David Molina

Earlier today I was scanning through Facebook and saw Cristobal Sanchez had tagged me. The update made my heart drop. I stepped away from my iPhone. I couldn't believe it.

"Very sad to hear of the passing of Dr. Kenneth Fox. One of the best teachers to pass through the halls of MVHS. I'll never forget being put in a leadership class as a freshman co-taught by Dr. Fox and Mr. Roy. I walked in and all the Mexican students were on one side of the room and the white students on the other side. It was a social experiment that was put together after having some racial tensions and a riot in the lunch room. I was kind of a punk at the time but it was the first time I saw anyone from the school being intentional about giving the Latinos on campus leadership opportunities. It ended up being one of the best things I ever did at MVHS and helped shape the next 8 years and beyond of my life. RIP Dr. Fox: advocate, ally, teacher, friend."

Immediately I began to think back to the last time we shared a hug and a conversation-- that was in 2006 at Central Washington University. I was invited to be a chaperone (role model) for the annual Student Leadership Program (SLP), a program designed to support the educational success of migrant youth through development of leadership skills. A program that he helped design decade earlier. Dr. Fox took the time to chat w/ Isabel Sanchez and myself. He told us he was so proud of us and how far we had come. Nothing quite like hearing those sincere words.

Ten years prior in 1996 I attended the very same campus and program as an MVHS junior. I had just returned that year from a year of dropping out-- taking some time to work at Olympic Fish Company and the local farms. It was tough, backbreaking work for very little pay and career advancement. Back on campus, I ran into Dr. Fox and he enrolled me in some of his coursework like test taking skills, interpersonal relationships, communication, leadership and some others. He had also approached me in attending SLP.  Now I must admit I was a bit of a mocoso and didn't care too much about attending. That year, I attended with a few other sons and daughters of migrant farmworkers. Somehow, somewhere I was enrolled and was on my to Ellensburg. It was the first time I had set foot on a university campus. The entire experience was foreign. My impression of college was that it was for White-Americans only. Growing up, I didn't know a single Latino that had gone to a four-year university aside from the very few bilingual teachers and counselors growing up. Latinos that I grew up w/ were focused on something entirely different than college. And, of course very few people advocated at all that Latinos could go to college. Dr. Fox was quite the opposite. He believed everyone had potential regardless of the color of their skin, their socio-economic upbringing, or background.

During my time at MVHS, I saw him help everyone, from poor kids to the more well off kids, from those from broken homes to the sons and daughters of the upper middle class, from natives to immigrants, Dr. Fox embodied what all teachers should aspire to do and that's empower others to love the material. Having dropped out, I was already behind in credits to graduate w/ my classmates. Through his help, I enrolled in summer coursework to get caught up. He assigned me easy readings, and then knew when to turn up the notch. Readings became more difficult as we progressed in our learning. My vocabulary improved also as a result of his persistence, teaching style and support.

Dr. Fox was instrumental in closing the leadership gap on campus between Latinos and non-Latinos as described above, mainly through his leadership development courses, and more well known through his active recruiting and retention efforts of the migrant students to SLP. He knew what we didn't. When placed outside of your comfort zone, placed in different situations, placed with strangers, but placed in a loving, caring, supportive & challenging environment something beautiful happens. Something incredible happens to each and everyone of us. Sometimes its sparks. Sometimes its fireworks.

His motto was always excellence. He begged each of us, "is this the best you can do?" It made me always rethink my work prior to turning it in. As I got older I aimed for excellence, in essence because I couldn't see myself disappointing him.

At SLP, I remember arriving somewhat shy (if you can believe that). By the end of the program, I was being elected by my class peers to the Washington State Migrant Education Advisory Board for the the State Superintendent. I served two-years on that board traveling throughout the state and nationally. When I returned back to MVHS from SLP, I was on fire-- there was nothing I couldn't do. In collaboration w/ Dr. Fox and Mr. Sedgwick I I took on the internship job of developing and launching an HTML-based website for the program. I knew very little about HTML and code. But I drove forward.

Ten years later I would return to SLP. Within days, Dr. Fox had approached me if I would be so kind to talk to a student. Apparently this student was disruptive, didn't want to cooperate w/ his peers and didn't care for much. Truth be told it reminded me of myself years earlier. So I willingly accepted. The young man, another teacher, Dr. Fox and I huddled outside and had a conversation for as long as it took. I recall something like 45 minutes. I told the young man of my recent business launch and newly appointment to the Governor's Commission on Hispanic Affairs and that I wouldn't tolerate no for an answer. Perhaps I was brute. Perhaps I was forceful. I explained to him his generational losses if he doesn't take advantage of current opportunities and to be in a position to take advantage of them. The golden opportunity was before him. A proven process. Challenges and experiments designed to shape your mind to think outside the box. To negotiate challenges, as an individual as a a team. I explained my own background and he was impressed. He didn't know kids like us could go far. The young man apparently turned a complete 360 by the end of the day.

Dr. Fox and I celebrated with a hug. It was one more person we had saved. But I couldn't have done it without his guidance and support through my early formative years.

Cristobal was right on target. Dr. Fox was an advocate, ally, teacher and friend. His passing is a huge loss and he will forever hold a special place.

After six-long years of service to the Families of the Fallen, and Wounded Service Members, and successfully planning, developing and executing a brand new construction of a 58,000 sq.ft. $17.5mm facility, we bid farewell to Lt Col Kelly Kyburz. Yesterday we bid her farewell at the local American Legion hall and today the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) conducted a change of command between Lt Col Kelly Kyburz and incoming commander, Lt Col Mark Laney. His previous assignment was at the Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon and Lt Col Kyburz is headed there.

Our higher headquarters Director at Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center (CMAOC), Col Richard Teolis spoke about change yesterday when he got on the ground. Speaking to the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers he spoke about doing things differently according to the boss. Things that we used to do, no longer. I feel that some of that change is on its way w/ our new Commander, Lt Col Laney. Interestingly, our next door neighbor at the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations (AFMAO), Col Thomas Joyce also changed out on Wednesday and he's headed to take another command in Texas. I told him yesterday how much I appreciated his command style and selfless leadership. His response, "Capt, at the end of the day when we're all gone it will be you all as our next Colonels and Generals that will take care of the mission, so it's vital that we teach you everything we know for any chance of success."

Change on the Mortuary Affairs campus is alive and real. My AFMAO protocol counterpart, Capt Kurt Schmitt who I worked closely with these past 6 months w/ Distinguished Visitors also changed out and is headed back to his civilian career as a law enforcement officer and I'll be working closely w/ his replacement Maj Jim Yaworski. The JPED Executive Officer, Maj Darius Highsmith heads to AFMAO as the lead Army Officer. Lt Col Kyburz, then a Major when I worked at the Joint Personal Effects Depot from 2007-2008 and served as the Executive Officer is one of the most hard charging, dynamic and forward-thinking Officers I've ever had the pleasure and honor of working with. During that period she pulled me from processing personal effects in operations to the command staff as her new S-3 (Plan, Training and Operations Officer-in-Charge) focused on: writing the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) Handbook; rewrite the Standard Operating Procedures; draft the Mission Essential Task List (METL) and developed performance measures to test personnel on their respective jobs.

While Edith and I departed Aberdeen Proving, Maryland, we wanted to be closer to family as we expected Maya, but not a single day would go by that I didn't think of Team JPED, from the honorable and meticulous detailed work performed to the friendships.

Since Feb 2011, I've worked non- stop to ensure Lt Col Kyburz success. We all have a boss and she was the boss. I have no doubt she'll get picked up for Colonel in the next year or two and most likely a General Officer because she has the unique intestinal fortitude, intelligence, civilian-military savvy, business acumen, compassionate and caring, forward- thinking, and can influence the dynamics of an organization like no other. During this period we successfully hosted everyone from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen James Amos to the Army Chief of Staff, Gen Raymond Odierno; streamlined operations and optimized processing of personal effects w/ speed and accuracy; established a relationship w/ community leadership and brought on our first Honorary Commander, Mr. Eric Riddle; established The Never Forgotten Booster Club; and oversaw the transition from one civilian contract, Serco to Capstone; among the thousands of different moving pieces too many to name here.

Leadership is often a thankless and lonely job. During this period there were nights we didn't leave the office before 9pm because we were taking care of a family left behind. That's the kind of commander we had in Lt Col Kyburz and I'm very much looking forward to working just as hard for the new commander.

Join me in wishing Lt Col Kyburz God Speed in her next assignment at the Pentagon--you'll be missed Ma'am.

A year ago I arrived at Dover AFB in Delaware for a deployment ranging between 1-2 years on the Mortuary Affairs campus. Army Reservists however are mobilized for 12 months at a time, and vary slightly. We lived in private housing on base and fortunately Edith and the girls were able to join me. We made some friends on Hazelnut Drive including a Chaplain, Pilot, Lawyer, Ops Officer and a Comms Officer. We seemed to be the only Army family on our street. What we always noticed over the year is a ton of movement--families coming and others going. This is a constant. A common denominator of military families. The base housing itself is incredibly family friendly. Their strategically placed playgrounds everywhere to the giant soccer frield to the trails, to the Halloween event, to their swimming pool and gym is just incredible. We highly recommend it if you have a family stay on base. It's safe and convenient.

A month ago, Edith and I made a 5-day trek back to Oregon. It appeared that we may be staying another year in Dover and a slight chance this would be our end of the tour. Because we lived on base and did not have orders for continuation we had to clear housing and make the necessary arrangements. While I still had to fly back to meet our packers, movers and clear government housing all within a period of two weeks, it all seemed that my tour would come to an end. Colleagues in the Air Force Reserve tell me they know no later than 3 months out in order to pack the family and return home. 3 months. It helps w/ the planning.

In the week leading to the end of my tour an Army Brig. Gen. at the Pentagon was assigned to eliminate no less than 30% of the packets on his desk. Those familiar w/ the process can chime in--when your orders expire that's it. As you know, SecDef put out an announcement in January that all combat military would be pulled out of Afghanistan--more than 12 months earlier than the previously disclosed timeline by the President. A few Monday's later and the President released his 2013 budget proposal and in it a reduction in military spending for overseas campaigns. About 30% less. For a few months now we've been advised by our senior leadership to prepare for the drawdown. To layout what we can live w/ and w/out w/out impacting the mission.

Anything can happen. The state-of-the-art facility I work in was built and steamlined for a World War III scenario. Our nation is still at war in Afghanistan. And, if your tuning into the news there is talk about Iran and Syria.

While my orders expired on 27 Feb, orders arrived by email effective late 28 Feb for an additional 12 months. No lapse. While I'm proud to serve my command team and the incredible talent here I will most certainly miss my better half, Edith, and my three daughters, Maya, Paloma & Citlali. I will look forward to streaming Edith's Spanish-talk radio show on KBOO 90.7FM, Skyp'ing w/ the girls over dinner and returning to Portland, Oregon soon enough.

PS: these last few weeks I've been graciously blessed w/ Roz & Mo who took me into their home and ensured I had a place to sleep for the night, a warm meal and a car to get around to inprocess. And, Maya's former teacher at Dover Montessori w/ their school van has helped tremendously getting settled into an apartment--gracias!

-@davidcmolina

Day 1: On Wednesday, 15 February after breakfast at local favorite Kirby & Halloways we departed Dover AFB, Delaware for the first family cross-country epic drive to Oregon. In tow: our three girls, ages: 18 mos, 18 mos, 3.5 years. The essentials: bottled water, diapers, baby wipes, first aid kit, cash for toll booths (they are ridiculous on the east coast), Maya's potty seat, high chairs, booster seat, healthy kid snacks, books, MacBook, and Maya's pony. We started our journey west over the Maryland/Delaware Bay Bridge and north skirting Baltimore tolls and onto northwest Maryland into West Virginia Appalachia mountains and Pennsylvania. After dinner at a Cracker Barrel for a country style meal we stayed our first night in New Stanton, Pennsylvania.

Day 2: the following day we trekked west through Ohio, Indiana and into Illinois. We stopped just outside Chicago for tacos & burritos and spent our 2nd night in Geneseo. The reality is we could plan all we wanted for where we wanted to get a hotel but the reality was that once it got dark the little ones all but had it in their car seats and made their case known to Edith and I. I don't blame them.

Day 3: we trekked through Iowa and into Nebraska. We tried looking for a Omaha steakhouse using Foursquare and our iPhone map app but were unsuccessful. We ended up stopping at world-famous King Kong's. Their decor consisted of a gorilla rock band, gorillas hanging from the ceiling and their entire menu based off King Kong the movie. That evening we made a planned stop in Lexington at a Days Inn right off the interstate. We quickly booked a reservation and went into town for takeout, but were immediately overwhelmed with a penetrating odor from a processing plant. We cancelled our reservation, the front desk totally understood and provided us a full refund--we ended up driving as far west as the girls would tolerate and where we could regain our appetite.

Day 4: we continued our trek through the remainder of Nebraska and into Wyoming. Lots of snow at this point but the roads were clear for the most part. We stopped in western Wyoming to fuel up--and ran into a Panaderia y Pasteleria. We picked up some pan dulce w/ the nightly goal of Ogden, Utah. I must admit, being a town nestled in the Rockies, between snow capped mountains is beautiful and the air was super crisp. We were going to stay at a Days Inn but realized that Hill AFB is right there. We got on base and checked in. I called a friend, 1st Lt Luke Bohannan who's stationed there--small world we met at the Dover Port Mortuary where he worked in the back of the house--he offered to bring us dinner and make breakfast. By this point we were all just exhausted. He offered his place in case we got snowed in. Snow advisory was in effect. Sure enough, the next day our car was covered w/ over a foot of snow. We crashed for the night. Next day we trekked north through gorgeous Utah and into Idaho.

Day 5: Hill AFB and Ogden officials are on it. They were clearing the roads by the time we got on the road. Roads were for the most part clear. We got a great headstart and made it to eastern Oregon/Idaho border by lunch. We met the Strange family, an elderly couple--real nice folks--they thanked us for our military service. After lunch the girls just wanted to run around Sizzlers. Within a few hours we were on the Columbia Gorge driving westbound to our final destination--The Dalles. Edith and I high-fived once we saw the 61 miles sign. Maya, Paloma, and Citlali were getting restless at this point. We pulled out Shrek to entertain the girls at the very end. Arriving at the in-laws safely was a great relief. The girls were excited to finally break out of their car seats, play and run around.

Day 6: departed The Dalles for Portland and via Amtrak to Olympia for a following flight from McChord AFB to Dover AFB.

