Dealing with an elderly parent part II

Normally I don't delve too much about my "personal" life here unless I feel it can benefit others.

I had a family emergency this week regarding my father who is diabetic and insulin dependent. He was transferred from the Marion VA Hospital to the one here in Saint Louis. Thankfully there are benefits out there for veterans like my dad and myself when the need should arise.

However, I can easily see how more money needs to be filtered into the VA hospitals in this country for several reasons (it's just not Walter Reed--check out this story for more reasons why we need to be an active voice for our nation's veterans):

The scandal has reverberated through generations of veterans. "It's been a potent reminder of past indignities and past traumas," said Thomas A. Mellman, a professor of psychiatry at Howard University who specializes in post-traumatic stress and has worked in Veterans Affairs hospitals. "The fact that it's been responded to so quickly has created mixed feelings -- gratification, but obvious regret and anger that such attention wasn't given before, especially for Vietnam veterans."

Across the country, some military quarters for wounded outpatients are in bad shape, according to interviews, Government Accountability Office reports and transcripts of congressional testimony. The mold, mice and rot of Walter Reed's Building 18 compose a familiar scenario for many soldiers back from Iraq or Afghanistan who were shipped to their home posts for treatment. Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers and veterans report bureaucratic disarray similar to Walter Reed's: indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations.

My personal observations

1. They are understaffed (big time)
2. The hospitals are outdated and in need of repair. (The conditions which these vets are hospitalized in leaves allot to be desired).
3. With the influx of war veterans the US Government has to step up to the plate and fix these problems...along with everything else that is in need of help in the VA system.

Be your own advocate

Being a diabetic means watching (diligently...almost religiously) what you eat and HOW you take care of your body. Dad, for whatever reason, doesn't take care of himself like he should with this disease.

Everything falls on mom or the children.

I cannot stress enough how important it is for parents to ensure that they can manage their health care. Create living wills, make sure your affairs are in order (for the inevitable), use common sense....(canNOT stress that enough).

Children are there, of course for the moral support and if need to be to step in. But at the same time I am a strong advocate of people taking charge of their lives if they are capable of doing so. Don't get lazy or stubborn about these issues. I for one plan on making sure that my affairs are in order, that I use common sense when it comes to my health, and to create the least amount of stress for my only child when that time does arise in the far off future.

Taking care of my health now, mental and physical not only is common sense but a responsibility that I have to myself and to my family.

Be your own advocate!!!

Renewing America

The Democratic Convention will focus on the need to revitalize the image of America, Americans and our reputation at large. There is the fever of Renewing America's Promise.

For myself, a self-professed patriot who dearly loves her country....I am yearning for some well-needed change for my country...a better life for her citizens.

These past few years have really slammed hard our reputation overseas and created an internal struggle for the average American. I hurt for my country and many Americans are desperate for change.

Every day Americans will be appearing such as Iraqi Bronze Star recipient Koby Langley, and a laid off Michigan autoworker and another laid off North Carolina textile worker with mounting medical bills.

The 2008 convention will be a convention of firsts and will try to do my best to watch what I can when home:

"The 2008 Democratic National Convention will be a first-rate, technologically savvy Convention that will celebrate the strength of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, the diversity we embrace, the values we share and our vision for America."

You can also check out the convention blog and keep up to date to the events scheduled and get an "inside" look at the process.

Banking Leave

As a government worker I don't get a predetermined amount of sick days or annual leave at the beginning of each year. Instead I earn my benefits every pay period. I can bank my leave for vacation or an emergency or use it as it comes which is not a good thing to do.

I am trying to bank my leave for my brother's wedding...save up my sick leave for myself or whatever family emergencies come about.

I kind of wish that American workers had better benefits in terms of our vacation/sick leave like other industrialized nations. Sometimes we drag ourselves to work when we should really remain at home recovering from an illness, injury, you name it; but allot of us don't because we are trying to save up leave. That or we are hesitant to take it due to the policies of (put name of company here) and losing our job. Another reason I am SO GRATEFUL to work where I do. Of course we have people who abuse their allotted annual/sick leave and they can be placed on leave restriction. And deservedly so. You are there to work not to get paid for being absentia.

