This document summarizes the career experience and services provided by Robert Wilson of the Military Network. He has extensive experience providing career coaching, training, and placement services to veterans and active military personnel. Some of the services he offers include job search assistance, vocational guidance, and referrals to training programs. He promotes veterans as qualified candidates with marketable skills and works to connect them with employment and training opportunities in various industries.

1. Military Network
‘The Training Professionals’
Summary
Training professional with extensive knowledge in employee development,
recruiting, organizational management, and community outreach in both military
and civilian settings.
Experienced in providing career coaching and development to veterans and
military personnel.
Regularly work with various business and government agencies; and civilian
entities in the course of performing routine duties.
Network with LVER staff to meet and initiate introductions with veterans as job
seekers who have highly marketable skills and experience.
Work with unions, apprenticeship programs and business community to promote
employment and training opportunities for veterans.
Veteran Advocate for employment and training opportunities with business and
industry, and community-based organizations.
Introduce programs offered by the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of
Veterans Affairs (DVA), and counselors employed by DOD personnel and staff; to
coordinate with businesses, state agencies, the education departments, colleges, and
volunteer organizations in the training and employment of service members within
twelve months of separation of service and veterans that have already separated.
 Promote veterans as job seekers who have highly marketable skills and
experience.
 Working closely with job seekers, service providers, and employers to assist
veterans in career success.
 Promote credentialing and training related to all opportunities for veterans
with an emphasis on Information Technology.
Provide and facilitate a full range of I.T. employment, training and placement
services to meet the needs of veterans.

2.  Conducting job search assistance for those transitioning out of military
service as well as ongoing for those that are distanced from their time of
service.
 Creating job development and providing job referrals
 Providing vocational guidance through work skills assessment and other
means
 Providing referrals to training and supportive services through partnerships
with academia, community organizations, and VA supportive services
Mentored Learning
As a primary means of delivery, meeting the needs of most career students is Distant
Mentored Learning which gives the student the benefit of classroom-based Mentored
Learning without having to actually come into a physical location. Students have the
ability to control the pace at which they learn and the content covered, all from their
chosen remote location. Students access the same expert on-demand lectures, testing
and assimilation modules, and live 24x7 online subject matter experts.
Veterans, career students that benefit most from this model, include active, inactive,
and injured military personnel, corporate tuition-reimbursement students, and those
working full or part-time jobs. For example, a handful of distant Mentored Learning
students that come to mind include 5 deployed soldiers in Iraq, 1 in Guam, 3 Voc
Rehab, 5 corporate tuition assistance, and numerous retired and otherwise inactive
veterans.
The flexibility of the numerous training courses are as such to accommodate the
multiple directions one can go in to include Network Professional, Network
Professional Security, IA, Web Design, E-Commerce, DB Management, Business
Intelligence, Project Management, Application Development, and Healthcare
Information Management.
Robert Wilson| Military Network
E-Mail:robert@mil-net.com| Phone:859.428.8163

3. An assumption that one can easily come to, is that between Google, LinkedIn
(Lynda), and the ton of resources at your disposal, there is no reason one shouldn't
be able to net multiple certifications in no time for little or no cost. At a minimum,
for example, ITIL as a baseline certification, is fetching right at six figures. The
experience you have coupled as a veteran, the intellectual level, problem solving
abilities and leadership experience, you're still in competition the majority. The
value you offer and able to convey, the perceived R.O.I. anticipated and ability to
'fit in' are all part of the equation.
Transitioning Service Members and Veterans Prepare for the CIVDIV!
One of the most persistent, most significant challenges a transitioning Service
Member (SM) or Veteran (V) faces is translating their myriad of experience
and talent into a language civilians understand, value, and hire for.
Project Management, Information Technology
Project management provides a perfect solution to this problem! Furthermore, a
dynamic arena with much needed Tallent is IT. There are no better examples than
those that are real, that can be applied not just in theory or concept, but in a way that
can be realized and embraced. Therefor the following meets that criteria. The
following is from real solutions being applied with Project Management. (ITD)
Policy and Planning Division of a particular State, strives to create a collaborative
environment among state agencies in an effort to maximize and improve information
technology (IT) efficiency across the enterprise. State agencies are credited for
making this a successful venture. Policy and Planning oversees IT planning, project