Day 7: Took a taxi into McChord AFB passenger terminal. There were 3 family's w/ small children, a retired Navy couple on the flight. Our load master, Tech Sgt Nichols and a Master Sgt were very attentive checking the details of the aircraft. Once in the air purchased boxed lunches were handed out and we were free to walk around. Once on the ground I was happy to see my firefighter friend "Mo." We gave another family a ride to the visitors center--there is no shuttle. They were headed to Pennsylvania. Arriving at home without the girls was hard. No sounds. No small talk. No reading time. Hoping to join Edith and the girls soon.

PS: Over the next few days our house hold goods will be packed and shipped back to Portland, Oregon--if you know of a nice neighborhood to set roots let us know. And, If I receive orders for another year, again let me know if you have a small room for rent. Must be close to base.

This past Christmas we took a hop back to the northwest. A hop is the ability to jump on a cargo military aircraft and fly cost-free from one military installation to another (where possible and space available). It afforded us the opportunity to see our families for the holidays. As an U.S. Army reservist mobilized to active-duty, I was able to take accrued ordinary leave and fly w/ the family to see them. To say the least it was an adventure.

As a reservist its currently impossible to take a hop. We met older military retirees flying to different destinations and young families on military leave flying back west for the holidays.

To our surprise the only expense were the lunch boxes costing $4.25. It had a deli sandwich, coke, chips, fruit, candy, and a bottled water. It was perfect, the kids and I were in heaven.

We were fortunate to fly out on the same day as the start of my leave. Washington State had several choices, and while we originally planned for McChord AFB we ended up taking a hop to NAS Whidbey Island (40 minutes from Mount Vernon vs 3.5 hours).

After getting through passenger terminal security, which is the same as regular passenger terminals, and getting our lunch boxes we boarded the busses for the plane. The flight crew were super helpful once on--helping us get seated and situated for the long flight ahead. We had been warned by friends to dress warm--we did and we were cozy. We placed ear plugs and covered the girls ears w/ a patch of athletic tape from keeping them from picking off the ear plugs. After their bottles the girls slept almost the entire way. This tip was courtesy of our friends stationed in Germany who had tons of experience.

Hearing the flight crew announce our impending arrival to NAS Whidbey Island was a joy to hear. It was the smoothest landing ever. Once on the ground Navy personnel were real friendly welcoming us all to Whidbey and helping us step off the aircraft and onto their vans for transport to the small passenger terminal. It was in the 30s or 40s when we landed. I had grown up near Oak Harbor and driven past this base but had never been inside. Reminded me of a coastal town, even the Cape Cod homes resembled the area.

On the way back, I made reservations to fly out of McChord AFB. Due to security, we were unable to know exactly when or what time. We checked in one night at McChord's Evergreen Inn and the following day took a hop to McGuire instead of Dover. The Inn was ok. The living room and bedrooms were in two separate rooms and the bathroom oddly resembled a fraternity bathroom. Not child friendly at all, especially if as a parent you'd want to give them baths.

My rationale for flying on the next one out to the east coast was that if the last flight out to Dover cancelled we'd be stuck. The goal was to get to the east coast. My Commander advised, worst case we could always drive once on the ground.

On that aircraft instead of flying in regular seats on the 2nd floor, we sat in these black jump seats everyone shoulder to shoulder facing across from each other. As newbies we weren't prepared for what came next. Once in the air and no-seat belt was authorized nearly every man, women and child took to the floor in their sleeping mats and sleeping bags. It was orchestrated as if everyone knew what to do at the very same time. One Airmen connected the two carabiners to his hammock to the aircrafts inner wall and took a nap while others inflated their mats. The metal floors were cold. We laid out some blankets, and tried to get some shuteye.

Once we landed at McGuire AFB, we checked into temporary lodging for the night. Our room came fully equipped w/ full kitchen, washer/dryer, sofa bed and dining area. These rooms were real nice. The next day we rented a car and made our way back to Dover AFB through back country roads.

The hop experience was a real eye-opener. If you have the opportunity to do it and you have plenty of leave and time, do it. You'll meet plenty of really interesting people who are currently serving our country or have served and are now retired. Their stories are amazing.

Turning 33 is like 22. Like 11. There's something different about it. Yesterday, Edith asked me what I'd like to do. I text my boss at JPED requesting a pass for day--off. Pass authorized. I was stoked. This morning I came into the office to set up the out-of-office signature block, check w/ the S-3 team and within an hour the family and I were outbound. We made a quick stop at The Waffle House, real friendly folks and fast breakfast and then headed out to hang w/ the girls.

Today, I'm reminded to spend more time, way more time w/ the family. While work and our professions is important there's something very real and powerful watching your kids laugh and scream at the joy of watching dolphin acrobatics. Something about learning from their curiosity. I'm going to do this more often.

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes. Each of your messages mean the world.

Twice a year every die-hard NASCAR fan in the area converges onto Dover International Speedway to watch cars clock 151 mph. One-month of planning finally materialized today. A few weeks ago I approached NASCAR folks about volunteer-fundraising opportunities for our booster club. Upon my commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kelly Kyburz giving the green light we asked for volunteers for the weekend and we were off.

Yesterday, my First Sergeant, 1SG Alfred Venham and I came out here to recon the facility and meet w/ officials. Our lead, Wayne Keller brought us both out fighting through huge crowds in his golf cart directly to the main grandstand. Set up was in full-effect, Crown Royal, Tums, and burger, BBQ stands. Not one minute had elapsed once inside the track when one of the cars spun out of control pounded directly next to where we stood causing massive gray smoke. The crowds? Went wild.

Today, we came out to provide friendly crowd control. Some reason one or two guys thought we were some kind of mall cops w/ our yellow vests w/ "patrol safety" embroidered on the back. We answered questions from "where can we sit," "where's the nearest bathroom," "can we go way up there," to "what group on Dover Air Force Base are you all with?"

The singing of our Star Spangled Banner, and witnessing the swearing-in of fellow patriots into the Unites States Air Force and an awesome flyover of a C-17 was a joy. Let's just say the crowds were far from quiet.

Met a ton of Veterans and patriots. Found the experience a highlight of my tour while stationed at the Joint Personal Effects Depot at Dover Air Force Base.

As the first official Never Forgotten Booster Club activity I must say it was a thrill. Thankfully Staff Sergeant Gregory Hanner (pictured here) knew the ins-outs of the race and was the "black shirt" to guide us newbies. About tomorrow. Everyone says, good luck on trying to keep us off the fence.

Ready. Get Set. Go.

In our careers we have the pleasure of serving w/ insightful, inquisitive and hard-charging team members. Today, we bid farewell to one of our own as he gets on the road and readies for his next assignment. The next unit is fortunate.

A Marine, I first met MSgt Kane in 2007 when I arrived at the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He was a Gunny then overseeing the Marine Liaison team assigned to care for Marine personal effects (PE) and our liaison to Marine HQ.

When I re-deployed back to Oregon, he remained, committed to the JPED. During this period he mastered almost every functional area and was one of the military leads for integrating bar-coding into the PE process. A natural fit, he ultimately came over to Operations to motivate and lead our team, and in collaboration w/ the command team served on the Dover AFB Planning Cell.

His courage, humility, insight and forward-thinking approach was a welcome. Today, we're all fortunate to work in a 55K sq. ft. $18m facility w/ major redesigns of our process and in no small part to this Marine brother. We're processing and returning PE more quickly w/ out sacrificing quality.

Takeaways:
-be for the advancement of the mission
-be bold and courageous or stay home
-be honest and forthright but don't sacrifice quality
-innovate everything even though you will face disagreements

MSgt Kane leaves huge shoes to fill by the next Marine. I gifted him a copy of Final Salute. God speed brother.
#end

Sent from my iPhone

Lots of family and friends, and readers of this blog have asked what is it I do at Dover Air Force Base on a daily basis and what's it like. As you know I arrived mid-February via cross country drive from Portland w/ my father-in-law and started the quick acclimation back to uniform. The Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) was preparing to move its entire operations from Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Maryland, where it had been stood up since March 2003 to Dover AFB, Delaware to be co-located on the Port Mortuary campus. A small group of us who lived in/near Dover as a result commuted 3 hours round trip every day during the work week from Dover to APG departing 6:30a and not returning until well after 7p, and some days after 9p, pending mission requirements.  The first few weeks were personal effects (PE) training, everything from pre-inventory to cleaning/laundering, to final-inventory/final preparation of returning the PE back to the families of the fallen or wounded service members.

You've Been Reassigned
One Friday morning I arrived, the Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kyburz called me and the Executive Officer (second-in-command), Major Highsmith in and told us that I'd be the assistant S-2/3 (Plans, Training & Operations Officer) to Major Baker who was overseeing the S-2/3 area, and to prepare for the morning staff meeting. As directed, I was there. It was great meeting the key players of the organization. Immediately, I went into overdrive to meet everyone, assess the challenges facing us, figure out current and future plans, training requirements (meeting up w/ the units Training Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, Sergeant First Class Craig), the security team led by Sergeant First Class Waite, operational procedures, and most critical getting up to speed on the upcoming high-visibility ribbon cutting ceremony at Dover and phased move-in. That day, Major Baker and I had until close of business to figure many things out, understand where major documents and files were on the hard drive, command staff requirements (and how to put them together--many reports/powerpoints) to ensure higher headquarter requests as he'd be heading to night shift the following Monday to be the senior officer on the ground and a summary court martial officer.

In order to coordinate, integrate and synchronize planning, the four senior leaders, the commander, executive officer, first sergeant and myself met every morning without miss to review everything on the table. Three of the most pressing--upcoming Ribbon Cutting Ceremony attended by over several dozen distinguished visitors, phased move-in to Dover, and continuing to press forward on the vital mission ahead without disruption.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (RCC)
The highest ranking senior military would be a Lieutenant General (3-star) from the Pentagon, the two Delaware U.S. Senators, and both Mayors of Dover and Camden as well as senior wing commanders from across Dover AFB, and a host of high ranking officials in the casualty & mortuary world from the beltway. The commanders intent was simple: first-class event. All hands on deck. On top of our mission of processing PE, oversight and general day-to-day operations, was planning a major one-time event. Over several weeks we briefed our senior commanders at Ft. Knox, Kentucky on the plan, everything from time of arrival to movement of personnel once inside. We hosted dozens of meetings at our new facility w/ base protocol and other key players that would help determine the success. As the day neared and more RSVPs came in, it occurred to me that while a few of us knew the details of the ceremony, there was no briefing already prepared to get all military assigned on the same page. One morning we determined how we would utilize some military that day, and within an hour I had produced a briefing that would be used to give everyone the plan of the day. Think Blink. The commander and executive officer briefed it that afternoon to all the military. That evening we briefed the boss' boss. Everyone now knew.

I had been tasked to oversee the RCC command/operation cell. As we neared the day, we planned out every detail using tagged coins on a map, from who was escorting the Assistant Secretary of the Army to briefers of the section functions. The week of 15 April, we fine tuned the details of the day w/ senior leadership from higher headquarters. While we had an evolving count of who was coming, what we didn't have was a one-stop tracking mechanism once they were inside our building. My boss' boss, Colonel Teolis, Director of the United States Human Resources Command Casualty & Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, had told my commander about a sync matrix, a spreadsheet that would clearly define who was coming, when they were coming, which events they would attend, and who was their escort. I remember the boss turning to me with a handwritten yellow paper with some writing, horizontal and vertical handmade graphs, and said come back in an hour. Without hesitation I started punching away and sync'ing all data from every direction, from the RSVP cell to the powerpoints, from emails to calls coming into our first sergeant. Within hours I was briefing my boss, and in the end along w/ my assistant, Captain Richardson briefed senior leaders on the plan. The colorful spreadsheet was used to quickly get a snapshot of who was coming, when, where they would be, method of transportation, and key player involvement. Document approved, we continued forward using this document all the way through the ceremony. That afternoon, and post-RCC, I escorted our visitors through the Charles C. Carson Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, and the Center for Families of the Fallen/Fisher House next door. I remember the after action review (AAR) towards the end of the day the boss asked how we thought we all did. The general feeling was that we were all in the presence of a fine team, and fortunate to be on the ground at this moment in our nation's history. 

Dover AFB
Post-April, and once on the ground at Dover AFB, I quickly immersed myself in preparation for the arrival of the first element, 29 hardworking individuals that would begin two weeks of new PE single-cell training. Immediate task was reviewing, assessing and rewriting our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to reflect Dover AFB. Taking a 290-page SOP, I broke the thing down to something more user friendly, consumable and easier to read for the team. Over a few weeks, I had been tasked two outstanding Serco contractors and members of the team that would bring their best editing skills, and operational expertise to the mat where along w/ key veterans of the organizations, we would make first draft revisions of almost every section in the operation, from scratch, setting the foundation for actual operational refinements, with the vision of creating SOP/Technical Handbooks for every section. As the chief editor, we went line by line eliminating extra verbage, extra paragraphs, repeated lines, reformatting the entire document to just a few pages. Two weeks ago, I created a staff summary sheet that I used to staff the draft section SOP/Technical Handbooks to sections providing a simple method to empower the operators to make edits in the document to reflect reality on the ground, while providing command and control at the editor level, and seamless command & staff approval process. As a colleague mentioned, "when people are held accountable and their signatures are on the line, we'll get closer to a more finished product." Indeed, its powerful to witness total team effort, under one plan, one goal.

As a tenant of Dover AFB, one of the first action items for the command was appointing a gatekeeper, a protocol officer that would notify base of who, if any, distinguished visitor was coming. I remember the email from our first sergeant to the commander in April: "I believe Captain Molina would be best--recommending him for Gatekeeper." Command approved, I was off. Over the past two months, we've hosted a dozen distinguished visitor (DV) visits, from general officers to Capitol Hill permanent staff. During the RCC, I had established a relationship w/ AFMAO's Protocol Officer, 1st Lt Jennifer Stewart, and I discussed right away the need to have "joint protocol." One morning, I invited 2d Lt Lauren Longnecker to breakfast to AAR the previous DV visit. On the agenda: Joint Protocol. We distinctly knew that the proximity of our organizations, our missions, we knew that 9/10 DVs visiting AFMAO would certainly be asking about the neighbor next door. AFMAO had developed a very concise 10-point visitor request form, very clean. I ended up not reinventing the wheel and using the entire form in its entirety and changing approval authorities and the header making it easier to copy/paste data streamlining the protocol process. In addition to handling request, I implemented visit itineraries to quickly provide our leadership snapshots of the DV times, and an in building call sign to make command group that DVs have arrived. While our command approves some requests, some requests don't surface. Telling folks no because we have a mission to run is part of the protocol job. Ending the week, the AFMAO commander next door asked that I be the narrator for an ceremony in their building where we would be honoring a soldier on their team. I obliged. I admit I was nervous at first, podium and everything, but after some rehearsals we were good to go. We adjusted on the fly. The ceremony went without a hitch. We honored Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson's tenure and service as Chief, Dover Port Mortuary Team, Army Liaison Team.