At NARA we utilize flex time and it comes in handy when I have say a dr's appt. I can go to work around 6am...leave at 2:30 and schedule my dr's appt. for later in afternoon all the while keeping my leave intact. Trust me, flex time is a WONDERFUL benefit to have and to be used wisely.

With overtime offered again (on my knees thanking the overtime gods.) I see this as a Godsend during these economic woes. I will be working roughly 60 hour weeks for the next couple of weeks.

(This gal sorely needs a vacation on the beach somewhere...or mountains...someplace relaxing.)

As a federal employee I am most grateful for the paid holidays....especially when they land on either a Friday or Monday because it gives me 3 days of respite.

I think about American workers who do not have the same benefits as myself, work two or more jobs to make ends meet and rarely get any time off.

When I think about those individuals makes me realize how lucky I am in so many regards to have my own federal benefits package.

But will still be banking that leave.

My heart always goes out to our soldiers..........

VFW National News: At Last, GI Bill for the 21st Century is Law The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is celebrating the recently signed into law GI Bill for the 21st Century, after an intense ten-year lobbying effort for educational benefits comparable to those the original GI Bill of 1944 offered. The new GI Bill will pay the highest in-state public tuition rate, and also provide for books, fees and a living stipend. "This is why the VFW is just as relevant today as we were 109 years ago when we were founded. We make a difference," says VFW Commander-in-Chief, George Lisicki. Read More

Report from Landstuhl: Recovering Soldiers 'Kicked Butt' "Although it was emotionally difficult for them to talk, their spirit and morale was amazing. In their words, even though they were outnumbered four-to-one, they 'took it to the enemy, and kicked butt," said VFW National Commander, George Lisicki. Mr. Lisicki traveled to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to pay visit to soldiers recovering from a recent battle on a remote outpost in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. During the heavily armed insurgent attack, nine members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade lost their lives. Read More

National Archives in the news

This video clip is currently discussing the claim of discrimination at my workplace. I included it here because it also shows what we do as an archives.

The Middle Class Squeeze

According to Tami Luhby, in CNN's Money article, Middle Class On The Edge, the average family is spending $4,655 more on basic expenses, such as gas, housing, food and health insurance.

In Saint Louis I am seeing the reprocussions of the failing economy.....almost every day my co-workers discuss the rising costs of goods and service, of how they are cutting corners just to put more of their hard earned dollar$ in the tank...and to buy basic necessities like food.

Thankfully my daughter is grown and I don't have to worry about child care expenses (which is soaring also).

Americans are turning more and more to their credit cards to pay on simple services. (When I think about the interests they pay for these services it breaks my heart).

According to Elizabeth Warren, professor at Harvard Law School, nearly 10% of total disposable income in the United States goes to paying off such debt.

America's middle class is feeling the pinch.

I fail to see how a moderate inflation (it's the economy stupid) promotes employment, (think about the total jobs lost this year alone)....8.5 million Americans are unemployed.

???

Obama: "Our economy has now shed 438,000 jobs over the past six months, while workers’ wages fail to keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of gas, groceries and healthcare. The American people are paying the price for the failed economic policies of the past eight years, and we can’t afford four more years of more of the same. That is the essential issue of this campaign because Senator McCain has fully embraced the Bush economic agenda. I believe it has to change."

In the end a long term solution needs to be developed and initiatives created to re-established our wonderful nation back to its original glory.

Election year 2008 has many concerns on the table and not just the war in Iraq (which is a very dire and important issue) but to also pump some life back into the anemic American economy.

National Archive Locations

I have been asked by various people where we are located nationwide. Well, the military personnel records center is here in St. Louis....where I work and we also have various archives scattered throughout the United States:

National Archives Locations by State

Alaska
Arkansas
California
Colorado
District of Columbia
Georgia
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
New Mexico
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Texas
Washington (State)
Wyoming

Websites:

http://www.archives.gov/locations/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration

Religion and the Military

I have been following the story of Army Specialist Jeremy Hall and his beef with the Army regarding his Atheist beliefs.

