Chapter One: OLD MAN MOYER - A Novel by Joe Lyon

CHAPTER ONE
Jimmy Myers loved his leased Jaguar. He rumbled through the Ohio countryside, upsetting in his wake the quiet serenity of the autumn hills. He sped through the swirling leaves spun in circles from the fury of the car's speeding tires. The black tar road, the freshly painted lines of bright yellow and white, arched over the winding hills and meadows. On each side were remnants of cornfields, row upon row of brown and rotting cornstalks. The road was faultless and smooth, hemmed in on each side by bent wooden fence posts topped with rusty barbed wire. He was dimly aware that his Jag was gliding effortlessly in excess of 70 miles per hour.
Jimmy saw an old trash can lid nailed to the trunk of a tree that had been painted yellow and fashioned into a smiley happy face. It read, Have a Nice Day, but Jimmy Myers was not having a nice day at all. He was still very upset about the meeting he just came from, and his dismal failure. As he drove faster and faster his dark thoughts became colder and more menacing. He found himself thinking of terrible insidious things. His mind was preoccupied with sinister fantasies. Remarkably, he believed he wanted to kill someone. He believed that for the first time in his life he was actually capable of taking a human life. Not just anyone, Jimmy wanted to kill someone in particular: a fat son-of-a-bitch of a man named Chester Underwood, the man with whom he had just had the meeting. It was this man that Jimmy manifestly cast everything that was wrong with the universe upon, and Jimmy was determined to think of a way to pay Underwood back.
Ahead in the distance, Jimmy could see an old general store over the next hill by the 40 mph speed limit sign. He wanted another cup of coffee and decided to stop. Jimmy slowed until the Jag went crunching through the white pebbles of the general store's parking lot. He stopped and turned the engine off as the dust began to settle.
He stepped out of the car, and the breeze caressed his face. A cold crisp wind howled through the nearby trees, bending branches, causing the timber to sway and creak. Some of the autumn leaves were still stubbornly clinging upon the trees that bore them, flitting around in the cruel wind. Most of the leaves were lying like a carpet upon the bent and browning grass of the Ohio valley. The leaves blanketed what was left of the dying field stubble in beautiful colors of brown, orange, yellow, and red; they drifted in piles by the trees, the wire fences, and crumbling wooden fence posts. The beautiful blanket of multicolor leaves could be seen over every rolling hill in the distance.
He noticed a flock of black birds in a nearby tree, hundreds of them, all of them in one tree less than a hundred yards away. They were all loudly squawking. The birds were organizing for their migration south, and the wind just seem to blow in more of them with every wave.
The air was brisk and fresh, and it felt good to him. He took off his black sunglasses and looked around with dry stinging eyes. Wearily he rubbed his blood shot eyes and took a deep breath. He reached back in the Jag and pulled out a black leather coat to neutralize the chill, then put it on. White cotton ball shaped clouds lazily swept overhead, leaving wispy trails of vapor in the deep blue sky. Somewhere over the gently rolling hills a dog was barking, barely audible, and seemingly miles away.
Jimmy walked across the white gravel parking lot, by the rusting and broken gas pumps that obviously had not been used for decades. In the front of the general store, wind chimes accented the knocking of the old porch swing striking the side of the porch railing. A red plastic weather vane shaped like a farmer spun its arms erratically and twisted in the breeze.
The door clanged upon tiny bells as it opened. Inside the general store, it was very warm. An elderly man, short and sturdy in stature, who was mostly bald except for the hair around the tops of his ears was watching soap operas on television. A cigarette burned in the ashtray on the counter, and a folded newspaper lay beside the ashtray with today's date on it.
"Got a bathroom?" Jimmy asked the man while looking around. The store had about 5 racks of merchandise and two glass beverage cases. One of the beverage cases had bacon, milk, hot dogs, and bologna in it.
The old timer pointed to a wooden door in the far corner. "Over there," he said. "The light's on a string"
Jimmy went in and relieved himself. After he came out of the bathroom, he poured himself a cup of coffee in a paper cup, stirred in two heaping spoonfuls of sugar and put a lid on it.
"How much do I owe ya?" Jimmy asked the man. The man told him that a cup of coffee was fifty cents. So, Jimmy put 75 cents for the coffee and jangled the bells again on his way outside.
Strange, Jimmy thought. It was so quiet now. What changed? The wind stopped blowing, and the birds were gone, all of them. Jimmy looked up and could see no sign of any of the birds. How could they have all disappeared that sudden, and that soon? He was only in the store for about five minutes. The trees no longer were swaying in the wind. The air would have been completely quiet once again if it weren't for the distant steady barking of a dog. Over and over again the barking resounded over the hills. It had a maddening rhythm about it.