4. management, enterprise architecture, procurement, and enterprise initiatives such as
Criminal Justice Information Sharing, Geographic Information Systems, and
Business Intelligence.
The success of IT Projects depends upon increasing the knowledge and skills of
project managers. Information technology is an investment and it requires regular
maintenance and upgrades to keep up with current advancements. Can you imagine
going back 40 years ago – life without PCs, networks, the worldwide web, and smart
phones? We have seen a lot of progress in the world of IT, and it has created many
efficiencies. 'IT' will continue to deliver services that meet 'stakeholders’
expectations.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOK, gives us that language!
Additionally, the Project Management Professional (PMP) or Certified Associate of
Project Management (CAPM) credentials validate our translated experience for the
hiring manager! Problem solved!
Let’s look at how it works…
One example of how the PMBOK provides a common language between civilian
and SM/V is in the definition of a project itself. The PMBOK defines a project as
any endeavor that is temporary, meaning it has a stop date, and unique, meaning it
delivers a good(s), service(s), capability(ies), or result(s) that didn’t exist before the
project was undertaken. This is every mission we ever did in uniform! The
Commander always had a suspense date, and associated expectations to hit!
The five major process groups of project activities a project manager cycles
through throughout a project.
The project management lifecycle defines how to manage a project. It includes
the processes of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and
closing. While no two projects are exactly alike, the project management lifecycle
will always be the same, regardless of the project’s size or type.
All projects should progress through these five project management phases:
1. Initiating;

5. 2. Planning;
3. Executing;
4. Monitoring and Controlling;
5. Closing
Basically, we first describe what we’re going to do (initiate the project). We take
what the leader giving the mission wants, distill it down to objectives, and then verify
that is what we need to do. Then we plan how we’re going to do what we’ve
described. We resource the plan, train the personnel, gather information to elaborate
our plans, and then we do it. Now, while we’re doing the project, we’re constantly
comparing actual performance to planned performance to keep the project and track
(checking on it), taking corrective actions if necessary, and talking to parties that
have a stake in the project’s success. That’s monitoring the project and controlling
it if necessary. Finally, we pay all of the outstanding bills, talk about what went well,
what didn’t go so well, and what we’ll do differently next time, and we file it all for
posterity, i.e. we close the project. SM/V debriefs every single mission during what
we either call an AAR, for After Action Review, or a Hot Wash.
A final example was actually mentioned above; stakeholders. When we do missions,
we have those involved directly, those involved in supporting the mission, and those
parties needing to know about the mission and its execution. These are the parties
affected by the project outcomes and the decisions made to achieve those outcomes.
And that’s the definition of stakeholder in the PMBOK!
See, we can use the PMBOK to talk about our military experience. BOOM! Mission
speak becomes project management speak! Experience that pre-translation
was foreign to the civilian ear is now understandable, and extremely valuable!
We now have a resume chocked full of project management experience, we just

6. accrued it in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard instead of at
Apple, SAP, Target, KPMG.
In addition to this, we can get it all
stamped valid as well!
To sit for the PMP or CAPM, we have to document thousands of hours of
experience leading and directing project activities, i.e. those tasks found in the
PMBOK and the accompanying PMP Examination Content Outline. For the
PMP, it’s 4,500 hours over 36 months if the candidate has a four-year degree or
above, or 7,500 hours over 60 months if the candidate has a high school diploma.
For the CAPM, its 1,500 hours conducting project activities (versus leading and
directing them).
This means that when the civilian hiring manager sees a resume full of project
management experience, with PMP after the author’s name, they know the
person is a project manager. Their calculus is done. They’ll use the interview to
determine if they’re ‘good’ at it, or if they ‘fit’ with the company.
What to do now….

7. At a minimum look at the CompTIA Project+ certification. Lot of similarities
AND consider the NITAS Project Management Apprenticeship program. This
program is more comprehensive than any I’ve seen.
So, to produce a project management resume full of valid experience, you’ll need
to:
Get the PMBOK and the PMP Examination Content Outline document (both at
PMI.org or Google on the Internet);
Discuss your Military experience in the terms of the project activities you find
therein. Swap ‘project’ in the statements for ‘mission’ in your mind and you’re good
to go;
Apply for, prepare for, and pass the PMP or CAPM exam;
Assemble your resume and place the credential at the top of it, right after your
name;
Find a project management mentor(s) in your local PMI chapter, your place of
employment, or on project management-based LinkedIn groups. Folks want to say
“thank you for serving”, and mentoring SM/V gives them a great tangible way to do
so. You just have to ask.
Conclusion
Transitioning Service Members and Veterans interested in post-Service careers as
project managers have four specific tools to help them do so. They can use the
PMBOK (one) and PMP Examination Content Outline (two) to translate their
military experience into civilian project management experience. They then obtain
either the PMP or CAPM project management credential (three) to validate that
experience. Finally, they can find one or more project management mentors in their
local PMI chapter, company, or LinkedIn group to help them develop professionally.
Dr. Eric Wright, thank you for the perspective and insight! Salute!

8. Eric A. Wright, PhD, MPM, PMP
Co-Founder & CEO at Vets2PM and host of The Missing TAP Class Webinar; helping Military
Veterans become Project Managers Vets2PM.Com
Professional Training & Coaching
Current 1. Vets2PM
Previous 1. Higher Education,
2. Defense Finance & Accounting Service,
Education1. Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University
Robert Wilson
Military Network
http://mil-net.us
Robert@mil-net.us