Lessons Learned

Every class I've ever been in has taught me things about the subject I'm studying, and things about myself. Sometimes they are lessons I want to learn. Sometimes...not so much.

Overall, this class has been pretty positive. I have learned about properly citing my sources, how to format things to be more readable, and how to be aware of language that might be overly gendered or offensive. I've also learned that, while my personal love of "five dollar words" isn't suitable for a professional setting, neither is the jargon-rich, stilted, and hyper-professional writing style I learned in the Army. It seems I am, once again, trying to find the middle ground.

I also learned some important lessons about biting off more than I can chew in a single, online semester. I learned that my familiarity with word processing programs peaked about 15 years ago. I learned that it's difficult to collaborate online while trying to work around the very busy schedules of four or five virtual strangers. And I learned, once again, that the Army mission is unrelenting, and utterly unconcerned with whatever else might be going on in your life.

Hopefully, there are more lessons like this out there for me. Because, goodness knows, I seem to need a few more!

Resume

Darcy A. Lowman-Craig

XXXX XX Ave, Beaver Creek, MN | xxx-xxx-xxxx | darcy.lowman@gmail.com

Objective

·    Obtain an entry level Social Work position focused on working with veterans.

Education

A.A.S| May 2007 | South Central Technical College

·    Major: Intensive Care Paramedic

Bachelors | May 2018 | South west minnesota state university

·    Major: Social Work

Skills & Abilities

Management

·    Provided direction and guidance to five combat medics as a Squad Leader with the South Dakota Medical Command.

·    Wrote yearly evaluation reports to allow for soldier’s advancement and identify areas of weakness.

·     Managed all disciplinary and award processes.

Communication

·     Taught the US Army Resiliency Training Program, 20 hours per year.

·    Lead Sexual Harassment Prevention Training Program

·    ASIST Suicide Prevention Certified   

Leadership

·     Member of SD Army National Guard Honor Guard

·    Veteran’s Outreach Director for Team RWB

·    MN DFL State Delegate, member of Inclusion Committee

·    Victim’s Advocate, Compass Center

Experience

COmbat Medic | SD Army National GUARD | July 2005-Present

·    Provide routine and emergency medical care to soldier and civilians in all conditions

·    Worked in a medical lab setting, including phlebotomy, proper sample handling, and recording of test results

·    Operated an immunization clinic, including assessing patient safety, administering vaccine, completing appropriate documentation, and site clean-up.

Patient Care Technician | Sanford Health | Feb 2008-sept 2012

·    Provided direct patient care for children in the radiology department

·    Receptionist duties, including answering phones, checking in patients for appointments, customer service to all patients.

·    Maintain facility cleanliness

·    Keep monthly logs for health and safety.

·     

Emergency Medical Technician | Gold Cross Ambulance | Sept 2005- Feb 2008

·    Provided Emergency medical care to patients in a medium sized US city

·    Provided community outreach via car seat safety checks, community CPR courses, and various safety awareness classes

·    Provided routine transport for medically fragile patients to area and regional medical facilities.

Changes!

Our assignment today was to alter our blog to make it more professional. Mine had a very simple layout, which appealed to me because I like the clean look, but also because I felt it looked more professional to begin with. So I was initially pretty confused as to what I was going to do.

Luckily, blogger makes this very easy. They have dozens of blog templates, so I looked through all of them, and picked a new selection. This new look is still fairly clean and simple, but the font style is a more professional look. The headers are a different color from the text, making them stand out and improving readability. And the posts themselves are surrounded by a border, marking each individual blog post as a separate entity.

I hope this will help improve the look and feel of my blog. More to come, in the very near future!

Teamwork

The military is typically seen as a place where working as a team is central to everything, and there is something to that. However, it's a very different type of teamwork than the civilian population is familiar with.

A military team is a team in the sense that everyone has a role, and everyone must fulfill their role for the job to be done. However, it's also something of a dictatorship. The team leader is in control. Everything takes place at their instruction. There are situations where another team member may have to step up, take initiative, and make a decision in the absence of the leader; however, that team member is often in the dark as to whether they will get an award for their actions, or two weeks extra duty and the resentment of everyone else. There often doesn't seem to be any middle ground on these teams.

The manner in which the job (or, in our terms, the Mission) is carried out tends to be laid out to the point of micromanagement. You not only have to do your job in a way that gets the desired results: you have to get the desired results in the EXACT way that your leadership wants you to get them. Their way might not be the easiest, fastest, most accurate, or best way to do it, but it is the way you are going to do it. Why? Because they said so.

One area in which we really do tend to excel is in our ability to rely on our team members. Every member of the team has to have an intimate understanding of, not just their job, but all the other jobs as well. Before we even start on a mission, everyone knows who does what, and who will take over each job in the event that the person assigned that job can't do it. The reason for this is obvious: Our teams are often dealing with life and death situations. In order to get things done, our contingency plans have to have backups, which will also have backups and contingency plans of their own. The flip side of this is that, if someone fails to fulfill their obligations, the consequences are severe in the extreme. And not just in actual combat situations. One of our favorite lines is "Train like you fight." While being 10 minutes late coming in from lunch, neglecting to clean your room, or losing your ID card might be pretty meaningless errors in most situations, we often deal with them rather harshly, so to another favorite saying: "Excellence is a habit".

When I started my military career, I was the person being dictated to. I did as I was told. I didn't offer my opinion, and I certainly didn't recommend a "better" way to do things. As I moved up in the ranks, I was finally able to bring up ideas for improvements, but I also gradually started to be that "give no quarter" leader. These days, I pretty much tell people what to do and how to do it, and expect them to hop when I say "Frog". It's something of a bad habit, honestly. My kids certainly like pointing out that "I'm not one of your soldiers!!"

I'm looking forward to a more collaborative style of teamwork. Perhaps unfortunately, I'm in the position of team leader, as usual. I'm sincerely hoping that, this time around, my team mates will let me know if I'm getting a little too...controlling. If I get to the point of directing and dictating, rather than asking, listening, and collaborating, someone should probably give me the internet version of a sock to the shoulder and a "Mellow out, Sarge!"