Daily ritual (although no two days are the same):
Work out
Arrive at the office
Check w/ our staff, respond/send emails, respond to voice mails, review and make edits daily plan, check to determine DVs in the area
Leaders huddle
Edit reports/slides for the director, submit
Respond to DV requests
Edits to intranet SharePoint website *tabs, calendar, permissions etc., meetings w/ the developer
Edit section slides & sync other sections slides into the staff input slides *master
Facilitate training meetings w/ key personnel
Review, edit SOP/Technical Handbooks, meet w/ operators
Publish executive summaries for the boss
Field external and higher headquarter inquiries
Review, brief DV approved visits to command group; host DVs in coordination w/ AFMAO & base protocol
Strengthen community relations ties and advance public affairs opportunities
Assess, identify, and field new ways to complete the mission with speed and accuracy, supporting Summary Court Martial Officers and section personnel by whatever means necessary.

If you have any further questions. Let me know.

I commend, admire and my heart goes to the founders, co-founders, advisors and investors that spur our communication, disrupt and invent new products and services that redefine how we live. When I first heard about @Posterous I immediately started perusing the various @Posterous pages and see the different ways it was being used. I loved how @ChrisBrogan used the podcast feature, albeit rarely, and I loved how @LiveStrongCEO captured his friendships especially those impacted by cancer.

The simplicity of its use, post by email, any medium was powerful. I was able to use it to share podcasts I had done while in Chicago for the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) and capture precious early moments of our first daughter, Maya's, days instead of storing those moments in stale photo albums. Instead of announcing the healthy birth and arrival of our twins last August using traditional newspaper (you'd have to wait until the following Sunday) we used @Posterous to quickly share the good news to our friends and family (auto-share on @Twitter and Facebook). I have used it to share thoughts and insights when I was Commissioner for the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs and add perspective for younger MEChA members (MEChistAs).

I've shared some thoughts on Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Clinic and more recently been fortunate enough to share with each of you my experiences from this U.S. Army mobilization at the Joint Personal Effects Depot at Dover AFB, from grand opening to service members I've met along the way.

Again, my props go out to Sachin Agarwal and his team for enabling me and others to share the good and sometimes not so go good news, and the investors like Chris Sacca (@sacca) who believe, equip and back companies that revolutionize how we communicate. I owe these dudes a beer.

This past week we bid farewell and Godspeed to a colleague next door in the Port-Mortuary Affairs campus, AFMAO's 1Lt Jennifer Stewart. I had the pleasure working w/ her in JPED's April 15 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in coordinating protocol between our units and gained some insight into the AF world.

We had the opportunity to sit down and discuss the detailed process of receiving the remains of America's Fallen, from the flightline to the cosmetic restoration, from preparation of the service members uniform to coordinating family visits at Center for Families of the Fallen/Fisher House. Looking forward to working w/ her replacement, 1Lt Lauren Longnecker.

This past weekend I ran into Dawn Senidoleitch, a JPED colleague in operations now mobilized w/ the distinct mission of taking care of families of the fallen over at AFMAO. Fellow Oregonian, Cpl Matt Duerr who was the Marine Honor Guard during the ceremony on the 15th and I visited while at USO recently. Just yesterday I welcomed two AFMAO folks over, an embalmer and an Airmen.

Given the nature of our daily humble work and our strategic location, Army, Marine, Airmen and civilian contractor relationships are about to get more joint. Nature of the present.

Just last Friday, the JPED leadership team welcomed senior military and elected leaders including Lieutenant General (LTG) Thomas Bostick, Deputy Chief of Staff Army G-1, Mr. Sam Retherford, Deputy Assistant to Secretary of the Army (Military/Personnel), Senators Carper and Coons of Delaware and Mayors Carey and Maly, Dover and Camden, respectively, to it's new permanent facility at Dover Air Force Base (DAFB). Following the tour of the new facility, LTG Bostick provided distinguished visitors (DVs), casualty and mortuary affairs military community, JPED team members and families some words, many from families on the importance of our work. The packed day was graciously catered by USO. In the afternoon our colleagues at the Charles C. Carson Mortuary Affairs Center (AFMAO) offered tours to DVs and senior military on processing the remains of our fallen comrades and preparation for proper burial.

The tour and process was eye opening. I was equally impressed w/ the Airmen, Soldiers and civilian personnel that share this work w/ care and compassion full-time, from welcoming our comrades-in-arms on the flightline to conducting surgical repairs, uniform preparation/fitting and family escort duties. It opened up w/ AFMAO Director, Col Joyce and his team giving us a DV tour. Following, Mr. Tom Rose and his team gave us an in-depth tour of Fisher House and Center for Families of the Fallen both of which provides families a home away from home, from rooms, living rooms and children's play room.

Today, night shift at JPED at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland will close and move to day shift all while the first group of people begins training at Dover AFB on Monday. I will be on the ground along w/ lead instructor Staff Sergeant (SSG) Luis Quinones, Operations NCOIC, and his cadre--see you soon.

Today, Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Seabees and Army civilian contractors put on the finishing touches in preparation for what has been a five year plan of constant planning in building a permanent $18m, 55,000 sq. ft facility for the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) Dover Air Force Base in Delaware that currently processes 1,000,000 personal effects (PE) each year. Various media outlets including the Associated Press were on hand today to tour the new JPED at Dover and ask their most pressing questions of staff and leadership. Co-located with the Charles C. Carson Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations (AFMAO) campus which includes the Center for Families of the Fallen and Fisher House, the JPED will more effectively serve families through more coordinated and synchronized services and it's an honor to serve w/ each of you in uniform at this moment in our nation's service.

This week the stress for almost every American reached new heights, be it in Oregon serving in the National Guard or Reserves to serving in the Middle East, when Congress and President Obama nearly missed the deadline for passing an agreed budget. In fact, for anyone serving in the military or civilian personnel in the federal government it became much more personal. On Thursday, April 7th I tweeted that all of us in the military would still be coming into work and we had received word that our April 15th check would be pro-rated to April 8th midnight. Of course, a tweet is just that in the military or civilian world, it's not until you see it on your pay stub. That all changed on Friday morning when service members approached our S1 (Personnel) on a debt on their 15th paycheck. How much? About half of their base pay. So if you are a Sergeant and you make for example $1,400 (before taxes) every two weeks, you'd only be receiving roughly $750 on the 15th. Of course, if Congress and President Obama couldn't agree on the budget in the next few weeks, the possibility existed that we in the military would not be paid on May 1st. Within hours the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) went on overdrive, posted and confirmed this.

In late January, I was mobilized for active-duty to the Joint Personal Effects Depot, the only Department of Defense (DoD) organization that is responsible for receiving, processing, inventorying and returning the personal effects of every service member and DoD civilian/contractor killed or wounded in operations overseas. I spoke to Army civilian contractors within the organization Friday morning and many have spouses in the military. Danielle for example, her husband was at the U.S. Army's National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California and the possibility existed of seeing $0 come the 15th and potentially coming May 1st and she was worried how they would survive with mortgage payments, daycare, and putting food on the table and a roof over the kids. I sympathized with her. Danielle along with dozens others, the stress reached new heights. An morning briefing by our Executive Officer, MAJ Darius Highsmith (second in command) reiterated what we were all reading and hearing in the news, Facebook and Twitter feed. He put the rumor to rest that Army civilian contractors, at least those internally, would not be affected and would be coming into work on Monday. Unfortunately, the only member of the team that would be affected would be our sole GS civilian, Mr. Nelson Delgado, who is also a First Sergeant in the Army Reserves. The order by his leadership at the top was that he would be furloughed come Monday and was not to report to work, or work from home. Yes, our operations manager. In the briefing, the stress was very real given in today's work environment, two must work to make ends. Much more, the important mission that cannot wait.

In 1995, I heard from one of our senior leaders that when the federal government shut down the military still came into work but our civilian counterparts walked off. It was tragic to watch yesterday's podcast from MSNBC Nightly News w/ Brian Williams that payments for spouses and families who've lost their loved ones in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would stop. How do you even begin to tell a family member who has lost their other half in combat or from injuries sustained that they would have to wait? What do you tell a mom on the other line of the phone maybe not today, or tomorrow, but maybe next week? I'm curious how many member of Congress or senior White House staff have had the honor of working in casualty and mortuary affairs operations and the front line to supporting families in their most time of need?

Last night, in the eleventh hour, Congress and President Obama reached an agreement. I'm certain if their pay along with their entire staff had stopped at midnight Friday, we would have seen an agreement not at the eleventh hour but much much sooner. Americans serving in uniform and our families would much rather be focused on the mission that the American people, Congress and the President of the United States have ordered us to do, rather than figuring out if we're going to have enough before the end of the month.

About two months ago or so back in Portland, Oregon--in the midst of building up BilingualHire into a bilingual staffing company, changing diapers and feeding Paloma & Citlali--I was going through my daily feeds. One of the feeds in Quora read something like, "How did Jason Fried get on the Groupon Board of Directors," or something to this line. Obviously, we know what Groupon is, but right off the top I missed who Jason was. I searched for him and came across 37signals and more importantly came across Rework, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. The two lines that captured my attention came from Mark Cuban writing, “If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I’m investing in REWORK every time. A must read for every entrepreneur.” The second one from Scott Rosenberg, co-Founder of Salon.com and author of Dreaming in Code, “Inspirational. REWORK is a minimalist manifesto that's profoundly practical. In a world where we all keep getting asked to do more with less, the authors show us how to do less and create more.” These two lines did it for me and its no wonder Jason was brought onto Groupon. Made total sense especially if you've been getting their online coupons, the simplicity, value and speed in which you get them. Since expanding BilingualHire w/ account managers and interns, I purchased this book for our guys, made it required reading, and said we're doing this. They love it.

This evening, I bid farewell to Edith's dad, my father-in-law, former-Pastor Juan Quiroz at BWI. After trekking nearly 3,000 miles cross-country from Oregon to Maryland and then touring the Baltimore/DC area these past two days together he now heads to Oklahoma on a different mission--to help the brothers in that area rebuild their roof that caved in due to heavy snow with final destination to Oregon.

From day one he helped us move. He came over last Friday morning to pack, p/u large items that we weren't bringing to Delaware, sweep, mop and ensure our fire alarms had new batteries, along w/ our friends Jose Ibarra, Cassandra Villanueva, and Christian Cortes they made it happen for us. My suegro waited the entire Saturday ready to depart in the am and when we didn't show up in the morning he spent the day helping his older sister in repairing her sink plumbing that had flooded the kitchen. Upon us arriving in The Dalles he began checking the SUV fluid levels, packing fruits and bottled waters for the road.

The trip was incredible, and enlightening. We both were excited to get going and made incredible time. He is one of the most practical, humble, initiative-driven and polite persons I got to know better. We decided to camp out in Utah in the SUV instead of a hotel only because it was already 3am (no need for one at that point he said). During the trip I listened to him intently coach and mentor his church base in Minnesota, Colorado, and Oklahoma--their church is national. I learned his leadership philosophy. Instead of telling the Oklahoma church leader, Jorge Garcia, what to do, he layed out the situation. He counseled. Step one. The how. Step two. The when. How are we going to rebuild? How should it be built, ie gable, flat, etc? And, secondly, the when. When do we start? My suegro made it clear that it was Jorge's decision but that he needed to demonstrate the leadership. He articulated the situation, provided options and clearly paved the way for Jorge to organize his church.

Everytime we sat to eat whether on the road or this past week at the APG dining facility or DFAC, he led a prayer. We prayed for our families back home, for another day to breathe and live, for the food nourishments and for the ability to work and contribute. Prayer is powerful I got to learn even more.

He made me laugh when we both were doing laundry at Swan Creek Inn. Apparently, the base must have run out of monies or pipes wide enough to run the water out so instead some of the washers were jerry-rigged to an old tub and then the dirty water is spilled into a drain in the middle of the laundry room. My suegro demonstrated his expertise when he showed me the pipes and how they should run, pointing each one to me. How could he not? He built his house in the The Dalles almost from scratch and consistently remodels his home while remodeling his two sons and family's homes as well, from new kitchens, bathrooms, hardwood floors, roofing and patios. Everytime we drove by a Home Depot he either wanted to stop or counseled me that they have classes for all types of learning levels. I told him my Home Depot is Borders/Barnes & Noble. He smiled.

This past week I gave him a tour of the JPED and he was amazed how we take care of our own. I introduced him to the Commander, First Sergeant, military and civilian personnel. Over the weekend, I took him out to DC to tour the White House, Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean and WWII memorials. As we read through Jefferson and Lincoln's writing my father-in-law would point out the biblical references. "These great men studied the bible and were well versed--we can only hope what we read, understand and implement one-tenth of their work," he argued. Despite his mastery of the English language, he'd read and re-read the passages outloud as if to study the meaning behind it. We were fortunate to have lunch w/ a friend and former Oregon legislative staffer, Ezra Casteel, who now works at the U.S. State Department. Ezra and I Facebook'd each other and met up at the Lincoln memorial. We walked along the Potomac River by JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Watergate Hotel, and onto Georgetown for lunch at a popular middle eastern pub. We walked a ton and Ezra was an awesome guide pointing out areas unbenown to us.

This afternoon I showed my suegro Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Fells Point and we lunched at Los Arcos. There he told the owner, Nicolas Ramos, "David, le gusta la politica y ayudando a la gente."

Recently, I was asked if I ever got bored of him or not get along. The truth is it was an extreme pleasure hanging out with him and getting to know him better. I realized this past week the importance of father involvement in the lives of our children; the importance of persevering for our kids, working smart and giving them a better life. When I first met him years ago, he told me to take good care of his daughter. Today, prior to him going through the BWI security gate and a big hug he told me to take special care of his daughter, Edith, and his granddaughters Maya, Paloma & Citlali. He said he would find out otherwise now that Maya is talking. I smiled and knew he was right. Being away from home, he and I both would get a kick out of it when we saw their pictures online and heard them talk through my BlackBerry.

I promised him not to worry the girls are and will always be in the best of hands and wished him God Speed in his next mission in Oklahoma and would see him soon. With that we bid farewell and now onto waiting for the girls pending arrival.