When Jimmy reached the car, the barking suddenly stopped. Jimmy paused. The silence was now deafening. He looked up, and looked around. Everything was absolutely quiet now. It was unnaturally quiet. Too quiet, he thought. Jimmy got the feeling he was being watched, but if he was being watched there would soon be nothing more to see than a cloud of dust from his Jag leaving the gravel parking lot. He got into his car and gently closed the door. He had a funny feeling that he could not explain; he could not put his finger on it. He inserted the key in the Jag and started it up. He sipped his coffee and looked around one last time for the birds. Nothing. No sign of the birds for as far off, and as many miles, as he could see.
He tore out of the parking lot and turned onto the main road again. He put on his black sunglasses, put the coffee in the drink holder, and banged the gears until he built up some speed. He turned up the radio when suddenly, over the next hill, a dog was slowly walking across the road directly in his path. He cursed, held onto the steering wheel tightly, and slammed on his brakes. The car skidded rapidly to the dog. The dog turned to look at the noise coming at him. Jimmy shut his eyes as the animal disappeared under the car. He held the steering wheel tight in anticipation of the coming impact. Next he could feel a rolling, bumping, impact under the car as he hit the dog. The feeling made him sick to his stomach.
"Oh Shit," Jimmy exclaimed. The car came to a stop. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw the dog lying in the street motionless. Jimmy rolled down his window and put his head out, looking, listening, for any signs of oncoming traffic. He drove in reverse taking great care not to run over the animal again, and backed up to the top of the hill. He reached the top and put on his emergency brake and hazard lights.
He got out of the car and walked to where the dog lay. He thought that maybe the dog might still be alive. The dog wasn't breathing. Its tongue was hanging out of its open mouth.
He remembered something that his father told him years ago: that when a dog's tongue began to hang out of his mouth like that it spelled bad news for the dog; he most likely is either dead or going to die soon.
Jimmy could see that the dog looked like it was an old golden retriever, but it was just a little different, like it was mixed with some other breed. Its muzzle was white with age, a little shorter but thicker than any golden retriever he had ever seen. The dog was male. Its long undercoating of fur was bleached white on the bottom. The long floppy ears also showed the color of his advanced age, but everywhere else he was of a splendid golden hue. His coat looked clean and well kept. Jimmy checked for a heartbeat. He could find none. The dog was dead.
"Great," he said sarcastically. "This is just great. I guess that's what I get. What else can happen today?"
He stood up and looked around. After a moment, he looked back down at the dead dog. Poor dog, Jimmy thought, must have gotten pretty broken up inside. The dog obviously belonged to someone. He wore no collar but was far too well groomed to be a stray. He gingerly dragged him to the side of the road and tried one last time to revive the dog.
He remembered his own dog from long ago, Suzy, his little brown dachshund. He remembered the tragic story. One day when Jimmy was a child, he got off the school bus and saw his dog Suzy across the street. As the bus pulled away, he turned and called for her, and she started to come. Just then, little Jimmy saw a car coming over the top of the hill. The car was coming too fast. He tried to get Suzy to stop, but she didn't understand, she just kept coming. The car didn't see the little dog. It ran over her right in front of him. Suzy rolled under the car violently. "NO!" He screamed and threw his schoolbooks down. He ran out into the street. The car, now well past the accident, noticed it hit something and stopped. Jimmy saw two children in the back seat pressing their little faces against the back window looking at the terrible scene. Jimmy got to Suzy and picked her up and held her. She was ripped open from her back left leg all the way up to the upper part of her stomach; she was bleeding down Jimmy's arm. He cried and looked up at the car, looking for somebody to help him. But instead, the brake lights went off, and the car drove away. Jimmy wept and put his head back down on Suzy's. He continued to comfort his dog in the last moments of her life in the middle of the road. Later that day, they did something they didn't prepare to do when they woke up that morning. They had to bury the family dog. And Jimmy blamed himself. If he had not called Suzy she would still be alive. It was his fault that Suzy died. It was entirely his fault, and his fault alone.
Jimmy stood up and looked around again. He saw what looked like a paved lane leading off the main road into a densely wooded area in the distance. He thought he could see what looked like the top of a house through the trees. Maybe it was their dog. He could not just leave the dog there. He did not want to drive off, like the car that killed Suzy did. He would not do that. He could not.
He went back to the car and opened up the trunk, then returned to the dog and gently picked the animal off the ground. He laid the dead dog in the back of the trunk and closed the lid. He got back in the car and headed slowly down the main road. He turned onto the paved lane that led to the woody area. The lane itself was secluded, lined with cedar trees; yet he felt confident that he had the right house. In gold letters, the mailbox post standing by the road read: MOYER.