I can understand his dilemma, however, I also completely understand how the military views this situation.

For one, the military is not an individualistic entity but rather focuses on group identity...when someone strays from that "group" it can generate larger issues down the road.

When a person is molded into this ideology (which seems to contradict America's individualistic identity) it takes a breaking down of the psyche.

In basic training we are taught not to be individual but to think of the "greater good" of one's unit, the mission and ultimately our country.

So when someone like Specialist Halls goes outside of this "norm" I feel the first response from individuals who are trained to think polar opposite of what we are trained to do....is to shun. (Harsh yeah....but from my years in service I never saw too many people stray from this train of thought.)

Now, I see this man's quandary, however the greater good of the service needs to be taken into consideration.

Trust me, I didn't always like to pause in prayer when we went on convoys or even to get ready for a huge field exercise, but I paused like everyone else.

Brainwashed?

No?

But common sense tells me that if you try to break from that military mold I feel down the road somewhere you are going to create problems.

I am all for freedom of religion....we have many people serving in the Armed Forces who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist...you name it.

I think that if we start to make exceptions and have men like Hall break free from what we tend to view as military tradition it will create a crack in the mold...thus creating dissent (though the way some soldiers shunned him or threatened his life is completely wrong...I feel it does a disservice to the uniform and doesn't represent what I know as honor in the military code)....sure I could be wrong but if anyone has served any length of time in the US Armed Forces they would understand where I am coming from:

Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.
He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.

Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.
His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.

I will be following this story with avid interest.

Website:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/08/atheist.soldier/index.html

National Personnel Records Staff (NARA) St. Louis

Hard to pick me out of this one! :^)

Pay Raise

One thing about working for the feds.......(oh how I do love to spread their everlasting glory) concerns the pay increases each year. (Errrr what pay increase?)

Usually we get one at the beginning of the year when Congress approves the increase. However what I have found I don't see any significant adjustments since our health insurance premiums go up alongside with the raise.

We receive a step increase every year until we reach I believe it is Step 5 and then is every 2 years. I am receiving my Step 4 increase this July and is sorely needed due to the wedding, economy and gas.

Q: What are within-grade increases or step increases?

A: Within-grade increases (WGIs) or step increases are periodic increases in a General Schedule (GS) employee's rate of basic pay from one step of the grade of his or her position to the next higher step of that grade. For WGI purposes, an employee's rate of basic pay is the rate of pay fixed by law or administrative action for the position held by the employee before any deductions and exclusive of additional pay of any kind.

BTW...not singing Prez Bush just like the banner.

Website:

http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/html/wgiQA.asp

Life as a civil servant

I have been a dutiful servant of the federal government going on almost six years now. I started this job at the tender age of 34.....ok ok....not so tender. I learned allot. I am grateful for having a wonderful coach. Love the hours and being able to help fellow vets.

This article and others I include discuss benefits of being a civil servant:

Civil Service Defined

What does it mean when someone says he or she is a civil service employee or a civil servant? It means that person works for a government agency. Civil service encompasses employment in Federal, state, and local government agencies. Each is responsible for its own employment system. This means that each state takes care of its own personnel needs, as does each city within those states. Local municipalities such as villages, townships and towns, school districts, and special districts often have their own employment systems as well. Each of these governmental units -- Federal, state, and local -- is independent and engages in different hiring practices.

• Flexible Working Hours (FWH) scheme
  We know that not everybody can, or wants to, work the standard five day week in the office.
  So provided it doesn't affect the service we provide, we offer employees a range of flexible working options to help them manage their commitments outside work.
  People's needs differ widely, so we offer various working patterns within our FWH scheme. These can include:
  
• a job-share - where two or more employees will work part-time to cover a full-time post
  compressed hours - in which you would work your full complement of hours over a shorter period
• staggered hours - when you would vary the times you started and finished work, maybe to fit in with school hours
  Term-time working - giving you the option to take unpaid leave during the school holidays.
• If you would like to take advantage of the FWH scheme, talk to your manager. Together you should work out a solution that suits your needs, and those of the business.
  Employees with children or caring responsibilities have a legal right to ask for flexible working and each department has a formal process through which this request can take place.