Cheers from APG, Maryland,
David

Update: he arrived safely in Oklahoma and has now started work on rebuilding their church. Previously, I wrote a post on their church in The Dalles, how he brought it from Mexico City and how it expanded in the U.S.

 

This morning my father-in-law and I were scheduled for bfast just down the street from Red Roof Inn at Laurel. I had been telling him of the extraordinary banano frito, popusas and homemade fruit drinks all night after a long day in Washington, D.C. Low and behold we pulled up to the Tex-Mex joint and its closed--they don't open until 11a. We had a while to go and on a tight schedule--he's scheduled to fly out to Oklahoma this afternoon to help his church members out. As we pulled away headed towards our next stop (a swap meet), we noticed the building directly next door without any visible awning, facade but packed w/ locals--Latinos--we hadn't seen it. We immediately turned around and were quickly greeted, seated and served. The family friendly locale specializes in Honduran and Salvadorean dishes. This got me thinking about outside appearance and judging books by its cover. Had I checked Foursquare I probably would have seen it. The inside looked like it had previously been a mom & pop family restaurant. We often judge books and locales by its cover. Having grown up, studied and now lucky enough to be raising a family in the beautiful Pacific Northwest I'm used to hole in the walls. We certainly would have missed out on meeting the locals and a new dining experience had we just zeroed in on the outside, but instead in an instance without much thought saw Latino families inside and knew without a doubt we had found a great local place. The guys and gals running it were fluent in English & Spanish and it made the experience that much more lively. Definitely, Edith, Maya, Paloma & Citlalli will love this place. Hope they won't think its closed--I'll just have to remind my kids not to judge a book by its cover.

Cheers from Laurel, Maryland,

David

We've been on the road since Saturday evening when my father-in-law, former Pastor Juan Quiroz packed our bags, kissed/hugged our wife's & kids goodbye, made one last prayer and departed The Dalles, Oregon. After trekking through eastern Oregon and Idaho we finally stopped for some shuteye in Utah. It was early in the morning so we passed on the fancy hotel and rested for a few hours next to some CATs and gas station. The snow capped mountains that lined the interstate were beautiful and the air was crisp. The next morning we hauled through mountainous Wyoming. The roads seemed to turn to fog at times due to the fast blowing snow along the edge of the road. Aside from the hundreds of deers eating along the side of the road and along the landscape was the hundreds of oil drill pumps--as well as in eastern Nebraska. My suegro called them snowbreakers (rompe nieves) to prevent accumalation of snow on the interstate, the wooden gates dotted the side of the Wyoming and eastern Nebraska roads. We made a few stops in Wyoming thanks to Foursquare, but the one stop that caught me off guard was a "Do Not Drink the Water" sign in one of the bathrooms. Not that I would drink from their faucet, but interesting enough.

Our first real night was in Lexington, Nebraska at a Holiday Express. Really nice rooms, blazing fast internet and awesome continental bfast. I set up our iMac and MacBook, and workshifted on BilingualHire payroll and the next morning w/ a client. When not driving I'd check Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook for the curated news of the day. I made the mistake of not checking Foursquare in Wyoming I would have saw an IHOP w/ free wi-fi instead we bfast at Village Inn that didn't have it but were working on it. Nebraska seemed a long drive, but what was impressive was the amount of farmland that landscaped for hundreds of miles. Iowa was as well, but differed in the hundreds of state of the art windturbines that took advantage of the incoming wind gust. I could't make out if they were made in America but left me curious anyhow. While we wanted to stop for a nice Omaha steak in Nebraska we settled for King Kongs in Lincoln. Their gyros were to die for. Not certain how they prepare their steaks but they were the most tender, non-greasiest and friendliest to chow. My suegro thought the same.

We passed through Des Moines, Iowa, and just south of Chicago, Illinois but mostly amazed at the countryland. While I drove, my suegro chatted w/ church leaders in the area--who tried to convince him to drive up to Minnesota and even Oklahoma. Apparently our friends church roof in Oklahoma caved in due to heavy snow and they invited us down there. Evangelical church leader aside, they knew my suegro is a carpenter and builder which is a huge asset in these situations. His plan, schedule dependent, is to fly down there after Maryland/Delaware.

The first time in a long time of actually picking up an actual newspaper came after our second night, this time at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The USA Today's front story: General: Taliban 'beaten' by surge. The night before when we were checking in the gentlemen asked for my zipcode. "19901" I told him. "Dover.. In the military?" he responded. He knew the area well having grown up and worked in sales all along the east coast. He thanked me for my service and told us he'd put a prayer in, and wished us a continuing safe trip.

The moment we pulled into Ohio, I called the JPED First Sergeant. He's an Ohio country boy as he used to tell us. He also tells us its roughly 11+ hours to Aberdeen Proving Ground from Columbus, Ohio, give or take. He tells me the commander is looking forward to our arrival.

My suegro tells me he too is going to write about this trip for Encende La Antorcha, a Morelos-based publication for his church members. I'll guest post it here when ready.

Cheers from Ohio, and sending a big kiss & hug to my loves, Edith, Maya, Paloma & Citlalli.

--David

Update 9:48 PM Eastern: Safely arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Earlier today, the reality of moving to Delaware became ever so real when Mike & Steve pulled up at our Portland home on the corner of 52nd & Everett. Just as they had arrived to carefully organize our personal belongings like a puzzle onto their truck & take off, the entire process could not have run more smoother. Arriving early in the morning from their previous pickup in Seattle the gentlemen in the middle Mike who owns his truck and is an independent contractor for NorthAmerican VanLines, and his trustee Steve shared the duty. Upon arriving we assessed the house, reviewed the paperwork completed by our packers, Brian & Tim, from yesterday, and without further ado they were off. Steve brought everything out onto Everett Street near the truck ramp. Mike carefully organized our furniture, marked boxes, stacked them high, and secured them in place. In total there would be six seperate families belongings on board seperated by floors & sections. Making it look easy, they still had another stop to go before getting on the road out east.

In the military, we're accustomed to coming & going, be it orders to serve overseas or in country, temporary duty (TDY) for school or training, unit transfers or permanent change of station (PCS) where entire families are moved from their communities. Its gentlemen like Mike & Steve that dedicate their careers to moving entire military families, and who spend the majority of their time on the road picking up and dropping off households all across America in order for us to serve. They had just arrived off I- 5 and I-84 in time to run to the local Starbucks at QFC and grab them a cup of joe and some pastries. It was the least I could do. We're the Pacific Northwest.

In between, Mike talked to his wife in Pennsylvania and I got to thank her for letting us borrow Mike for the move. Please also remember to keep Mike, Steve & every truck driver, and their families who also sacrifice for the mission in your thoughts & prayers as well. One team. One fight.

Over the past few months, I've received a ton of correspondence, messages and phone calls for legislative agenda this or that. Sure, the legislative season in Oregon and much of the country is in full-effect, but it surprises me how many miss the mark, misunderstand the legislative process and underestimate the importance of pre-planning and key players.

Why?
A legislative agenda goes far beyond bland emails with superficial thoughts, its very specific. It outlines those house, senate bills, resolutions or memorials that you're a proponent of, in many cases those that you or your organization have developed, including the language, co-sponsors, etc. On the flip side, if you don't own any, your legislative agenda means helping advance or derail a legislative measure.

A Legislative Agenda.
For starters, there are executive branch-backed measures (ex. on behalf of agency x, task force x, agency leader x) or legislator-backed (ex. on behalf of citizen x or organization/group, agency x, task force x, interim committee x). This means your legislative agenda is tied to either of these two sides.

Prior to formulating any written policy thought process, you develop what's wrong. Why is it wrong and what needs to change. That said, you speak with your boss and legislative director, and share those concerns. Prior to the legislative session you might get notice from higher that you need to review this proposal or that, or if necessary start from scratch on a proposed measure that will enhance the department/office.

At the business or organizational level, you might have a board member (legislative chair), CEO or President, even a client/customer shape the discussion. Those discussions are channeled through the association that you belong to. For instance, if you are based in Oregon and your a small, mid-size business this might mean the Oregon Business Association or small business coalition; a nursery, Oregon Association of Nurseries; a safety net clinic, Oregon Primary Care Association. Each of these types of membership groups has a legislative director or any combination Director of State/Federal Affairs, Director of Legislative Affair but in each instance this persons primary objective is to advance a specific bill(s), or ensure they are dead on arrival (DOA). In addition to being a member of one of these groups, or not, you might feel you need extra support and that's where you bring in a lobbyist. In Oregon it helps that they are in the Capitol Club Book.

At the citizen level, you'll need to put together a committee comprised of local residents, stakeholders, and local legislators. At this level, you'll more likely succeed if you bring in a lobbyist who will quarterback hand in hand w/ the legislator(s) and legislative council to draft the measure, put together the fact sheets, audio/visual presentations and other relevant, supporting documentation for informing legislators all while keeping the whole group informed.

On the ground.
Once the legislative session starts it doesn't end until sine die--until they gavel out of that years session. That means the first few months is critical to get your legislative agenda, your bills being heard and passed (the latter portion is often focused on the budget). This means convincing the chair or co-chairs to schedule a public hearing, or public hearing/work session and successfully gaveling your piece of legislation out of committee. This first piece is no easy feat, because if you can't get the chair to schedule your bill you have a bigger problem. Obviously it can go to another committee, ie Judiciary, or Joint Ways & Means, etc. DOA means your bill started here and ended here and never got the light of day. If the chair or co-chairs & committee aren't going to schedule your bill your going to have to elevate it to their leadership, and caucus members. Some groups have rally's outside the capitol and invite key legislators to speak before their group, some grill steaks or salmon and have an open picnic, some hold displays in the galleria, others invite hundreds to swarm committee rooms to testify. On the ground matters.

Its not nearly enough to just have hope, lollygag in the capitol hallway, elevators or cafeteria or blast emails it means constantly keeping your eye on where your shining star is in the midst of the building maze, knowing and shaping the political landscape and creating momentum behind it. Thus, the vital importance of having your legislative director, public affairs and/or lobbyist on the ground daily being of resource to the chair/co-chairs, leadership offices and their aides, and working w/ the committee administrator is critical and will determine the likeliness of your success. Having a legislator or a group of legislators on both sides of the aisle supporting and amplifying your cause day-in and day-out is awesome. Anything less, any email in the inbox is just wishful thinking.

As a dad of three young daughters under 3 this is affordable. As a business owner this is doable. The importance of safety net clinics is evident. As a small business owner, we too would love to offer our employees awesome health care but have you seen the prices? They are through the roof and I'm hardpressed how to make it happen as its the right thing to do (disclaimer: I'm a Veteran and my healthcare is covered 100% through the VA system). I'm inspired by Dave Chase's Rx to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. Chase recently wrote a follow up piece in SiliconFlorist. Our M.D. Governor has been a leader in this field so I'm interested as we all are what Executive Orders and/or private-public initiatives will be installed to make it affordable for small businesses and startups to provide awesome and doable healthcare to their employees and make the process as seamless as launching a Posterous account.

When that happens, sign BilingualHire up.

Who knew the need for bilingual (Spanish/English) temporary staff was high in demand? In late November either everyone was on Thanksgiving-Christmas-Holiday mode or were telling us, "hold off a bit, we got some need in the new year." January 2011 kicked off and we started placing BilingualHire Associates out in the field and doing payroll. First e-newsletter of the decade and we were slammed with resumes and temp hiring-interest far and wide. This is all great news. Hence, the post title.

What are we hiring for? General Manager 

Responsibilities:
1. Business development, and strategic partnerships
2. Mentor/coach BilingualHire Associates

Does this have your name all over it? Phenomenal.
Send over your details to: david@bilingualhireco.com w/ the following questions answered:

1. What 3 things you'd do as General Manager everyday

2. Which 3 clients should be in our long-term portfolio

3. How would you approach mentoring/coaching our BilingualHire Associates

This past Thursday, a former co-worker and friend from my previous active-duty military assignment, The Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED) served God on this earth one last time and it pains me he's gone. The JPED is ground zero for processing the personal belongings & cherished memories for nearly every American killed-in-action or wounded from the Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. When JPED was stood up after the 9/11 Pentagon attacks at Fort Myers, Virginia and later relocated to Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Maryland, Rick Garrett was one of the first non-uniforms on the ground to help document this part of 21st century military history. A trained & professional photographer, he captured the memories as the personal belongings arrived off the trucks, unpacked, properly prepared and moved along for final outbound shipment. He would later train other non-uniform and uniform service-members on photographing the inventory process. A perfectionist who shared his love of the camera--and equally his love of golf, but mostly how he wanted to serve our nation & her patriots in her greatest time of need. I once asked Rick, "you could be doing anything else, but you're here right in the thick of it." His response: "I love it here. This is one way I can serve those who have served us." 

As we sit here as a family watching the Oregon Auburn 2011 game on the big screen courtesy of GoogleTV I'm in awe. The picture is crisp. The streaming is flying. And, most importantly the content is not blocked. Unlike streaming the internet on our computers, GoogleTV prevents us a similar positive and seamless experience. 

Recently, I had tea w/ Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb at Portland's own tea shop, Townshend's. We discussed a variety of topics, from current projects to startup resources. Note: if you're in or visiting Portland and love tea, Townshend's is a delight.

I mentioned to Marshall the challenges of building, fine-tuning, iterating & then building our business--from startup life to raising 3 very young children. During the course of our conversation he demonstrated an app he'd put together for his friend that streams the top 50 design/graphic design blogs. He also introduced me to several resources including FancyHands, MechanicalTurk, NeedleBase, Skitch, EveryBlock, HeatMap, UserPlane, and WidgetBox (I had already been using Fiverr) to help work more effectively--which I'm planning on supporting & utilizing. We both studied PoliSci-- he at our rival UO and I at OSU. Marshall is a phenomenal & gifted writer. Insightful. Put simply. I was blown away--from his knowledge of technology to the politics of the day. Someone you should follow and if you ever have the opportunity to learn, share & contribute, do.

Yesterday, Edith and I participated in Christmas Eve service at Iglesia Christiana Universal Apostolica de Jesus Pentecostes of The Dalles. This church was founded over 20 years ago by Edith's dad, former-Pastor Juan Quiroz. He received the 'blessing' and 'authority' from the head church prior to immigrating to Oregon from Mexico City decades ago fully equipped with how-to manuals, officially signed papers with the goal of taking the words of the Bible and sharing them with others in The Dalles, Oregon, a small rural town just an hour east of Portland-metro on the Columbia Gorge.

The first blessing was arriving safely. The second, bringing his entire family safely and providing for his family. The third, his passion to see the church through.