INTRO: OLD MAN MOYER - A Novel by Joe Lyon

“For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!” -Ecclesiastes 2:16

FORERUNNER
100 miles off the coast of North Carolina.
September 16, 1857

The Columbia lurched again as another hammering wall of black water came striking down mercilessly upon her decks. In the middle of the hurricane she made her way through the night. Bright fingers of lightning struck across the darkened swirling sky in an abrupt spider's web of bright crackling light. The wind whistled loudly through the ship’s rigging. The sky crackled with energy over the pummeling waves.

The Captain, standing on deck, endured the pummeling forces of the hard hitting waves with his first mate. At once a mountain of water appeared behind them, then gliding up the crest of a giant wave, they once again appeared to be high above the dark clouds of the storm. Once more, as in the last two hours, the Columbia lifted suddenly, only to come crashing back down with a deep bite into the rolling ocean.

"Secure that hatch!" The captain bellowed his commands barely audible over the howling wind. "There, there!" He shouted again to the first mate and pointing to an open tackle. Anything not securely fastened was already lost to the onslaught of the storm. The Captain held on to the rigging, swaying back and forth, silhouetted in front of a rapidly rising and falling black sea. “For God’s sake man!”

The skipper's mate briefly turned to look back at his Captain. As he waited to make his move another powerful wave hit him square in the face causing him to flush out the salty water in a breathless spit and take another quick breath before the next wave. He remained holding tightly onto the railing panting. The Captain could plainly see the fear in the young man’s eyes.

Captain Thomas Herndon had been a sailor for forty years. He leaned into the pitch of the ship and surveyed the situation. He navigated these waters many times, rode out many a dreadful storm over the years. He made the trip to Spain all of fourteen times during his career but this time he knew he was in an awful altogether different kind of ride tonight. He knew full well the dangers of being out in the Atlantic during the late fall, and months before he left he feared this part of the trip the most. He thought he might get lucky enough to dodge the unexpected storms this season like he had in years past. Now, with his thick gray beard parting nearly perfectly in the stormy winds and with all his white hair blowing loose over his wet face, he cursed himself for knowing better.

Quite unexpectedly, the first mate let go of the railing and moved with rapid purpose to the unsecured hatch. He slid across the deck, losing his footing and falling hard on his hip as another wave crashed over the bow. He managed to grab a hold of the open hatch and fastened it by the clasp. He wiped some of the pelting rain off his face and took a fright filled moment for himself as he paused to catch his breath. Then another wave violently swept over the bow and the first mate slid off again holding on to the railing for dear life.

“Good work Dobbs,” the Captain shouted and protruded his fist in a show of strength. Both men shared a reassuring smile. This show of emotion was sufficient to hide a tear in the Captain's eye and his loss of any real hope.

Wave after wave crashed over the bow of the Columbia. Already she had taken on three feet of water. The hold was flooding. The engine fires had gone out. The crew was having trouble getting coal from the stores to the furnace. The pumps were rendered useless. As a result, the crew formed a bucket line to manually rid the Columbia of the water. After nearly an hour of back breaking labor the crew made significant progress to the point that they could now try to re-fire the furnace that supplied the steam to the engines.

The furnace fired up again and was fed a steady stream of coal. In turn the furnace began to feed power back into the engine and pumps. The Captain could now steer the Columbia again and try to head her into the swirling wind instead of taking water across her bow.

Lucy Shaw shivered in the cold below the creaking deck, her three children desparately holding to her for dear life. Eight hundred passengers sat huddled with her in the darkness in worried silence.

In the galley the pots and pans dully clanked and thudded together swinging from hooks in the ceiling beams, occasionally coming free, and crashing down loudly upon the thick wooden floor. The cook was hiding under a butcher block to stabilize himself from the unrelenting motion of the tossing ship. He looked up from underneath his hat to nervously stare at the others. His kitchen staff, wide-eyed and hiding in various spots around the room, had little to say. He could have given them a reassuring smile, an encouraging word, but he did not. He was too scared. Suddenly, a chicken went flying through the room. The cook scrambled across the floor, falling down, grabbing the chicken, and holding it close to him. He then returned to his place under the butcher's block, and with a dirty, sweaty hand he tried to calm the both of them.