Assessing work/life balance
Many departments regularly survey their employees about their work/life balance, to assess how well it's been achieved in the department as a whole. If you are asked about your own circumstances, give as much information as possible, as this will help us improve our processes.

Annual Leave Vacation/Personal Leave; (maximum ceiling or limitation of accrual is 30 days per leave year. )

4 hours per pay period or 13 days per leave year for less than 3 years of
federal service
6 hours per pay period or 20 days per leave year after 3
years of federal service but less than 15 years
8 hours per pay period or 26 days per leave year after 15 years of federal service

Ten Paid Holidays Per Year
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King's Birthday
President's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Veteran's Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day (In addition to the above holidays, the U.S. Government also observes some local holidays celebrated at overseas posts of assignment).

How can you go wrong?

Website:

http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/a/civil_service.htm

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/iwant/life/index.asp

CHICAGO!!!!! And other rants!!!!!!

Leaving for the windy city today. Right now overcast. GRAY and can we say....more GRAY???

Honestly man....where is the sunshine?




It is Spring right????????????

RIGHT?????????????

I am longing for the sun, blue skies, fluffy white clouds....no humidity though..not of that oppressive Midwestern crap.

Anyway, am all jolly---despite some ranting trust me......

Glad to leave St. Louis for a little while.

Suffer from wander lust...hell all my life.

Love to travel.....

Simply to get away from the doldrums of daily living. Gotta have that little shot of excitement--something different (not just vanilla) once in awhile.

Looked at tickets and hotel packages to Miami for the wedding. Not too bad considering. If I am going to spend my hard earned $$$ it had better be on some place different and not in my gas tank.

Really...............

How long are these prices going to continue? I think about the average American......especially those working on minimum wage. I am like wow more than half of their hourly salary goes towards gas.

Hmmmmmm.....................

Again, we need to have a collective voice....come on.....I know our reserves won't last forever....we have our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren's futures to think about. At the same time how can we find cost efficient methods to fuel or appetite for our auto independence, our zest for new techno, etc... etc... etc.....

Anyway, I really need to just start reading up more on this horrid economic crisis our country is going through. Sad....such a great nation falling to its knees in the midst of the chaos overseas and the homefront.

Will elections '08 change things.

I wonder...............

Army Reserve Retirement

Though I am not eligible sometimes blogs are a great informative resource for individuals who come from diverse populations such as the military. This came in my email and wanted to share:

Expanding Reserve Early Retirement
Tom Philpott April 10, 2008

Reservists and National Guard personnel mobilized for war and national emergencies for periods of 90 days or longer since Sept. 11, 2001, could see their age-60 threshold for receiving reserve retirement lowered under a bill (S 2836) introduced April 9 by ten Republican and Democratic senators.
"The bill we are introducing today enhances what we did in last year's defense bill and rewards our men and women who have deployed since our nation was attacked," said Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).
Congress voted a compromise last year that allows only reserve component members deployed after Jan. 28, for 90 days or more, to earn the right to retire earlier than age 60.
Chambliss, who led the effort to reduce reserve retirement age by tying the initiative to current and future wartime deployments, now joins with colleague to try to have early retirement credit applied retroactively to more than 600,000 reservists and Guard members who deployed since 9/11.
Take Action: Tell your public officials how you feel about this issue.
Many of them have been unhappy to learn they were left out of last year's action. Congress only found money enough in the FY 2008 defense budget to apply the early retirement provision to deployment time served after the 2008 defense authorization bill was signed.
For every consecutive 90 days spent mobilized, reservists will see the traditional age-60 start for annuities reduced by three months. Therefore a reservist eligible to retire who mobilized for a year after Jan. 28 can begin to draw retired pay at age 59.

Website:

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,165571,00.html?ESRC=reservists.nl

My thoughts on the Missouri Immigration Directive

I decided to jot down a few notes during the meeting so that I could relay some key points.