About half-dozen large sized Hispanic families would gather to sing, pray, and hear the word of God. They moved from location to location within The Dalles and at one point met with with local and regional Salvation Army leadership (for a while they rented a small location through them) and despite not having a secured location, despite others persuading him to join their churches, despite lack of finances to permanently conduct their service at a location former-Pastor Juan Quiroz persevered for the members. Finally, he came across a small church with a small congregation off Walnut St. and he decided to attend, meet the Pastor. The Pastor opened his home door, and after the two met and an exchange of words, I'd imagine many from scripture, Pastor Juan, was able to secure a time slot at that very church. They would provide a monthly small donation for the location and some time went by before the two Pastors would come together to sign an ownership and financial agreement that would transfer the rights to Juan, on behalf of the church. The old, antique and wooden built church stands out with the large white cross, sits on a little under an acre equipped with a private residence, attached carport, shed and picnic area providing a permanent place for the members of the church, year around.

Those original families have long gone, but their kids and their kids remain. Yesterday, I saw brand new families. Many committing themselves to attending and the continuation of the church, a challenge similar to others, of recruiting and retaining its members.

Edith and I along with our three young children attended the service, as did lots of kids. Blessings come large and small, 2010 brought us our twins, Paloma & Citlali.

Today, as my father-in-law preached, is a new Christian calendar day. Faith is something very powerful and something I think we should all have regardless of church denomination and its just not faith in oneself, each other, our designated leadership, but in the organizations that we belong to.

From The Dalles, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, to mom, Yadira, Victor, Crystal, Nuria & Briana, family & friends back in Mt. Vernon as well as Nayarit and everywhere a lifetime of peace and love.

Fact: National, regional and state MEChA is much more technologically organized than in the 1960s. Printed newsletters and authoring pamphlets to distribute could only go so far. Today, more members own a smart phone than non-smart phones and nearly every chapter has a Facebook page. Nearly every chapter has a webmaster (usually under the schools URL). We IM, email, Facebook and Tweet each other. 
Fact: MEChA offers each of its members and officers an opportunity to explore (history, points of view, personal strengths/weaknesses), engage (their peers, friends, members, the public), inquire (through debate and discussion what's in the communities best interest) and create/plan (opportunities for at-promise youth, themselves, cultural/civic actions etc).
Fact: MEChA is, quite often, the leading organization and support structure, from at-promise youth (notice how I didn't say at-risk) to high-achieving (via grades, extra curricular and church activities) scholars.
Fact: Anyone with an internet connection can broadcast to the world (and its members) using apps like Cinch and then embed those in your blog or website from the comfort of your phone (I recorded those memorable moments of our daughters heartbeats). On this blog I've posted some and others over on BilingualHire (of course you can record and upload to YouTube, Facebook etc).

Today, MEChA remains a student-run organization and is hyper-democratic (members must be recognized by their chapters, chapters by their state, the state by the region, and the region by Nationals; and, special use of parliamentary procedure). These are all good things however the chapters miss out on engaging and building synergy with others that could help that aren't in the room.

In 1997, during the National MEChA Conference at Michigan State University about a half-dozen chapters from across the country who had high-end video equipment recording capacity . In 1998, the policy changed that every chapter had to register their cameras. Today, our smart phones that we all carry (many of us) have built in cameras, video cameras which are tied into the very social networks that we love to use, are used to capture these great family/friend moments. Where our friends are on. Where our friends that could benefit from these workshops and discussion could learn from. Facebook, over MySpace made this distinctly better. So why aren't we podcasting the workshops? Why aren't we recording every workshop, keynote, meetings etc and archiving this for MEChistAs that couldn't attend, future generations?

How you ask? Loic LeMeur over at Seesmic and the founder of LeWeb has an excellent prototype in play:
-each page interconnected with our friends on Facebook
-digitally present (if you can't make it to Paris, France they offer a link to stream it live via UStream and non-live via YouTube)
-minute by minute photo album via Flickr

And, then there's world renowned blogger and tech enthusiast, Robert Scoble, who interviews every entrepreneur, founder, CEO and individuals that are building, shipping their products/services, in particularly as it relates to mobile/web-based services that are changing the world and how we interact with each other. You have to check out how he captures the moments via Flickr and how he interviews via Cinch.

This strategy works to keep us engaged without having stepped foot on an airplane and be in France. I recall in high school, community college not having the sufficient funds to send every interested member which was a tragedy. While we fundraised like heck, selling tamales, pan dulce and organizing car washes over by Safeway and hosting dances--scholarships aside, we could never raise enough. At the university much different story. At our liaisons, conferences, meetings etc we could take all the minutes in the world but it just didn't convey the message in the best possible way. This impacted recruitment/retention if nothing else. Just last week, I heard from my sister-in-law, Janet, that their community college MEChA chapter made over 170 phone calls to Congress in support of the Dream Act. That's incredible! How else are we sharing our accomplishments?

I was often asked by my mom when returning from meetings and conferences, "mijo, tu y tu MEChA. ¿Que hacen?"

No better time than the present then to answer that very question for those that can't be there. Will the policy and strategy change? I hope so.

Monday morning, I skipped gym at 24 Hour Fitness to drop our ballots off in Portland. We had been sitting on them over the weekend and hadn't even completed them (Edith was early on this one) until last, Friday. It wasn't a challenge at all. Having three very small children in the house is.

Over the past few week our home, like your home I imagine, has been swamped by political mail-- vote for me--he's evil--type literature. Political messages. Endorsements. Marketing collateral. Facebook ads, TV and radio ads. Honestly, you either like the guy/gal or you don't. You either trust him/her or you don't. You either supported the measure based on what you believe to be true, what you read in the voter's pamphlet or how your friends/family voted. In my district, I voted for Ben Cannon because aside from being really sharp he's got a ton of great ideas on how to govern more effectively. His education credentials are very impressive, he's an elementary teacher and he's a parent. We met for coffee over the summer--we'd just moved from Fairview/Wood Village, represented by Nick Kahl I'm happy Ben won, its the peoples victory. I met former @MultCo Chair Ted Wheeler via Twitter and was very encouraged w/ his thirst for learning about the issues impacting disenfranchised and Oregon's underserved communities. Appointed to State Treasurer, Wheeler took on the fight and keeps us updated online. Another sharp guy.

Earlier today, I ran into my former chair of the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Jose Ibarra who had been out all morning canvassing, doing signs, and other voter-driven election stuff. I was inspired by his commitment to our democracy. Unlike Latinos for Reform, a group that had the gall to urge Nevada Latinos to stay put. As a friend put it, "son unas mamadas."

Voting and elections are about sending our voice to represent the people in the tough choices which make up governing and legislating. When I was a kid I was told it was like selecting and sending someone at the table to go fight and get us all a piece of cake (in the quincenera context). Could be your tia or primo but its someone you have confidence that will fight on your behalf and deliver.

At Oregon State one of my political science professors called politics, the study of who gets what, when and how. And, during my brief stint working in the political sausage making at the Oregon State Capitol I realized that our voice and engagement, our own lobbying on the issues we care about is highly needed.

Its what makes this thing tick. Voting is what keeps our elected officials aware that we're paying attention. Its unfortunate as Randy Nunez just reminded us that only half of the national electorate actually votes. I think we're up there in the Pacific Northwest, but nevertheless, no enthusiasm gap from what I could tell and my hope is that our elected officials continue to deliver (better). Both sides.

Since 8/27, Edith and I haven't taken the trek up north to Mount Vernon, Washington. Our twins, Paloma & Citlali, were preemies and too small to travel. Nearly two months later we did and my mom, brothers and sisters were able to spend precious moments with them. We are so happy we did. To see family hug and hold the little ones brings us back to what is important in life, to see Maya read to her older cousins and for the aunts and uncles to meet the twins is an incredible and fulfilling feeling as parents.

While I missed a ton due to Battle Assembly (Military Drill Weekend) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord it was nice to see the photos on the digital camera and video on the Flip. These two provide a glimpse of the moments in time when our kids are a little older. We'll use Facebook mostly and some will go in Flickr.

These are moments that can never be taken back. These are moments that will go by super fast and its important to cherish those moments.

I'm hoping as the little ones get older they'll love to travel as much as Edith and I do not just to visit family but to do family oriented trips to faraway places. That, and we desperately have outgrown this SUV.

Van maybe? Rooftop cargo carrier?

As many of you already know 49 days ago, Edith and I were blessed w/ Paloma & Citlali, twins. At that time we thought, or at least I did that I could continue at the same rate/trajectory that I had long been used to. That is volunteer boards, commissions, advisory groups, task forces, speaker, even guest-blogging etc, but I seriously miscalculated. Edith long ago took an "until time permits" sabbatical from Radio Tonalli and everything else as she actually read, "Having Twins: What You Need to Know" and took better notes during our doctors visits at Portland Providence. That and we love spending time w/ our newborns and Maya who's in her terrible twos. Those are moments that are worth every chance.

That said, I submitted my resignations to the following boards, effective this past Monday:

- Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs
- Oregon State University (OSU) Presidents' Board of Visitors
- OSU Chicano/Latino Alumni Board

The mission of these groups, which I love and treasure continue, and this opening offers an opportunity if you have ample time, energy and focus to join and lead. The groups are on the internets and can be Google'd, Bing'ed etc. If you need assistance, drop me a note.

PS: If we don't respond to your specific emails, voice mails etc in a timely fashion as we've long been accustomed to its because we are in over our head.

PSS: At this time, please relay your call for help/volunteerism, etc elsewhere.

Thanks for your attention.
-David (@davidcmolina)

Thanks Olivia for Maya's gift & her first Elmo movie! She's in love.

One day Maya is opening her eyes for the first time. Next, crawling. Then, walking & running. Now, she's cruising. Daddy's little girl is growing up so fast.

Today, I unpacked and put back on our nation's Army Combat Uniform (ACUs) again for the first time since mid-June 2008. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. That day, the Commander of the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED), LTC Kilmon & 1SG Venham led my demobilization farewell. I gave a few brief words to the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and DoD Civilian Contractors assigned to America's post-9/11 operation dedicated to preserving the memories and personal effects (PE) of our nation's service members and DoD Civilian Contractors killed or wounded in action. I gave my final salute and made the 3-day drive across our nation, from Maryland back to Oregon. The JPED was stood up as a response to the Pentagon attack to retrieve, inventory, and return the PE of those inside that never made it back out on 9/11. Eventually, JPED moved from Ft Myers, VA to APG in Maryland near the Delaware border. The JPED is expected to relocate to Dover, Delaware to be co-located with Port-Mortuary Affairs and where the remains of our fallen arrive from Iraq and Afghanistan.

That afternoon, the JPED Executive Officer LTC Kyburz, Maj Rafferty, CPT Roberts, Marvon AKA Big Brother, SFC (Ret.) Craig & Waite, MSG (Ret.) Delgado, CPT Ruiz, 1LT Irizarry, 1LT Patel, Chief Couch, Rick, Randy, Smitty, Sgt Medina, Mercado & Deynes, Daryl Hill and tens of dozens of friends, colleagues joined me for our last lunch together--the local buffet; common for departing members of the unit. We shared stories, laughed about our times together, specifically about Feb 31st, exchanged gifts & tokens of appreciation and photos, speeches and then returned to continue our noble mission.

Everyday in uniform I dreaded the day, like everyone else, that I would come in to work and find the case of a fellow brother and sister-in-arms that I knew personally. And, while it was hard work, the situation hit home even more when we were sending a case back to Oregon. In one instance, I signed the paperwork of Rodriguez, an Oregonian Soldier from Southern Oregon. As I signed the final forms certifying the items being sent home, I couldn't help but notice the Casualty Affairs Officer (CAO) listed right below my signature. The CAO is the family's point person named Lieutenant Major, a fellow Lieutenant who I had attended the U.S. Army School of Infantry (OBC) with just a year earlier. The shipping address was Eugene, Oregon. Small Army.

In another, Sgt Kennedy, nephew of the late Lion of the Senate, Sen Ted Kennedy, and while human errors are made, these memories, names, class rings, letters (many in Spanish), school rings remain with us. I'm proud like everyone there the work we did and how much it meant to the families, wives, moms to hold their loved ones belongings. From talking on the phone of a mom who had lost one son in Afghanistan to almost losing a second in Iraq and somewhere amidst 12 footlockers we couldn't seem to find his military ID card, dogtags, and driver's license, but its there and together we found it, was the most rewarding work.

Strangely, this is my first drill back in the U.S. Army Reserves since JPED. Many combat patches abound, the most common the Multinational Security Transitions Command, Iraq (MNSTC-I), the patch worn by Veterans' of Task Force Desert Wolf of 104th Division IT and other Soldiers from across the United States that deployed to Iraq between 2007-2008.

Driving north on I-5 this morning I listened intently to NPR Weekend and the coverage of 9/11 remembrances, from New York to the Pentagon. That solemn date which has been cemented into our collective memories, much like the names of many who went through JPED cemented into those who served and continue to serve there.

At final formation this evening the commander had us take a moment in our own right to pause, reflect and pray for all those who lost their lives on 9/11, and our comrades-in-arms thereafter.

Mission continues.

There's an old saying often quoted by executive coaches, bots on Twitter, entrepreneurship circles and dinner tables around the world and while I hate to repeat it, it bears repeating because in my book when it comes to caring for those who've worn the scars for the nation, we have a sincere obligation and responsibility. Goes like this, "madness is repeating something over and over and expecting different results."

Previously, I wrote about how the Portland Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center (PVAMC), on the Portland, Oregon hilltop needs to seriously and urgently start taking care of Oregon/SW Washington Veterans' better in the Pharmacy Department and how we don't need more security guards, but what we urgently need is a better VA Medical Center pharmacy intake procedure and friendly Pharmacy staff (though one was courteous and heard me out, today). Thursday, I once again visited the crown jewel to refill on my meds--unusual because the emergency room doesn't refill meds, this is done at the primary care level--however, I would run out tomorrow, Friday, and I would not be able to wait for 2 weeks until I was seen. To my surprise the Pharmacy Operation is still running business as usual. This is unacceptable and from experience on the military side, from Privates to Generals, we are all held account for lack or lackthere of, and the VA Medical Centers--where tens of millions of American Veterans' go for their primary, secondary or emergency healthcare-- shouldn't be exempt.

#1 Issue: unless Veterans' or their spouses can read tiny print its nearly impossible to know what the anachronistic 20" TV is for. Nearly everyone in line had no idea what line to get in, or which line was for what, so Veterans' just got in line to only be yelled out and counseled to take a number moments after and then told, "it will be 45 - 60 minutes." I had been in/out of meetings all morning and I was wearing my blazer and someone thought I was a greeter (apparently they've had them in the past?).

