own, unless you want to go it alone. If you are disabled, they have programs, many programs for you. And if you can work, well they have programs for you too. And if you aren’t disabled, there are programs for you as well.

That is correct. The government that made you into a soldier now has the absolute moral— and legal responsibility!— to help remake you back into a productive civilian.

Legal? Definitely!

US laws define preference (and special appointing authorities) for veterans. Also, US federal agencies know that hiring veterans shows goodwill.

That’s why the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment VetSuccess Program exists. What is it? How can it change a veteran’s life and rebuild his/her future?

The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess Program is authorized by Congress under Title 38, Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 31. (It’s often called “the Chapter 31 program.”)

The VetSuccess program assists Veterans with service-connected disabilities to prepare for, find, and keep suitable jobs.

For Veterans with service-connected disabilities so severe that they cannot immediately consider work, VetSuccess offers services to improve their ability to live as independently as possible.

Services listed for the VR&E VetSuccess Program include:

• Comprehensive rehabilitation evaluation to determine abilities, skills, and interests for employment
• Vocational counseling and rehabilitation planning for employment services
• Employment services such as job-training, job-seeking skills, resume development, and other work readiness assistance
• Assistance finding and keeping a job, including the use of special employer incentives and job accommodations
• On the Job Training (OJT), apprenticeships, and non-paid work experiences
• Post-secondary training at a college, vocational, technical or business school
• Supportive rehabilitation services including case management, counseling, and medical referrals
• Independent living services for Veterans unable to work due to the severity of their disabilities

So, are YOU eligible for VR&E VetSuccess Services?

Active Duty Service Members are eligible if they:

• Expect to receive an honorable discharge upon separation from active duty
• Obtain a memorandum rating of 20% or more from the VA
• Apply for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess services

Veterans are eligible if they:

• Have received, or will receive, a discharge that is other than dishonorable
• Have a service-connected disability rating of at least 10%, or a memorandum rating of 20% or more from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)
• Apply for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess services
• Basic period of Eligibility


The basic period of eligibility in which VR&E VetSuccess services may be used is 12 years from the latter of the following:


• Date of separation from active military service, or
• Date the veteran was first notified by VA of a service-connected disability rating.
• The basic period of eligibility may be extended if a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) determines that a Veteran has a Serious Employment Handicap.

Depending on their circumstances, veterans will work with their VRC to select one of the following five tracks of services—

• Reemployment (with a former employer)
• Direct job placement services for new employment
• Self-employment
• Employment through long term services including OJT, college, and other training
• Independent living services

Here are some ways to go, to get you moving in the right direction— where to get the help you need, to start building your new life—

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

• Vet Success
• VA GI Bill Website
• Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service
• Department of Defense
• DoD GI Bill Website

Department of Labor

• TAP Brochure
• TAP Manual
• DOL Veterans’ Education and Training Services (VETS)

And here’s a link to jumpstart your new life— http://www.fedshirevets.gov/

A new life— it’s your right as a Vet!

These individuals— not necessarily professors or teachers themselves— are those who have raised the quality of life of humanity, through education. Some are immensely wealthy, some poor, some renowned, some obscure. They have one thing in common: their pivotal roles in improving the lives of others, through moral will, personal influence, and self-sacrifice. It all begins with knowledge. And more— intuition and talent.

James Luther Dickinson— a music genus, star-maker, and iconic marvel of talented self-invention— died last year. I went to school with Jim, was inspired by his audacity and talent, and I still can run the video in my head, of Jim’s junior high band playing on the stage of the school cafeteria, Jim wangling away on his front guitar, filling the big room with crazy hypnotic sound.

He died last year, and it stunned me. I waited to write this, until the initial media furor passed. To write and reflect on the richness of Jim’s life. His sons are Luther and Cody, of the North Mississippi Allstars.

Education can take many twists and turns. After graduation from high school in memphis, Jim attended film school sat Rice University, but music was his real home.

Jim was a product of Memphis and the Blues, like Elvis, a white boy growing up in the incredible wealth of American music. As a boy, a black man working for his family taught him the “codes” on his mother’s piano— gifting Jim with the rich chords of the Blues, which Jim, the boy, took to mean secret codes— and they were. But only secret to those willing to share them. And Jim shared his music with the world, passing on this rich gift of music.

Jim’s creativity was globally felt. Bob Dylan called Jim his “brother”, and The Rolling Stones praised Jim’s work (like Jim’s immortal Blues piano on “Wild Horses.”)
How did a Memphis boy become this person? Jim worked with so many greats, producing musics, making music, an impossible list, Sam Phillips, Chips Moman, Alex Chilton, Paul Westerberg and Ry Cooder.

And the movies. Jim did many film music scores, haunting scores with Ry Cooder. I talked about Jim once with Walter Hill, the director of some of those films, and Walter remembered Jim with a smile and great respect.