The Hispanic Leaders Group of Greater St. Louis had some of the following concerns regarding the directive:

• Views the debate as a momentous opportunity to have a comprehensive reform of continuous issues which are currently dividing our Nation.


• Currently there are competing interests which polarize the community in regard to heated passions for this issue.


• Guest workers should still be allowed to work in the USA because it helps to stimulate economical growth and improves the quality of life of these guest workers.


• These workers usually come here not to seek citizenship but to work.


• That illegals and workers be treated humanely. Not to criminalize these individuals trying to seek a better life. To not criminalize those US agencies trying to assist these individuals.
  

The underlining key points I discovered is that a Missouri police officer will not run an immigration check on any one person unless he feels there is probable cause to do so.

They utilize a system called ICE which stands for Immigration Customs Enforcement. The officers will run the person through this system and if it comes up the person is here in the States illegally then that person has to be detained until Immigration can deport them from the country. However, if the person committed say a heinous crime such as murder or rape then that person will stand trail and when his sentenced has been served he/she will be deported back to their country.

Those Missouri drivers who have a valid license which was obtained through the new standards (showing proof of US citizenship) the police officer will not run ICE because legal means were done to obtain the identification.

One of the issues addressed was the critical importance of having interpreters for individuals out on the street. There seems to be a lack of communication between the Hispanic community and the local police force when it comes to this issue. However, the police chiefs at the meeting stated that they utilize the International Institute for those individuals who do not speak English.

Currently Missouri police are given immigration training in two hour blocks to enlighten them on this new directive by Governor Blunt. This helps the officers become sensitive to the issues of the community especially Hispanics because they are a larger part of the St. Louis population.

Overall, since ICE has been implemented over 223 individuals have been detained for being illegal. The system does work.

The officers emphasized that those individuals (and the Hispanic community at large) should never be afraid of coming to the police if their life is in danger or if they need assistance in some way. The officers state that first and foremost on their minds is the well-being of the individual.

I will be keeping up on this to see how everything works out in my community and hope that those who are afraid of approaching an officer for fear of being deported for whatever reason realize that if they need help they should seek it.

It's the recession stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With employers now slashing over 80,000 jobs it seems that some individuals in Washington still have their heads up their collective a$$e$. I am still grateful for my federal job because it does entail some relative job security. My contention is with those individuals who are so caught up in "outside" matters that our internal issues are taking a backseat. DO people have blinders on? WTF...here we are with yet another bleak outlook to our flagging economy and I fail to see an end to this mess anytime soon:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut payrolls for a third consecutive month in March and the jobless rate jumped to a 2-1/2 year high, adding more evidence that a housing downturn and credit crisis may have pushed the economy into recession. (Hmmm...you think?)

The Labor Department on Friday said non-farm employment fell by 80,000 jobs in March, the biggest decline in five years. Financial markets saw the drop as reinforcing the need for further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

It was the first time the U.S. economy shed jobs for three straight months since a five-month string in 2003, when the economy was mired in a jobless recovery from the 2001 recession.
Adding to the bleak picture, the department said a combined 152,000 jobs were lost in January and February, compared with a previous estimate of 85,000. The unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, the highest since September 2005.

"There doesn't appear to be any silver lining. It shows that we're right in the middle of a recession," said Carl Lantz, U.S. interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York. "Our expectation is that it will be a longer recession than the last two, and we're just in the beginning."

Website:
http://mj.z1077.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=104668&article=3496253

Working with military records

Part of my job with the National Archives is working with Archival records which date back 1945 and prior. (See my previous post regarding how NARA determines what records are determined archival).

What I find fascinating is reviewing the lives of people who served our country during the Great Wars. When I hold a piece of aged document in my hand my mind hearkens back to the days when this soldier served...what was racing through his mind? Was he afraid of not returning home? I had serviced families whose loved ones fought in Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor and the Pacific Theatre.

I work cases from all branches of service but not for the Army and parts of the Air Force...unless retired due to the fire we had at NARA in 1973.