Recommendations:
1. Replace the tiny black/white monitor with a large (pref 40") flat screen and increase the font.
2. Run a continuous script or large white/black type above the flat screen, "if your last name has not appeared below, please take a check-in number and provide to drop-off window to initiate service, thank you.."
3. Eliminate the #1, #2, #3, #4 etc decals above the windows as this adds to the confusion.
4. Add green/red lights to each window that are activated by the Pharmacy staff behind their respective window and use them.
5. Implement a 15 (maybe 20) minute rule: if Veterans' don't get their meds within 15 minutes of dropping off their prescription, its free.
6. Meds submitted through the emergency room are automatically entered into the system, no number, no waiting 45 minutes.
7. Relocate the current PVAMC staffer inside the pharmacy (who doesn't work in the Pharmacy Dept, oddly) with a Pharmacy General Manager (GM). He/she should have an open door policy and make themselves avail to Veterans' should the need arise. If the staff is doing splendid, than the GM should have nothing to worry about.

#2 Issue: no one should have to leave their Eastern or Southern Oregon home at 2:00 am to make a 9:00 am doctors appointment that lasts approximately 15 minutes and then have to wait 6 hours for meds, only to find out that the meds is for a 30 day supply. In the words of the retired former military intellegence analyst with the U.S. Army, "what in the F@#* is this S@#*."

Recommendation:
1. Effective immediately, modify the policy so that Veterans' can visit their nearby Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) and get their meds there, especially if the CBOC is just a short commute. In this case, from Hermiston to Tri-Cities.

Now I know many of you are shaking your head, "well the doctors really need to visit w/ the patient to determine change of health condition, med dosage etc.," and my answer is yes, of course, but we shouldn't mandate a Veteran to make a 5 hour drive to do this and sacrifice an entire day. This is service?

I heard the argument, "well narcotics shouldn't be prescribed for any more than 30 days" and I heard, "some Veterans' might be taking advantage of the system and abusing their meds when they don't need them anymore."

Today, yet again I was warned, "the VA Center across the river in Vancouver runs a tight ship, nothing like this mess here." Well so much for coordination, integration and synchronization.

Its clear that Oregon and SW Washington Veterans' that go for their primary, secondary or emergency healthcare need bold, decisive and innovative leadership at the Portland VA Medical Center this year, today, not until the next Presidential election or new VA Secretary. Please. Everyone. Get. On. The. Same. Sheet. Of. Music. Thank you.

Your turn, comment below.

-- David Molina is an Army Veteran that served from 2000 to 2008, and in support of Operation Iraqi/Enduring Freedom from March 2007 to June 2008 as a Summary Court Martial Officer/S-3 Plans, Training and Operations Officer-in-Charge at the Joint Personal Effects Depot at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He receives his healthcare through the VA.

We're happy to announce the healthy arrival of two new blessings to our family--Paloma Catalina (4lbs 9oz) born at 0816 and Citlali Olivia (5lbs 14oz) at 0817, today.

Now I'm not the first to pen open criticism of our nation's Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers, whether its Walter Reed or Portland VA Medical Center. Today, for the first time I went in to get seen at the emergency room on a lower back pain that came back this week with a vengeance--my hope was to receive an SI (steroid injection) as the military doctors had done previously at Bethesda/Walter Reed--but after being seen I was prescribed meds, and a follow up in two weeks. Up to this point I was pleased and impressed with the genuine patient care and compassion exhibited from the front desk, volunteers, nurses to the doctors. My next stop. Pharmacy. I was advised on the meds I would be taking, to walk 50 meters and get taken care of all under one roof and on the same day. Perfect.

The current Pharmacy requires Veterans' to take a number similar to your local DMV for license/permit, no exception. After waiting patiently for 40+ minutes in the lobby, 71 came up on the screen, my number. I got in the chaotic line happy as can be to pick up my meds and Veterans' both young and old, however, were furious and vocal about the Pharmacy setup and were leaving if not barging out of there, some without their meds. When I arrived at the window to provide my ticket and paperwork low and behold I was told by the pharmicist "wrong window I can't talk to you, you need to go to the other window." I barely understood through the thick glass windows. Stunned, I went to the adjacent window and asked the agent about my meds and was told, "take a number, it will be about 40-45 minutes" even though 71 had just been called, but there was no arguing with this agent. Now I could've easily disappeared into the hallway, parking lot and forget about the situation and visit my local Walgreens, instead I refused to let Pharmacy continue to push Veterans' out without their meds. I went back to speak with the emergency room front desk and explained the disastrous situation occurring and pressed to make leadership aware. Jeannet was as displeased as I was, made a phone call to Pharmacy and walked with me to help me get my meds. After a few minutes talking to the agent behind the thick glass window she politely said a few minutes for your meds, and apologized for the inconvenience and urged me to not quit on the VA.

While standing in line I made small chat with a very nice lady who had worked at this Portland VA center for over two decades. She was very knowledgeable, and had great insight about the operation.Curious, I asked why she had left and said "bureaucracy and red tape that would make you sick and your head spin." Apparently too the Pharmacy Operation had changed considerably over the years adding great confusion for first time and continuing Veterans' visits, I was being told. She explained that the small 20-inch black monitor in the seating section with the yellow names scrolling vertically indicated individuals meds ready for pick-up. This was news to me as well as others. My last name appeared after 20-minutes and I proceeded to get in line while continuing to witness not just confusion but anger at the Pharmacy Operation, both at the agents and the procedure, coming from Veterans' walking and those in wheelchairs, and I continued to be stunned of the lack of compassion given equal to the compassion American service members provided to the nation in her time of need.

The Portland VA Medical Center doesn't need more security guards called to help contain a situation on the contrary it needs continuing education (e.g. customer service) for the Pharmacy staff; not agents who let procedural problems fester in their own area of operation, but are held accountable and empowered to improve care for Veterans'.

All of us in line aren't your average joes--we are World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Persian Gulf I, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and every conflict in between--we are Veterans' who have traveled from as far as Roseburg and rural Oregon to native Portlander's.

We're in 2010 and the VA continues to use 1990 machines and methods. Replace the tiny monitor. Use text. Email. Tweet. But expedite the process. Put a bigger screen with bold instructions. Put some courtesy back into this bottleneck.

We just want our meds to relieve the pain and go back home. We wish not to develop an ulcer while waiting for meds. Portland VA Medical Center. Please. Its 2010.

-- David Molina is an Army Veteran that served from 2000 to 2008, and in support of Operation Iraqi/Enduring Freedom from March 2007 to June 2008 as a Summary Court Martial Officer/S-3 Officer-in-Charge at the Joint Personal Effects Depot at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Yesterday, Edith and I were witnesses to the matrimony of Dario & Karla Vergara. What was incredible was the amount of photos and video that were taken with everything from BlackBerry's to iPhones and clunky equipment (professional hires). I made the choice to send photos taken to Twitpic (http://twitpic.com) and video to 12Seconds (http://12seconds.com), and I almost sent some to Flickr (http://flickr.com). Everyone with a Smartphone and internet connection did or just saved it for later viewing.

But what if there was a way to synchronize, on the fly, all that content taken specific to Dario & Karla's wedding, from photos to video, so that they have memories of their wedding from their guests point of view/angle for later viewing (or on the spot viewing). For instance the Molina Family is having a huge celebration and the family wants to access all the content that all our guests have taken without delay. Certainly our friends could tag us and shoot us an email afterwards, but it would be convenient, for family and friends who couldn't make it to share in the moment and even then not all guests might be connected on the various social media platforms.

Is anyone aware of such service in use today? I'd love to use it.

Today, our daughter, Maya turns 2. When friends ask her how old she is, she smiles, "dos." Love you, Maya, hoy y siempre.

IN the early days of Paloma & Gaviota. This week, 33 weeks. We'll meet you soon!

Last night, I hung out w/ friends & family at Izzy & Blanca Quiroz's (brother-in-law) The Dalles home in their backyard. As many of you know Edith's family are from here and have been since the mid-80s. During the evening we wanted to listen to music but didn't want to disconnect the cumbersome stereo equipment, and bring tables outside near our bonfire so I pulled out my trusted BlackBerry and started my Pandora Radio (http://pandora.com) app, but it wasn't loud (maybe just a little). Izzy pulled out his small portable Boston speakers and we looked for a way to connect them to my Berry, and we did. Both Izzy & Gabe also downloaded the free app and we began switching our smartphones in/out from the portable speakers so that we could make/receive phone calls, text, and make updates to our social networks. Via Pandora Radio, we listened to everything from Ramon Ayala to Cumbias and Rock En Espanol. Aside from the minimal commercials on Pandora, it provided us the most simple, diverse and equally beautiful way of accessing our favorite music, all from the comfort of our smartphones. Take your pick. We started w/ the BlackBerry and ended our bonfire on the iPhone. Adios DVD players. For Ever.

Now we can't wait until Pandora Radio fully becomes universal in all our vehicles. Cheers from The Dalles, Oregon, David

Today, our familia celebrates the 4th. Family from The Dalles to friends from Stockton, and Portland, we enjoy some cold ones, carne asada, salsa picante, BBQ ribs (thanks Brito for the homemade BBQ sauce!) and beautiful memories. In the end that's what its about. Salud, and Happy 4th! Oh, and if you're in the Portland area stop by and say hi.

This morning I had the pleasure of running into Western Oregon University student, Orlando Lopez, at Woodburn's City Hall on my way out from a briefing. Always great to meetup w/ folks offline (sorry Twitter/Facebook). I first met Lopez at Portland State University at the request of the MEChA Region to share my thoughts & insights on the forming of the Washington/Oregon region. He and fellow NMCC (National MEChA Coordinating Council) for the region, Kata Cervantes, would later invite me to one of their Regional meetings to share a draft resolution I was proposing in support of MEChA on behalf of the Commission on Hispanic Affairs. Lopez and Cervantes are everything you'd want, and expect from our youth: engaged citizens, compassionate and caring for the underserved, bright, and hopeful in the future. MEChA taught me about these values. Lopez, like many of our youth, exemplify this passion and work tooth-and-nail to execute that vision. He was sharing his latest academic accomplishments, and upcoming actions throughout Oregon. I'm extremely proud of him and the work these students carry out on a daily basis.

Favor: next time you see student leaders, praise them not just through words but through action & deeds. College is tough enough. Let's financially support them, one step towards preparing one Orlando Lopez at a time.

Good to see you Orlando!

Saludos from the City of Woodburn, David

In case you missed my email, this morning's post, "The Right and Wrongs of SB 1070" over at LatinoPoliticsBlog.com. Thanks "What the... " for your comments. See you there (don't forget to add your part) - http://bit.ly/9X8gBZ

"Wow. Unbelievable. What did the last tenants do, smoke in this closet 24/7" was this mornings newest comment from a neigbor walking by. Yesterday, the Chair of the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs (disclaimer: I serve on the commission), Mr Jose Ibarra, noted the stench, and raw smell coming out of all the rooms as well, in particularly the closets. He came out to help me get our love sofa, couches , mattresses and dresser out. "What did they do, smoke a pack a day in here?" he stated. A colleague, Ms Villanueva, came over last night to help move my home office and family pictures, noted the obvious, "overwhelming nasty smell. Yellow stains everwhere, wow. I'm so happy you are moving your expecting wife and 20-month old out of here. I'm so sorry I had no idea." Toxic. Yes. Third hand smoking environment. You bet. I bet you wouldn't put your cat or dog in this house or closet for one night. I overheard yesterday and today, "that smell burns your throat, que no?"

The property manager stated, "I don't smell anything. Nothing. I'd be happy here. You'd be hardpressed to get any health official or anyone to come in here and say otherwise. This is NOT smoke damaged. You and Edith just want to get out of the 12-month lease." Really? I responded, "Ma'am, with all due respect, you don't smell that odor, stench from my dress blues, business suits or my wife's maternity clothes?" I asked. No answer.

A colleague w/ BOLI emailed, "I am sorry that your family is having to deal with this issue. I wish your family the best in reaching a resolution."

As a dad I have a responsibility to my twins Paloma & Gaviota, Maya, and Edith. Their health is my perogative. As an engaged citizen and blogger, I have a responsibility to speak up. But as a dad, its my responsibility when my family is in danger, period.

Enough is enough, we're cutting our losses. Have you had this happen to you? What did you do about it? How did you solve the situation? Did you bring Police & Fire to inspect? Chime in below. While you're at it, bring your respirator mask and tell me, with an honest face, that we are wrong. Sigh.

HispanicPundit calls it a "great post." My latest post over "where La Raza dishes about political leadership & contemporary issues" titled, "The America that Could Be." What do you think? - http://bit.ly/c6h1wr.

Over the past week our daughter, Maya, has been feeling under the weather. It's been difficult as parents trying to get some shuteye, but more so, it's been even more difficult for her. She knows and hates a runny nose. Calls it "mocos" and demands that her mother or I wipe them off. Her pediatrician has also been concerned because she's not gaining the weight that she is supposed to as a toddler. They've asked us to feed her more foods with lots of fatty foods, i.e. cottage cheese, cheese, peanut butter, etc. I'll admit Maya has her preferences and she'll eat plenty when she loves the foods we give her, but how do you guarantee or how do we know as parents that she is where she is supposed to be in weight? 

This morning, Chair Jose Ibarra, and I left Portland and departed our homes for an AM meeting with The Dalles city officials, Mr. Nolan Young (City Manager), Chief Waterbury, and Mayor Wilcox at City Hall. After weeks of correspondence, long phone conferences, we came out here to introduce ourselves and try and facilitate a conversation between city officials and local Latino community residents and members of We The People, a Latino community-based organization, on unresolved disputes. After back-to-back meetings all day, and an afternoon of drafting a report for the Chair and our partners in state government, I'm coming back to a statement made earlier: "if we had known you all existed a year ago, I think we would have already resolved this issue." Another one: "thank goodness an organization exists like the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs, we'd not heard about you before." Certainly, we don't have the funds, staffing or resources, at least from my perspective, to execute the work that needs to happen in Oregon to improve the lives of all Oregonian Latinos and be of resource to elected and appointed officials, and meet every Latino community, but we'll try very hard. As evident today, Ibarra and I demonstrated like every good commissioner before us and those currently onboard, commissioner-driven commissions are not just necessary, but a requirement, and small efforts by small efforts add up. The Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs has been on the offense meeting with both university leaders, city elected officials and Latino community leaders, far and wide, in an effort to improve Oregon for all of us. We recently launched a Facebook community page [http://bit.ly/dATytn] another tool for Latino Oregonians to communicate with us. We're informed by over half a dozen organizations by email, phone, RSS feeds, mail, social media etc to shape our agenda. Commissioners work with elected officials on a daily basis; we have meetings with key decision makers on a daily basis; and, correspond with key state partners to resolve issues. We're practically part of the Univision team, where our commissioners have been on their En Comunidad program at least over half-a-dozen times. For the first time in many moons, this commission is proposing a key legislative proposal in the 2011 legislative session that improves the public safety of all drivers on the road, and increases business. 