Suddenly, a huge wave crashed so hard upon the deck of the Columbia breaking the main paddle housing on the side of the ship into splinters. A massive wave blew through the horse stalls and tore them apart taking all twenty of the horses out to sea. The horses swam in the rolling seas for several sets of waves then they disappeared and they were never seen again. Nearly all the topside payload broke free and either sunk or floated away on the waves. The ship immediately took six feet of water in the hold as the water poured through the splintered housing. The furnaces immediately went out again in a large plume of steam. The paddle wheel was gone, heading to the bottom of the ocean, leaving only a few planks that floated away across the black waves.

The men formed another bucket line, but this time no progress could be made. The water was coming in faster than they could bucket it out. Several men tried to plug holes with rags and towels, but it only slowed the inevitable. The Columbia was taking on more water through the engine compartment. They wrapped towels around the machinery and pipes in an attempt to slow the water from overtaking the ship. It was hopeless. They were fighting a losing battle. The Columbia was floundering.

The Captain sent up blue rockets in a steady succession while the men below continued to bucket the water out. Life vests were issued to the passengers and they were ordered on top of the rolling deck, every man, woman, child, and crew.

"Ship Ahoy!" Someone suddenly shouted. Everyone began to point to a small speck of light on the black horizon. While the passengers were coming up topside the Captain could make out the lights of another ship in the distance, North Easterly of their position.

The ship was the Manassas, a cargo brig, destined for Key West, Florida. The Captain signaled to the Manassas that the Columbia was going down. The Manassas signaled back a reply that it would provide help, turned toward the Columbia to give assistance, and proceeded to head in her general direction. The captain made the decision to start evacuating the women and children off the Columbia in what few lifeboats the ship carried and set them off toward the Manassas.

They barely had enough time. Three of lifeboats capsized immediately and sunk. But five more made it into the water successfully. These five were filled with as many women and children as they could find. Those lucky souls fortunate enough who did make it upon one of the five lifeboats ultimately made it safely to the Manassas. Most of the others did not.

Another wave struck the Columbia and sent her over completely on her side. Four hundred people spilled into the water. The screams of the lost could barely be heard over the roaring wind. The Columbia took the rest of the four hundred people down with her.
Captain Herndon was last seen struggling against the waves after his ship went down. He was never seen again.

The Columbia went deep to its grave upon the sea floor. A band of at least two hundred people huddled together in the ocean and bobbed up and down in the waves in the middle of the night. One by one they watched each other drop and float away and then disappear under the cold waters, never to be seen again.

"Tell my wife and kids I love them," said one man to another; in that very instant, the man he was speaking to succumbed to the fury of the ocean, sinking under the water, without a sound in reply. Still others who chose to stay with the ship until the very last minute were caught in the suction and were dragged far below the turbulent waves. Most of them drowned. Those who did make it back up to the surface, after being dragged down twenty or thirty feet, found that the life vests that were securely fastened around their waists were now missing, ripped apart by forces of the bubbling vacuum, along with most, if not all, of their clothes. As a result, some were naked, and they fought for their lives. They used the corpses that still possessed life vests to help them stay afloat and struggle against the waves a bit longer. Those that had neither life vests nor anything that floated were dead in the first minute they hit the water. Even with the life vests, breathing was a difficult struggle as the pounding waves swept over their heads.
The survivors huddled together, exposed in open water, fearing for sharks, but none appeared in the hours that followed the storm, and in the sinking of the Columbia.

At first, the Manassas had some trouble finding the wreck site after the Columbia went down, but after completing a sweeping search of the area, at last came across the five lifeboats and a long trail of debris that followed them. The women and children taken from the lifeboats confirmed the direction of where the Columbia went down. The Manassas followed the debris trail which led them to the floating band of survivors. Only sixty men were now left out of the the two hundred, huddled together, desperately clinging to each other in the cold water. They were all cold and rapidly losing their strength. All sixty men were brought aboard to safety, along with one old dog that they found floating on top of a small box.

Another sweep of the area found no other survivors. The Manassas stayed in the area until the Independence from Boston, was signaled and brought to assist. Most of the passengers were transferred to the Independence and taken to Wilmington, North Carolina. By morning, no less than five ships patrolled the area for survivors. No more were found.

Word of the tragedy spread. All of those expecting loved ones anxiously awaited lists of the saved and of the dead. It took four full days until the lists were complete.

For one man, William Shaw, his worst fears were realized. He had lost his wife, Lucy, and their three children on board the Columbia when she went down. He stared at the list of the dead, and saw the names of his three children, and it confirmed the certain fact that he already knew. They were gone, all of them. He knew it. His life would never be the same. He didn't understand it. How could they not have been in one of the five lifeboats? Why weren't they?
He turned away from that awful place. He vaguely remembered hearing the echoes of people offering sympathy to him, but it all seemed surreal. He could see other men weeping, women too, but he could not really hear them, or care about them.

All was lost for William Shaw. He was bitter, and decided to turn his back on life for awhile and go back to the farm. He headed out of town and into the country to start a new life.

But unknown to Willie Shaw, the worst was yet to come.

My Resume

JOSEPH R LYON
5204 SW 121st Ave
Cooper City, FL 33330
Phone (954) 252-8354
Email: Joerlyon@hotmail.com

SUMMARY
During 17+ years experience in the field of Technology Management demonstrated proven ability to support organizational business strategy and C4I Information Technology infrastructure. Hands-on expertise in the areas of Program Management, Networking and UNIX file systems. Resourceful team player who provides leadership in a team-based professional environment. Received several awards of merit that substantiate ability to support complex large-scale IT projects.

EDUCATION

Master’s of Business Administration with a Specialization in Technology Management (MBA/TM)
University of Phoenix
Graduation date: 17 July 2006
GPA: 3.86
Attended at Plantation, FL campus
Fields of Study: Organizational Behaviors, Economics, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, Operations Management, Project Management, Strategy and Implementation, Marketing, Research and Development, Knowledge Transfer, Global Business Markets

Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Information Technology (BSIT)
University of Phoenix
Graduation date: 30 June 2004
GPA: 3.76
Attended Plantation, FL campus
Fields of Study: Critical Thinking, Business Systems Development, Operating Systems, UNIX, Windows 2000, Database Management, SQL Server, C+ Programming, Visual Basic, Web Development, Network Operations

SECURITY
Active TS/SCI + Security Clearance with SSBI for Department of Defense.


CERTIFICATIONS
Cisco Certified Network Associate
Cisco Certified Design Associate



WORK EXPERIENCE #1
July, 2007 – Present
Research Analysis and Maintenance, (RAM) INC.
RAM Program Manager
Miami, FL

Duties:
Provide daily leadership/operational management/direct supervision, recruitment, and retention of 69 supervisors and staff.
Provide a single point of contact as Site Program Manager for the C4I Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of Large DoD Headquarters element (US SOUTHCOM).
Manage government contracts totaling over $13.2 million in Labor and Materials
Reviewed, refined, and streamlined processes that increased operational productivity by 88%, reducing weekly trouble tickets from 350 to 42
Assure quality of task products, services, and deliverables, participated in reviews, audits, and site visits
Wrote awards for high performing staff members
Interfaced daily with military and civilian customers and met often with commercial vendors
Supervise several technical teams providing 24/7 IT support of critical network systems including:
Windows 2003 Server System Administration
Cisco Networks
VB.NET Web Applications Development
Configuration Management
Infrastructure/Installations
VI Support
Tier 1/Tier 2 Help Desk
Enterprise Management
PC/Printers Tech Support
Logistics
User-Sustainment Training
eOn Telephone switch maintenance.

WORK EXPERIENCE #2
June, 1997 – July, 2007
General Dynamics
Network Engineer/UNIX Team Lead
Miami, FL (US Southcom)

Duties:
Provided technical and operational leadership for 10 members of a UNIX System Administration team, supporting RAID 5 Digital UNIX Clustering ADVFS technology
Integrated and maintained multi-vendor networks primarily consisting of Cisco and Marconi IP routers and layer 2 switches across various high-speed media formats.




MILITARY EXPERIENCE
U.S. Army
February 1991 - June 1997
MOS 33y20, (Electronic Warfare) Strategic Intercept Subsystems Repairer

Attended Basic Training at Ft. Dix, NJ
Selected from 222 troops as "Solider of the Cycle"
Qualified as Expert ‘Top Gun’ marksman by scoring a perfect 40 out of 40.