With all the records we have, according to NARA, "...laid side to side, pages in our holdings would circle the Earth over 57 times!" It is amazing the wealth of information stored here!

Saving our planet

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

According to Sustainable Travel International, the greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain naturally occurring gases and gases emitted as a result of human activities are released into the atmosphere including water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, which become trapped on the ground. Because these gasses stay below the earth's atmosphere, they warm the Earth causing disastrous effects on the Earth's natural ecosystem. The combination of these effects is referred to as greenhouse gases.

Seems to me that economic benefits are currently outweighing the future of this planet. As the earth's resources are quickly becoming tapped out due to overpopulation and mishandling of current resources, Mother Nature is violently striking back.

In the news we are seeing more and more disasters. Everything from earthquakes, to melting polar icecaps to cyclones are becoming front page news....as they should be. This planet is on loan.

Countries like India and China are promising as far as experiencing an economic boom at what cost? Is the government going to apply the necessary regulations to maintain a safe environment? According to Cnn, China is regarded as a developing nation, it is not required (???) to curb emissions. Instead, it would be eligible to earn credits by setting up emission-reducing projects and other so called clean development mechanisms. I know that the USA is not perfect in this regard but gains have been made as far as reducing gas house emissions.


According to the Evidence of Accelerated Climate Change:

...we’ve already reached greenhouse gas atmospheric levels equivalent to 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide, the point at which the IPCC says we risk slipping into “dangerous climate change.” While the IPCC assessment acknowledges carbon dioxide-equivalent levels are around 455 parts per million, it assumes the actual climate impact is still below the danger point thanks to the cooling effects of atmospheric aerosols and pollutants. The Climate Institute report notes those aerosol levels are dropping — thanks to pollution-control efforts — while greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

Of course we have to look at the other side and discover why they think that our planet is not suffering from this climatic change:

Climate change computer models that predict warming often rely on assumptions and simplifications that raise questions about their reliability. Example: one model effectively moved the Earth's orbit 2 million miles closer to the sun.

• Models do not accurately account for the influence of important climate factors, such as the behavior and effect of clouds and oceans.

There are shortcomings in the data. Example: temperature records over the last century may incorrectly suggest warming because many weather stations are close to growing cities.

• 
  Temperature observations over the last century are inconsistent with the predictions of global warming theories.



• 
  A competing theory, based on the hypothesis that solar activity may be the major factor in climate change, is more consistent with temperature observations in the northern hemisphere during the last century.
  

In summary, I feel that as a society and as an individual, we should take responsibility over our own pollutants. We should strive for a better planet, reduce emissions and population overgrowth for many many reasons besides the global warming theory. I believe there is solid evidence out there regarding the warming of our planet. I believe that with the melting of the polar icecaps we human beings are partly responsible for the disappearance of this treasure. Everyone is, of course entitled to their opinion and I just like voicing mine.

(Still under constructive thought)

Websites:

http://www.planetsave.com/
http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/documents/op_carbonoffsets_about.html#q2
http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA233.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/global-change.html
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/BG896.cfm
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/qthinice.asp

My job

People ask me what I do. It is pretty detailed so I decided to post here the duties of my appointment:

• MAJOR DUTIES:
  
• Retrieves records from holdings in response to researcher requests. Delivers records to research rooms. Refiles records according to established procedures.

• Provides reference service to the research public as to the substance of NARA self-service holdings, general search paths for these records and the use of research room facilities, equipment, and finding aids (inventories, microfilm descriptive pamphlets, catalogs, indexes, and automated finding aids). Ensures the proper registration of researchers, furnishes records to researchers, and maintains circulation records. Provides referral through professional staff as appropriate. Responds to written inquiries on general reference orientation topics.

• 
  Provides information to the research public in person, in writing and by telephone on a variety of Federal records. Provides educational presentations on standard research methodology for self-service collections and/or the handling and use of materials and equipment.

• Participates in reference projects involving arrangement, description, and preservation of research room finding aids.