Nancy Goss-Duran
Executive Appointments
Office of the Governor
900 Court St. NE, Rm. 160
Salem, OR 97301

Email: nancy.goss-duran@state.or.us

For more information about each of the commissions please visit our website: http://www.oregon.gov/OAC/ or contact our office.

Thank you,

Oregon Advocacy Commission Office
3218 Pringle Rd. SE, Ste. 270
Salem, OR 97302
(503) 378-2139
oaco.mail@state.or.us 

 

Friday #dadtime by the lake. Maya seems to really enjoy it. Curiosity indeed begins at an early age.

In this podcast, David Córdova of David Córdova & Associates, LLC, a marketing and public relations, shares his thoughts and insights on struggles and barriers Latinos face everyday. A former journalist and Telemundo executive, Córdova shares his passion for ensuring Latino and all student success and the powerful experience that comes with attending the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), Annual National Convention. Hope you will be inspired as we were. Enjoy!

In this interview, Dr. Jesus "Chuy" Negrete, Chicano Musicologist, and Founder and Director of the Mexican Cultural Institute of Chicago shares his thoughts and insights on preserving history through corridos, and careers in musicology and why its important for bilingual talent to consider this career option. Gracias Chuy again for your work in preserving Chicano history! Happy listening!

Out and about with Maya.

"I've lived and worked 44 years in the U.S., and sent two sons off to American universities, but the respect we get from Oregon employers, sadly, is sometimes hostile, often being treated indifferently because of the color of our skin." - participant

IN all, thirteen of Oregon’s best and brightest Chicana/o and Latina/o students will be represented at this year’s United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI), Annual National Conference in Chicago; from first generation to new immigrants, from high school and junior college to university students, the caliber and quality is superb. Donors and sponsors have paved some of the way, and most of the participating students are investing their way as well. Tens and dozens of volunteer hours have contributed to this effort.
Some stories of the students attending:

-Fabian: a Southern Oregon University student, son of migrant farmworkers and former participant of the Oregon Migrant/Hispanic Student Leadership Institute. A student leader, and volunteer in organizing community soccer camps. His take is using sports as a vehicle to get students thinking about their future.
-Yecenia: a University of Oregon student, first generation and the first Latina to head to college and immigrant-rights activist from Saint Helens. Aside from the rigors of academics, Yecenia mentors and tutors young Latina/o students through Eugene’s Juventud Faceta program.
-Yaneira: a University of Portland student, first generation and the first Latina in her family to head to college. She is a university student leader in student government and one of two sophomore senators. As a junior in high school, Yaneira launched the Almas Program to expose Latina/o students with business, civic and academic leaders. When not studying, she is an Oregon Leadership Institute mentor for local Latina/o high-potential students.
-Veronica: a Portland Community College at Rock Creek student, first generation and the first Latina in her family to head to college. A student leader in high school, and a mentor to other English as a Second Language students. As a high school senior, she led a dental hygiene drive to send toothbrushes/toothpaste to poor villagers in Latin America, as a result of being exposed in her civics class of the poverty and lack of dental services in those affected areas.

The plan is once we return is to create a social media campaign via Oregon State University to share the 13 students’ stories with everyone. Tens of dozens of student requests came in, but we faced major fundraising hurdles. We hope that this group lays the foundation for organizing future Oregon delegations to Chicago. I want to thank John Haroldson, and Mario Magaña for getting me all rowled up and part of changing how we build future Oregon Latina/o leaders. Thanks guys!

Nothing like a Saturday out w/ your daughter, and watching them grow. Love you Maya!

This afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure to speak before Oregon’s collegiate MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan) Chapters at Portland State University (PSU) on the History of National MEChA (post-97), founding of the region, and thoughts on improvements. From my notes today:

-1997, MEXA de Michigan State University (MSU) hosts Nationals. Conference and workshops disrupted. National Constitution adopted, National MEChA Coordinating Council (NMCC) created to unify national communication. National MEChA Chapters took over the National conference agenda, and removing MSU from the discussion and vote. I was a junior at Mount Vernon High School.
-1998, MEChA de University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) hosts Nationals. Burly Chicano tells me and several students standing in lunch line, “this looks like prison.” Oregon MEChA Chapters provide testimony during the national resolution, ultimately leading to their removal from the discussions and as a whole lose voting rights at the regional (Pacific Northwest) and national level. I was at Skagit Valley Community College (SVC).
-1999, MEChA de Phoenix Community College hosts Nationals. MEChA de SVC sponsors ALL Oregon MEChA Chapters to attend Nationals.
-2001, MEChA de University of Washington hosts Pacific Northwest Regionals. I propose to Washington’s collegiate MEChA Chapters on Oregon’s request to become a region, requesting support and their blessing. Washington leaders grant support.
-2001, MEChA de San Diego State University (SDSU) hosts Nationals. Washington and Oregon Chapters attend. During regional caucus meeting, Oregon departs to meet and discuss final details on the regional constitution before resolution circle. National Resolution Circle, Washington MEChA leaders open the discussion and introduce the resolution. Discussion and post-vote, Oregon becomes the 10th region, known as Mictlampa Cihuatlampa Region (despite over a dozen chapters voting against Oregon becoming its own region). We publish the Mictlampa Cihuatlampa Handbook in collaboration with Oregon MEChA Statewide.
-2002, MEChA de University of Texas at Houston hosts Nationals. Oregon chapters attend, MEChA de Oregon State University (OSU) retracts bid to host Nationals.
-2003, MEChA de University of California at Berkeley hosts Nationals. Oregon chapters attend, OSU Chapter does a last-minute bid to host Nationals (only chapter), and wins consensus.
-2004, MEChA de OSU hosts Nationals. First time nationals is hosted in the northwest.

Citing @sacca, I propose the regional leadership focus on: doushebags, porn, and lube.
1. Doushebags: leaders should be aware that there will always be doushebags looking to hijack the conversation, and the process away from what is in the best interest of the Chicano/Latino campus-community. Know who they are, be vigilant, and focus attention on the non-doushebags.
2. Porn: porn as in what turns you on, and why are you in MEChA? We must focus on what excites each and everyone of us to invest our time here vs elsewhere. What excites our chapters, and what do we have to show for ourselves and accountability to the greater campus-community that produces results, i.e. OSU’s Xicanito tour, PSU’s Educate ya!, and UofOs Ganas Program as prime examples of exposing Oregon’s Chicano/Latino community to the possibilities of higher education, closing the achievement gap, etc.
3. Lube: we must ensure we create the most seamless, efficient and innovative systems and pipelines from high school to higher education. Eliminate the sand, get rid of the obstacles, excuses, etc, and get to work.

10 Thoughts on Improvement:
1. Stop the overlap. Institute inter-state regional conferences with Washington (rotate).
2. Elect a college liaison to serve on the Oregon MEChA Statewide Board of Directors.
3. Develop the pipeline from high school to college. Close the achievement gap.
4. Staff a booth with MEChA recruiters at every MEChA Leadership Institute (Officers) and Statewide Conference (all).
5. Keep a consistent message. Don’t confuse people.
6. Get the job done, now. College has a very short life span.
7. Don’t worry about what Oregon MEChA Statewide is doing. They’re doing it.
8. When in doubt ask questions from others who’ve been there.
9. Learn everything today and graduate. Tomorrow, get out there and execute.
10. Lead from the front.

 

In this podcast interview, I sat down with Salem-OR based Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality Co-Founder and Executive Director, Eduardo Angulo, on non-profit careers in education and youth empowerment. Angulo explains that you have to have passion and a lot of heart going in. Enjoy! Thanks for listening! More on SKCE at: http://www.skcequality.org. (NOTE: Our apologies to Eduardo on the background feedback. Next time, no smart phones allowed in the room).

In case you missed my blog post, "No Such Thing As the Sleeping Giant" over at D.C.-based LatinoPoliticsBlog.com this afternoon http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2009/12/12/no-such-thing-as-the-sleeping-giant/. Feel free to give @LatinoPoliticsBlog some love over on Twitter. I'll be asking Congressman David Wu and the republican contender for an interview in the near future on their thoughts. ¡Salud! 

Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of speaking before Latina/o parents and their students at Woodburn High School. The evening was packed with OSU departments, from admissions to financial aid, from honors college to the college of health and human sciences. An entire delegation of faculty, staff and students came out, and it was nice to see OSU Chicana/o and Latina/o students leaders from their respective organizations engage with high school students. It was as if OSU picked up and moved its entire operation to Woodburn. It felt nice. I met several parents, one in particular, Jose Rojo, inspired the possibilities. Rojo immigrated to the U.S. over 25 years ago and had originally studied engineering back home and built a successful business. Today, he's a small business owner in Washington County with two high-achieving sons. Rojo is hoping his oldest son will select OSU's Austin Entrepreneurship Program and study entrepreneurship & innovation after high school. Thanks to Gustavo Martinez, Director CASA Latina/o de OSU for the warm invitation! An excellent job to all the presenters-- keep up the great work!!! I look forward to supporting CASA Latina/o de OSU in its mission to recruit the state's largest and fastest-growing group, high achieving Chicana/o and Latina/o students to Oregon's land, sea, sun and space grant university.

Earlier this last week, Jack Dorsey/@jack, the founder of Twitter, launched his newest venture called Square. The shirt-pocket sized device plugs into an iPhone (more smartphones in the future) transforming everyone equipped with both to securely take card over cash or checks. Square eliminates paper receipts, buyers can get it emailed. From Apple employees to folks on Craigslist, Square is the enabler for card holders. Can you imagine every small business, taquera, Mexican swap meet, mobile food vendor, conference and event management organizer, charity events, political campaigns having one of these? I often find myself without cash and unable to buy tacos at a taqueria, or at a political fundraiser that has no payment system aside from cash or check. I could see this working to enable more non-profits and community-based organizations to flourish. More small businesses to flourish. And, expediting the point-of-sale.

Congrats again to the @Square Team!
-David Molina
@davidcmolina

Sunday, I had the joy of taking my toddler, Maya, to visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) located just off the banks of Portland's Willamette River. Aside from an afternoon of stimulating centers, the array of games and toys, child sandboxes, water pools, gravity and light fixtures, I was very happy to see the cafe's final resting stop for our snack and mid-afternoon meals. The #OMSI cafe has three choices: paper, plastic and scrap (roughly). No trash section. It forced Maya and I to spend a couple of seconds to seperate and be part of recycling, reusing, and rethinking new ways. Do you think a toddler will remember? Where else should I take Maya to learn new ways?

Maya and I enjoying time together.

In this interview, I sat down with Path to Scholarships co-author, Gerardo Ochoa, on what makes an award winning scholarship. Ochoa explains that "you have to be able to tell your story in a way that demonstrates your human struggle, and what you are doing to be successful." His explanation of components for an award winning essay are excellent. Enjoy! #scholarships

On Thursday evening 11.19.09, the @oregonstateuniv Chicano/Latino Alumni Association and el Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez will host the Dr. Manuel Pacheco Scholarship Reception with Chicano/Latino Alumni, Chicana/o and Latina/o student leaders (el Concilio) and faculty/staff to honor the late Pacheco, a philosophy professor who was instrumental in the creation of the Ethnic Studies Department, MEChA de OSU and development of Chicana/o student leaders. The reception will begin with recognizing last years Pacheco Scholarship recipients, Cristina Delgado and David Cortez. Since 2006, the @oregonstateuniv #Chicano/Latino #Alumni has awarded 6 book scholarships totalling $3,000, and membership efforts raised an equal amount towards an endownment. Secondly, we will be unveiling a scholarship plaque honoring the legacy of Pacheco and past recipients which will remain at el Centro. We will be fortunate to have former Pacheco and philosophy student, Willan Cervantes de Viru with us to provide some thoughts on the life and extraordinary talents of the late-Pacheco. Lastly, the board will be demonstrating the new Pacheco online scholarship application that will streamline the application process and expedite awards. Student leaders present will have the opportunity to be the first applicants, as the application will officially open.

Special thanks to Cristina Delgado, External Coordinator and staff at el Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez for their collaboration in this special reception. 

See you @ el Centro!
--David

On Sat., Nov 7th, 2009, I hosted a forum in the heart of the Rockwood community, inside a Mexican grocery store, Tienda La Tapatia, to discuss national health care proposals and to share information about Latino health disparities. Read more over at Latino Politics Blog [http://is.gd/4UB7o]. Special thanks to Mauricio, Carmen and Carlos @ Tienda Tapatia for your gracious hosting; Elizabeth, Cristina and Ale @ Mujeres Bravas, Armando @ Armando Puentes, Edith & Ruth @ Radio Tonalli (KBOO 90.7FM) for the interviews; Erika @ Bustos Media (PSAs ran on all four of their stations: La Gran D 1520 am, La Paloma 1150 am, KOOR 1010 am and La Reyna 1230 am), and for the back-to-back interviews, day prior; To Roxy, Delia and Diana @ KUNP-TV Univision for your dedication to sharing this event with your audience, and for inviting me to interview, I'm forever grateful. A very special thanks to Alvaro @ Alvaro Entertainment; Mike @ Clear Creek Community Church; and, Ross @ Woodlawn Methodist Church for tables, chairs and a/v equipment; and, a heartfelt thanks to the student volunteers from MEChA at Portland State University and Mt Hood Community College for grassroots marketing, set-up and take down, and manning the registration table (the deuce and a half was an adventure, especially because it poured rain on us). Special thanks also to Moses for sponsoring Spanish to English translation and our forum translator, Constanza. To Lupita in D.C. who provided the latest updates on national health care proposals and their impact on the Latino community. 

Our moderator, Delia Hernandez at KUNP-TV Univision and panelists: Dr. Yves Lefranc, Oregon Academy of Family Medicine; Dr. Peter Mahr, Physicians for a National Health Program; Edith Molina, Oregon Latino Health Coalition; and, Ursula Rojas Weiser, Consulate of Mexico in Portland did a superb job in informing the community and setting the stage for the conversation-- Thank you!!! We are very fortunate to have individuals of this caliber, integrity and commitment. 