Attended AIT and indoctrinated into Military Intelligence
United States Army Intelligence School, Devens (USAISD), Ft. Devens, MA
Graduated "with honors"

Duty Stations include:
Camp Humphreys, Republic of South Korea (2 Consecutive Overseas Tours)
Ft. Kunia, Hawaii
Ft. Meade, Maryland

Honorably Discharged in July 1997

CITATIONS

“Mr. Lyon’s innovative and brilliant reconfiguration of network services resulted in significant improvement to both system reliability and operational capability, doubling available user storage capacity. The initiative solution averted a potentially critical systems failure.”
November 2001
Charles L. Stromwall
Major, USAF
Deputy Chief and Operations Officer
Intelligence Systems Division
USSOUTHCOM


“Mr. Lyon worked tirelessly to complete critical upgrades to JTF-Bravo’s Intelligence Information Infrastructure. His technical skills and persistence were critical to successful mission accomplishment. His efforts reflect great credit on himself and the staff of the J2, US Southern Command.”
April 2003.
Raymond A. Thomas lll
Colonel, U.S. Army
Commander, Joint Task Force
Republic of Honduras

Like Rasberry Jelly: A Little Of Me Goes a Long Way

Factor 1: During 10 years experience and service with U.S. Southcom have obtained extensive technical knowledge of Unix fileservers, Storage Area Networks, Cisco and Marconi network switches and routers. During this time served in a capacity as a team leader for 12 Unix System Administrators. Accomplishments during this time included doubling the user storage capacity of the Storage Area Network, designing and integrating OIW workstations (SCI workstations capable of accessing SIPRNET), maintaining AMHS (currently M3), maintaining MIDB, meeting all user requirements, troubleshooting operational problems as they occurred, assigning the appropriate personnel to the task, following up on tasks assigned, and verifying that proper operation coincided with user requirements.

Factor 2: During 10 years experience, starting with the transition of critical data from US Southcom from Panama to Miami, have received several awards of merit that substantiates ability to support complex large-scale IT projects. A citation was issued by the Deputy Chief and Operations Officer, Intelligence Systems Division (ISD), US Southcom, for averting a critical systems failure in November, 2001. For completing time sensitive upgrades to the JTF-Bravo’s Wide Area Network infrastructure in April 2003, a citation was issued from the Commander, Joint Task Force, Republic of Honduras. Working together as an Engineering team provided planning and industry best practices when implementing a million dollar Network Modernization effort, seamlessly replacing 16 existing Cisco 5500 ATM switches with 10 Cisco 6500 Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switches with minimum downtime and maximum efficiency. This effort effectively marked a major change of data delivery from ATM (to the desktop) to Gigabit Ethernet in the access layer of the U.S. Southcom J2 network. The Network Modernization project spanned over one year to implement and effectively reduced user downtime significantly, producing a more reliable high speed data delivery system.


Factor 3: Experience making decisions, building teams and utilizing leadership skills to influence decisions or outcomes and to motivate others to resolve technology problems or to develop IT solutions.
Awarded a citation from the Lead Engineer, General Dynamics Network Systems, for Exemplary Leadership and Employee Development. Drawing upon lessons learned from military training, Primary Leadership Development Course, mentored junior System Administrators and led by example. Exercised solid decision making based on fundamental Risk Assessment and Risk Management. Encouraged creative problem solving to develop IT solutions IAW US Southcom Standard Operating Procedures. Encouraged continuing education, earning both a Bachelor’s of Science in Information Technology, and a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in Technology Management. Developed a regiment of training classes to instill positive team reinforcement, and motivated others by instituting a Question of the Day competition.


Factor 4: Experience working with customers in requirements definition, documentation and analysis.
During 10 years experience developed user friendly documentation on existing technology for customer review and analysis, attended requirements meetings, defining user requirements and analyzing the integration of supporting technology. Developed Microsoft Power Point products defining ideas and concepts regarding complex theories such as storage data bases and network upgrades. Used flow charts to define data flow throughout the Southcom J2 network. Developed, documented, and published Visio maps describing routing functions throughout the J2 network. Managed and Documented all IP address assignments on Class B subnet, importing this data from Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to a Microsoft Access database. Used Microsoft Project to define and track project milestones and critical resources. Developed crucial personal relationships with customers, Technical Assistance Centers (TAC), and industry contractors.

Factor 5: Experience managing projects that involve design, procurement, and installations of new information systems.
Integrated new technologies to function as expected in multi-platforms of Southcom J2 network, for instance, the integration of Cisco Gigabit Ethernet with Marconi ATM OC-48, by procuring the Marconi ESR-5000. The solution also required an integration of Cisco Port-Channel bundling technology with Marconi Huntgroups, managing information between multiple vendors.


Factor 6: Experience performing technical studies and simulations of proposed developmental efforts to ensure the design will meet the user’s requirements.