• Enforces and instructs the public in reference related regulations and procedures including those relating to research room procedures, reproductions, preservation, security and the use of equipment. Monitors the handling and use of record material, acts to prevent loss or damage, and monitors the condition of records to ensure preservation. Applies access regulations relating to security-classification, copyright, donor and other restrictions.

• Advises researchers on types of reproduction available for records and copying procedures on self-service copiers, monitors the use of copying equipment and advises researchers on procedures to obtain authentications of records and prepares them as appropriate.

• Diagnoses problems with research room equipment (microfilm readers/printers, film viewers, videotape players, printers, copiers); arranges for repair and maintenance and regularly inspects equipment.

New Benefits for NARA employees

Under a law that President Bush signed in September, federal workers who make monthly payments on their student loans for 10 years will have the remaining balance absolved. The new loan forgiveness program generally will affect employees with low salaries. It comes on the heels of a five-year-old program through which federal agencies can pay off thousands of dollars of each student's loan debt as a recruitment and retention tool even for higher paid employees. In fiscal 2006, federal agencies paid off $36 million in loan debt for nearly 6,000 employees under the program.

The loan programs are some of the recently enacted benefit programs aimed at attracting talented workers to the federal government - and keeping them in government. Overall, agencies are awash in candidates for jobs and have a low turnover rate. But it's worth highlighting the many benefits of federal employment as compared to most private sector employers.

For example, many private sector employers allow workers to carry over only a week or two of paid leave from year to year. And many are adopting systems that combine sick and vacation time into a single category - paid time off - which reduces the amount of unused leave in their accounting ledgers. Meanwhile, federal agencies still have separate pots for sick and vacation time, and sick leave can be carried over fully from year to year. Federal employees also can earn compensatory time off for travel, a benefit rarely seen in the private sector.
Another unusual benefit is commuting cost reimbursement. Federal workers in the Washington area can get more than $110 a month to cover public transportation expenses. Uncle Sam pays its employees to get to work. Some private sector employees can pay their public transportation costs out of pretax earnings, but they don't usually get a free ride.

In addition, many agencies offer flexible schedules, such as nine-hour days, which enable employees to take every other Friday off. The federal government generally has an eight-hour workday culture, giving employees time to have a life outside work.
There are, of course, benefits in the private sector unavailable in the public sector, such as profit sharing and stock options, but the benefits that the federal government does offer can be just as attractive.

Federal managers and workers often talk about the downsides of working for Uncle Sam: the bureaucracy, the politics, the limited room for advancement, the stifling of creativity. They address the intrinsic values that can make the workday turn out to be either a grind or a joy.
The extrinsic benefits of federal employment are competitive with those offered by the private sector, and they should be touted to potential and current employees. Maybe it's the intrinsic issues of day-to-day life on the job that federal leaders and managers really need to improve to attract and retain talented workers.

Funding the Archival Project at my Work

The United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records. It also works to increase public access to those documents. NARA is officially responsible for publishing acts of Congress, presidential proclamations and executive orders, and federal regulations. The agency often works closely with scholars to facilitate their studies. NARA is most famously known as the housing of the United States Charters of Freedom.

Hmmm....seems to me that since NARA now owns the military records stemming from 62 years from today's date (think of the 21 law for drinking and how you have to be this age to buy)...anyway----individuals interested in obtaining these records will have to pay a price in order to receive them. For the first time, nearly 1.2 million official military personnel files of former US Navy and Marine Corps enlisted personnel who served between 1885 and 1939 will be open to the public. This first opening also includes 150 "persons of exceptional prominence", including former Presidents, famous military leaders, celebrities, entertainers and professional athletes who served in the military and have been deceased for at least 10 years.

The archival Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) is a record in the legal custody of the National Archives and Records Administration; access to this record will be granted by providing a copy of the file. To obtain a record from such archive holdings can cost anywhere from .75 cents a page for a well known veteran i.e. Clark Gable, Elvis Presley to unknown individuals which can be a $15.00 charge for a separation document or $50.00 for the record (over six pages). I wonder how this will work and if not then I believe NARA will need to obtain appropriated funding for paying our salaries.