It takes more than printing 2,500 flyers and grassroots marketing or conducting back-to-back radio and TV interviews to engage the Latino community. It takes persistence. It takes passion. It takes hard work, even when its pouring down rain and you have to load/unload chairs halfway across town, truly true dedication. Even when the odds are stacked against you, never quit, never give in. To engage a community, it takes individuals who understand and speak the language of the community. 

Over at Latino Politics blog, I explain the importance of public service and why it is important to serve. As many of you know, I was recently reappointed to another 3-year term by the governor to his Commission on Hispanic Affairs. To read this post and why it's important for the 51 million Latinos living in the U.S. to serve today, visit: http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2009/11/02/the-value-of-service-a-guest-blog-by...

 

 

Friday, October 16th, I attended my quarterly meeting with fellow commissioners [http://www.oregon.gov/hispanic] in Medford, Oregon. The one-day visit allowed the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs (OCHA) to connect with the southern Oregon Latina/o community. The morning was dedicated to participation in the LEAP education conference, and a quick huddle to take care of the Commission's business, including: resolution on the DREAM act (City of Portland), letter in support of Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson to U.S. Attorney District of Oregon (via Senator Ron Wyden/Senator Jeff Merkley) and inquiry on a Medford discrimination case against a Latino resident.

In the afternoon, local Latina/o community members and the commissioners engaged in a conversation with The Honorable Pedro A. Cortes, Pennsylvania Secretary of State and Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian (via teleconference). Additionally, Oregon Attorney General John Kroger joined us to share his vision to civil rights for all Oregonians and his summer visits to the state's farmworker migrant camps. We closed our Medford public meeting with a 45-minute briefing on Oregon's Hispanic Advancement and Challenges in Higher Education. University of Oregon Professor Charles Martinez provided a stunning correlation, among other stats, between the high-growth of Hispanics in K-12 vs steady-growth of Hispanics in the Oregon University System. What was striking was the fact that the two charts did not match, and I came away thinking that should current trends continue may not be sustainable for Oregon's socio-economic future. Why? Oregon's current, and future depends largely upon an educated workforce ready to innovate, compete and attract business in a highly globalized market. The future will largely depend on whether we can educate Oregon's largest and fastest-growing ethnic community in the knowledge, skills and abilities of 21st century demands to grow Oregon. If you are interested, OCHA's next public meeting will return to the Salem Capitol building in January 2010. Look forward to meeting you then!

--David

Commissioner David Molina, a community activist, has served on the Commission since April 2006 and served as Vice Chair from July 1, 2008 to July 16, 2009.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of competing in the ChOGA's (Chicanos of Oregon Golfer's Association), 33rd Annual Jalapeno Tour at Sunset Grove, near Forest Grove. The nine-hole course was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people from all over Oregon and Washington State, all there for a great cause. The 2-day tour is an annual fundraiser for Latina/o scholarships, and organized by veteran Chicano activists that were involved with the Colegio Cesar Chavez back in the 70s.

While I had known the group existed, Dan Lucero, brought it back up to our attention recently and got us connected with co-organizer Jose Romero. Our 4-man team Saturday comprised of Gerardo Ochoa, Oscar Montemayor and Ruben Garcia and myself. There were over 70 golfers for the tour.

On Sunday, we were placed into teams based on scores from the previous day. I was pleased to golf with Carlos Perez, Armando Gonzalez, Jose Romero, Daniel Dominguez, Jose Torres and Mateo Courtney. After the score tally, the grill master sealed it Sunday with fresh carne asada garnished with salsa, beans, rice and warm tortillas provided by Portland-OR based La Costita. Special thanks to Dan Lucero, and Ruben Garcia who provided some golf tips. Congrats on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners! Moreover, congrats to everyone who came and made the annual fundraiser possible. As a fellow ChOGA put it, "this is incredible to get together and enjoy great company, and do some golfing while raising some feria for Latino scholarships."

Salud! See you at next years! 

--David

Last week I sat down with my State Senator. Senator Laurie Monnes-Anderson and I met for about an hour at the Gresham City Hall, tucked between two reception areas in the Multnomah Room, we discussed issues concerning area Hispanics and my take (the majority are no different than non-Hispanic issues). I requested the meeting and was pleased she followed through. The meeting was prompted after being re-confirmed by Governor Ted Kulongoski to the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs (www.oregon.gov/hispanic) for another 3-year term. I requested a meeting with my two representatives. I've not met with Rep. Nick Kahl, yet. To summarize the conversation we discussed: 1. Drivers' License, 2. Gang Violence, 3. K-12 Education and College, 4. Health Care and 5. Jobs.

On the drivers' license I expressed my concern that the current law undermines public safety for all Oregonians. Currently, Oregon requires proof of citizenship to take the exam and qualify for a drivers' license. This law hugely impacted a part of Oregon's Latino community. We also discussed Hispanic gang violence and outreach. I mentioned a few years ago, former Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz led a Latina/o Youth Gang Summit in Gresham. What we found was that Latina/o youth were often targeted by law enforcement if they either a. dressed a certain way, and/or b. associated with known gang members. Students expressed the need to have role models and support channels. Often, these are in short supply. We also discussed the high school drop-out rate. A few weeks back the Chalkboard Project (www.chalkboardproject.org) published a report on Hispanic achievement, and in general the drop-out rate is improving. My personal belief is that every student can learn, but they must given the tools and opportunity at a very young age. This includes role models and advisors. On college, we discussed how Chancellor George Pernsteiner is holding every one of his college president's personally accountable for recruitment/retention of diverse students, faculty and staff. One such campus, Western Oregon University (WOU), conducts "onsite recruitment" in rural Marion county areas. This means that when WOU visits Gervais or Independence High School it has the power to engage with high school students and recruit them on the spot. This is not only smart marketing, it's smart practice. Sen. Monnes-Anderson expressed her support for fully funding higher education and the importance of making it easier for Hispanics to get there. On health care we discussed the importance of quality and accessible health care. Our downfall in East Multnomah County, unlike Washington County, is we don't have a Virginia Garcia clinic. While Wallace Medical Concern fills a void, Hispanics long for health care just like every other American. On jobs, we discussed the impact of loss of jobs in the area. Obviously, the recession has created a considerable headache and worry to Hispanic households. The housing crash impacted the need for wood, and steel. Both industries heavily represented by Hispanics. In agriculture, specifically nursery jobs, have greatly undermined Hispanic families further stalling their progression. In general services industry, the recession has slowed this industry greatly impacting Hispanics. In general, the economy has taken a negative toll on the lower and middle-class, and more so on East County Hispanic families.

We both agree that Hispanics will play a more pivotal role in our society in the future as their numbers increase and gain more political clout. Sen. Monnes-Anderson and I met not just to discuss issues but to build trust. In our democracy (of the people, by the people) it's imperative that we get to know our elected officials. This starts and ends with each of us. Next I will meet with Rep. Kahl.

What issue did I leave out but should have included?

Gabriel Garcia (3/21/1979 - 10/1/2009), the most recent victim of Thymic cancer left us, all too soon, on Thursday, October 1st at 8:04 p.m. Even during his final hours he joked with longtime friends that visited him. Even during these last hours no one could anticipate, not even Gabe, the deteriorating disease that was undermining his health. He sure did not want to go nor wish it upon anyone else. His most humbling beginnings as the son of Mexican migrant farmworkers began in the migrant camps, strawberry, cucumber and tulip fields. "My brother was a hardworker and fast to pick cucumber," remembers his sister, Felicita. Growing up, Gabe's mother, Epifania, would counsel him to pick the low hanging raspberries. Gabe was eight years old. While Gabe was an incredible worker, he despised the laborious and strenuous field work required. Gabe's mom timeless reminder, "Pa pendejo no se estudia (for stupidity there's no degree).

He attended Washington and Madison elementary, LaVenture Middle School and was a graduate of Mount Vernon High School, home of the famed Bulldogs. Gabe epitomized our youth: engaged, vibrant, optimistic, friendly, and passionately interested in the well-being of others. Gabe coached youth sports, motivated others to reach for their dreams, and inspired the possibilities of those who would come to know him. In 1997, his classmates honored Gabe with becoming Homecoming King. He was the first Hispanic. This honor requires superb academic records and student body majority vote. He was also a delegate and honored at The White House in Washington, D.C.

Once, Gabe scuffled with longtime friend, Esmael "Smiley" Lopez by the 'bike rack.' Both claimed victory. Longtime friend and confidante Edgar Franks disagrees, as a witness he notes that Gabe came out on top.

Gabe participated in high school club fundraisers to attend and send his classmates to educational conferences, including:
-National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and the Constitution
-MEChA Regional Conference, Portland State University (attended)
-La Raza Youth Conference, Western Washington University (attended)

After earning his high school diploma Gabe attended Western Washington University and in addition to his studies he proudly strengthened the MEChA chapter hosting dozens of underrepresented and disadvantaged youth, giving a small glimpse of college life. He kept engaged with his high school friends opening the doors at Western and in the life of the university. One of his favorite nightly Bellingham hotspots, The Royal, allowed him to unwind and clear the academic stress. More recently, Gabe adopted Cactus Moon Saloon in Everett. He loved playing pool.

For well over ten years he DJ'd with longtime friend and confidante Israel Avendano at Sonido Alto Voltaje--he clearly loved Mexican music as much as anyone could. On the side, he loved to mix, record and produce his own beats, renewing life to social events.

Over the years he developed a passion for technology and the sciences, attending Renton Technical College where he studied computer science and went on to apply those skills with vigor. Over the years, he developed friendships that spanned throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

"My friends are my family" Gabe would always say. In 2006, dressed in his finest attire he attended the ceremonious marriage of college buddy Mark and Michelle Jones.

Over the last three years he worked in construction before he was diagnosed in February 2009. A true friend and advisor, he constantly reminded his friend, Julian Tovar, to take his medications.

Gabe returned to Mount Vernon to invest time with his sister and brother-in-law, Felicitas (Felis) Garcia and Cesar Cante, family and friends. Gabe would jokingly tell his friends that his sister was now okay with being called, Happy (English for 'Felis'). Felis of course hated it. Gabe loved spending time with his nephew Jonathan. "Mamamuchos" Gabe nicknamed him.

Gabe's latest wish was for Felis to marry. His dream came true and on March 14th, Felis and Cesar were married at St. Joseph's by Padre Milhton Scarpetta, whom confessed Gabe when he was young. In addition to witness, Gabe gave away Felis in the ceremony.

Cesar stressed, "why do good people leave us, and the bad people stay with us?" Gabe Garcia was more than good. He was kind, and had a huge heart.

Aurelio Garcia, Gabe's grandfather, was the town's historian and archivist of Santo Domingo, Guerrero, their hometown. He jotted everything on paper, including who left to America (El Norte), who passed away, and was a notary public. He was intelligent. Gabe's parents, Epifania and Juan, longed for one of their sons to study so they wouldn't continue in the fields like everyone in the family. And, Gabe did. More recently, Gabe kept an online diary explicitly describing his struggle with cancer.

Gabe was most loved, as evident from his MySpace page. He is missed already as evident from thoughts and prayers from former classmates, friends, and family on Facebook and Legacy.com.

Despite the insurmountable odds, poor and humbling upbringing, Gabe was an example that with hardwork and focus, vigor and passion, smile and humor, the impossible is possible, the unattainable is reachable. He lived and brought life to every situation.

Gabe most certainly made a permanent impact on those who would come to cross paths as evident in the hundreds of friends that would visit, pray and chat with Gabe in what would be his final days. He made his last and final confession on Wednesday to Padre Milhton.

"Gabe had a diversity of friends, from faraway as Canada to abroad" noted, Felis and Cesar. As the hours and minutes ticked away, Gabe struggled to breath. He struggled and fought to the end. His final request was to be with his family. His friends. Felis and Cesar, and hospital administration made this possible. The untimely news spread via text message that 'our Gabe' is gravely ill. Over 100+ had the honor of paying their respects at the Sedro Woolley hospital. They gathered tightly in the room, sitting and standing, taking every square inch. Yesterday Wednesday, we carried 'our brother ' to his final resting place at Hawthorne, next to his brother, Juan Garcia Jr. In Ramon Ayala style, a guitar and accordian played at the burial, per Gabe's request, reminding each of us "the day that I leave this earth, I will take nothing. Give thanks to life, life is short. What happens on this earth, only the memories are left. When I leave, I will only take a handful of dirt." And, so everyone present did. Each of us, prayed, sprinkled dirt, and sent Gabe off with flowers. We all wished we had not.

Gabe Garcia had an infectious smile, and humor that is both irreplaceable, and unmatched. Always smiling, he will forever live in our hearts, cheer us to our dreams and continue to bless and motivate us from above.
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David Molina is an old friend, classmate, that is forever indebted to Gabe for encouraging him to stay in school and reach for his dreams.

I was glad to read in this month's edition of Fast Company Magazine in "Who Needs Harvard " an explanation as to the movement of higher education in the future. In it, Anya Kamenetz provides a glimpse if not an entirety of thought provoking ideas on the current education system, the future with open content education and the movers and shakers in the industry. It's no secret MIT Courseware offers an excellent education for free to people from around the world. While you don't receive a degree, just rigorous training, the article got me thinking about how we used to learn, how we currently learn and how we'll potentially learn in the future. We used to learn in a classroom sitting down in a desk somewhere while the teacher lectured. Sometimes a guest speaker would come. We still do. At Oregon State University, I took my first online course with students spread throughout the country. Today, my wife, Edith was taking her first online MBA class. Her material, almost all, came from Harvard or MIT. The papers were downloaded online and printed from our home office. In a world of mobility and connectivity, we receive our content via computer or mobile smart phone and thirst for information. To and from work we may listen to audio books (I'm currently going through "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt). During the day we'll visit our Facebook page and chime in on our friends comments and thoughts. We may visit YouTube and watch and post videos. Potential MBA or Law School applicants might chat with admissions officers via Accepted (http://www.accepted.com/) all without leaving the comfort of their seat. But what sealed the deal was Professor David Wiley of Brigham Young University who argued, "If universities can't find the will to innovate and adapt to changes in the world around them, universities will be irrelevant by 2020." Is your school innovating and adapting to changes in the world? How? >>Full article: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/138/who-needs-harvard.html

I'm setting up a Posterous account after reading Jason Calacanis's Posterous page. And after browsing the different people (Sacca, Chris Brogan, etc) who have Posterous I came to realize that this is a website made simple. While I blog at www.bilingualhireco.com on company news, career insights and the future of bilingual [Spanish+ English] talent, www.molina.posterous.com will add to the conversation. Shall we?