In 1972 Jim released his first solo album, “Dixie Fried”, playing every instrument himself, with his own songs plus songs by Bob Dylan, Carl Perkins and Furry Lewis. He produced the now legendary Big Star’s Third in 1974, and co-producing with Alex Chilton on the 1979 Chilton album Like Flies on Sherbert. Jim produced Willy DeVille, Green on Red, Mojo Nixon, The Replacements, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and so many others. In 1977 Jim created an aural documentary of Memphis’ Beale Street, Beale Street Saturday Night, with performances by Sid Selvidge, Furry Lewis and Dickinson’s band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, and played on Dylan’s album Time Out of Mind. In 1998, he produced Mudhoney’s, Tomorrow Hit Today. There was the Flamin Groovies’ album Teenage Head. So many I can’t name them all.

In his last years, Jim’s vitality stayed high— at his own north Mississippi studio, Zebra Ranch, Jim produced the music of his sons, the North Mississippi Allstars, and created the Delta Experimental Projects and B.A.D. Records. Jim used to praise the raw intuitive energy of Rock, saying, “a song can be so bad it’s good.”

Now, his sons, Luther and Cody Dickinson, great music-makers known worldwide, also salute their father’s genius— with continuity, keeping Jim’s studio and his wild artistic vision alive. Visit ZebraRanch.com and see for yourself.

We salute Jim because he made our world better; Jim created a powerful creative space out of his own spirit. We salute Jim because he lived the life of an artist, relentlessly self-inventing.

Jim’s energy is forever. Like Jim himself once prophetically said, “I’m just dead, I’m not gone.”

And that is what we must all learn, isn’t it? To fire up our energy and fight to become who we truly are?

That said, no campus should be a place of anything but higher learning. And yet… drugs or alcohol-fueled assaults, sexual violence against women, carjacking, even mass murder with firearms, these are all hazards of on-campus attendance.

So, today, we’re all about keeping you safe. That’s it. YOUR SAFETY on the road to graduation.

PLEASE take a little time; look at these campus safety tips. Invest a long a careful look, and help ensure your future safety—

IN A RESIDENCE HALL:

• Keep your room door locked when you are napping or sleeping.
• Never let unauthorized persons come into your room, enter residence halls, or enter apartment security doors. Always ask to see proper identification.
  Never prop open inside or outside doors.
• Do not hide keys outside of your room or apartment. Do not put your name or address on your key rings.
• Avoid working or studying alone in a campus building.



• Never dress in front of a window. Close blinds or curtains after dark.
• If you are awakened by an intruder inside your room, do not attempt to apprehend the intruder. Try to get an accurate description of the intruder and then call the police.
• Any suspicious activity should be reported to the OSU Police immediately.

WHEN DRIVING:

• Carry your car keys when approaching your vehicle so you can enter quickly.
• Always check underneath your car upon approach and in the rear seat for intruders before entering your automobile.
• Lock your doors and keep windows rolled up whenever possible.
• Drive on well-traveled and well-lit streets.
• Never hitchhike, and never pick up hitchhikers.
• If someone tries to enter your stopped vehicle, sound the horn and drive to a safe area such as a convenience store.
• If your vehicle breaks down, ask any person who stops to help to call the police. Do not allow any person access to you or inside your car. Roll down your window no more than an inch. Be aware that an accident may be staged to provide the other driver an opportunity to commit a criminal act.
• Leave enough room between your car and the one ahead so you can drive around it if necessary.
• Call ahead when driving to your home or apartment late at night and have someone watch you walk from your car to the residence.
• Limit distractions such as cell phones.

WHILE WALKING OR JOGGING:

• Avoid walking or jogging alone, and try not to walk or jog after dark.
• Avoid dark or vacant areas. Walk along well-lit routes.
• Be alert to your surroundings. If you suspect you are being followed: Run in a different direction, go to the other side of the street and yell for help, or move quickly to a lighted area, a group of people, or a blue light emergency phone.
• Have your keys ready when returning to your residence hall or apartment. Keep your personal or valuable items concealed and close to your body.
• Avoid wearing headphones when walking or jogging. Always be aware of your surroundings and practice risk avoidance techniques.

SOME GENERAL RULES:

• Lock your door whenever you leave your room for ANY length of time or when sleeping.
• Secure your vehicle. Close all windows and lock all doors.
• Never prop open any door.
• Adequately protect all valuables in your room, such as wallets, jewelry, credit cards, cash and computers. Do not leave valuables or cash in plain view.
• Protect your books and put your name in them. Do not leave them in public places.
• Do not loan your keys to anyone.
• Never hide your keys outside your apartment or room. Do not put your name or address on your key rings.
• Take all valuable items home with you during vacations.
• When in a public place, keep valuable possessions out of sight. If you must leave an area for any length of time, take personal items with you.

Bottom line? Better safe than sorry— AVOID VICTIMIZATION!

AWARENESS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE!