Spreading Joy to Wounded Warriors, their Families, and Veterans…via Fisher House

Good afternoon, all:

Last Friday, 12/9, Rich Breen and I had the opportunity to make a personal delivery of over 500 DVDs – collected by Summit Employees – to the Fisher House DC VA Medical Center location.

You’ll recall that all six Summit locations collected new and used DVDs as part of our “Reel Soldiers” campaign back in early 2010.  A total of 1,408 (Wow!) were collected and shipped to Crystal City. 

The intent was to then deliver them to Army Wounded Warrior/Warrior Transition Commands around the country.  However, given various Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) challenges, changes in Army personnel, and other logistical concerns, we held on to the DVDs until 2011 and formulated a wider distribution plan.

Specifically, since the National Fisher House Foundation Headquarters is right here in Rockville, MD, we decided to approach them about accepting some of our DVDs at their multiple nation-wide locations.  We would then supplement the Fisher House activity with a shipment to the large Warrior Transition Units at the newly re-located Walter Reed and/or Ft. Belvoir facilities.

Fisher House confirmed that they had nine out-of-state houses in need of DVDs.  Thus far, we have shipped cases to: Houston, Albany (NY), Tampa, Bay Pines (FL), Augusta (GA), Honolulu, Travis AFB (CA), Ft. Hood, and Seattle.  That’s a total of 576 DVDs!

Then, the Foundation mentioned that they had a brand new House in DC; it just opened in September of this year.

In the words of the DC House Manager, Master Sergeant (Ret.) Kenneth Merritt, “Summit would be like angels to us!  We have new TVs and DVD-players in all 20 of our rooms plus our main Den area.  Yet, our residents are asking why we don’t have any DVDs they can watch?  I’ll take whatever you can send us.  Summit will actually be starting our own Video Library!”

So, on December 9^th, we presented 512 DVDs to the DC Fisher House.   A link to the formal letter from Summit, plus three photos from the afternoon, are enclosed for your enjoyment. 

A sincere “Well-Done!” to all of Summit!

Michael R. Nadonley

Program Manager

Summit Government Solutions Group 

Arlington, Virginia 22202

December 9 FINAL Signed FH Letter (120511)

COL (Ret.) Rich Breen presents Summit Letter to DC Fisher House Manager, MSG (Ret.) Kenneth Merritt

Rich Breen, Kenneth Merritt, Michael Nadonley

512 donated DVDs...just in time for the Holidays!

Michael R. Nadonley

Program Manager

Summit Government Solutions Group

 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 750

Arlington, Virginia 22202

Phone: 571-483-2433

Fax: 571-483-2439

Did you reconnect?

Last Friday I sent the below email and I thought it would be fun to see if anyone took my challenge.

As for me, I spoke to a couple of Army buddies.  My roommate from Iraq is retiring soon.  He is in his final week of being stationed in California and will return to Ft. Riley to retire.  He promises to get the green footlocker out of my garage that has been there since 2005.  I told him I hadn’t given the items to kids yet in hopes it would entice him to visit.

——-

As I was sitting at Hy-Vee this morning having the free Veterans breakfast they offer, the thing I enjoyed the most was watching the camaraderie among friends and complete strangers.  It got me thinking about all those friends that I do terrible job of staying in touch with.  So my challenge for all of you is to reach out to at least one individual that you should have called a long time ago.  I believe we all have at least one.  If you don’t that’s excellent, call a relative.  You know that cousin you only see every 5 years at the family reunion.  Go one step further and actually speak with them.  No email or texting.

U.S. Army Concert Tour…Round THREE!

Greetings, fellow Summiteers!

Well, after surviving the first two shows of the SHARP sponsorship of the 2011 U.S Army Concert Tour (you’ll recall those were on back-to-back nights over the Memorial Day Weekend…and oh, what an adventure!  Ever watched the sun rising…from the driver’s seat of a U-Haul…after being up for 26 hours straight?), we are now getting ready to hit the road for delightfully cool Fort Sill, Oklahoma!

This outdoor show features country superstar Miranda Lambert as the headliner and will be full of some amazing Army Patriotism, as the local Lawton / Ft. Sill community gathers to celebrate the 4th of July.  (See: www.sillmwr.com)

Unfortunately, the intensely dry, hot conditions — and local brush fires — have caused the annual Fireworks Display, originally scheduled for the end of the concert, to be cancelled this year.  Tomorrow, when we arrive, the temp will be a soothing 105…and, at concert time, the forecast is for a delightful 110.

But, rest assured that Summit-GSG will be there and leading the celebration!  We have designed – and then manage on-site — the SHARP exhibits, promotional-products, prizes, scratch-&-win contest, pre-concert videos, voice-overs, and more.  SHARP / I AM STRONG is the premier sponsor of the 2011 Tour, and Summit is the backbone of that effort!  HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

An Interesting & Inspiring Perspective To Share

Posted on behalf of Michael Tritt:
This past Saturday night a few of us from the KC office attended the local AUSA Army Birthday dinner at Crown Center. Every year this event is very well done and reminds us of the tremendous sacrifices made by our military while also celebrating Army history. The event is humbling and certainly stirs many patriotic emotions. This year, over 500 people were in attendance.

Of course, every year there is a featured after-dinner speaker. Always a distinguished senior Army officer. Not always a great speaker. I can tell you for certain, however, this year the speaker was fantastic and will be hard to match . . .

Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp is 61 years old and retiring this summer. He’s held many leadership positions while in the Army and has perspective that only comes from careers as rich as his. With that said, his message Saturday night was quite simple. He mixed personal stories with professional. He made us laugh more than once. And, he was as sincere and unassuming a person as you’d hope to ever meet. I was taking mental notes as fast as my brain could file them.

Here’s one message that really hit home . . .

General “Van” shared how he has come to bucket those around him — in the work setting — as three types:

Those who “HAD to do the job/work”
Those who “WANT to do the job/work”
And, those who “GET to do the job/work”

The functional Job/Work is the same for all three buckets of people. The attitude and energy each type of person brings is entirely different

• Those who “Had to do the job” were self-focused and could not see the bigger picture nor the common good of serving others. He wanted very few of these people around him.
• Those who “Wanted to do the job” were better, but he never knew if their real motivation was only selfish or truly focused on serving. He was neutral about these folks.
• Those who approached work with an attitude of “I GET to do this job” were his priority and his inspiration. They brought an extreme appreciation for Service and being outwardly focused. They made every encounter with every customer and with each other positive and always looked for that “greater good” satisfaction. He wanted as many of these folks as possible. (I imagine when you have three stars on your shoulder, you tend to get what you want.)

So, here’s my point . . .

Regardless of what job we each have, what office we work from, how directly we touch clients, and how long we’ve called Summit “home”, we should hold ourselves and each other to the standard of “GETTING to do our job” and serving a fantastic and growing client base who depend on us to deliver tremendous intelligence, ideas and service EVERY day.

Now, I’ll admit there are days I fall short of that “Get to do” standard. I thought long and hard about that this past weekend. In the end, I’m OK that I haven’t achieved perfection. What I will commit to you, however, is that awareness and inspiration can nurture growth and success.

Which bucket do you fall in? Are you always in that same bucket, or do you bounce around depending on the circumstance and what’s going on outside of Summit? Can you find your own inspiration or do you also need to be surrounded by “Get To” folks? Give these questions some thought, then find your manager or even come find me if you’d like to discuss. I’ve shared previously that I eat lunch everyday, regardless of which office I’m in. I’d invite you to get on my lunch schedule and I’ll be happy to buy. Let’s find what it takes to hold each other to the highest standard possible. That’s where the greatest professional joy and satisfaction live.

GO ARMY! West Point Athletics NCAA-bound!

Given the wonderful volume of work, and relationships, Summit-GSG has created with our Army partners (both past and present) it only seems fitting to keep folks up to speed with the outstanding athletic efforts of one of the most amazing institutions in the country: The United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA).  Granted, the academic year is pretty much a “wrap” and Graduation is up next.  But, some of the Cadets are still out there, “on the fields of friendly strife” doing their thing! 

I was fortunate enough to put together the first ever US Army Freedom Team Salute relationship with West Point (which, all sadly disappeared after the de-funding of FTS in MAR, 2010) but we continue to remain in contact.  Plus, for everyone on the GSG team, no matter where you work, it’s a great “ice-breaker” or conversation-starter to be able to say, “Hey, I hear that West Point _________ beat ___________  in ____________ last week!  How cool is that!”

So, some brief updates for you:

*  The USMA baseball team kept its season alive last Saturday with a sweep of Lafayette in the Patriot League semifinals. The team will travel to Annapolis next week for the chance to compete against Navy for the conference championship. The best-of-three series starts with a doubleheader on Monday. The deciding game is scheduled for Tuesday if necessary.  Both the Patriot League and NCAA tourney are well within reach!

*  The Army Golf Team will play its NCAA Regional competition at the Omni Tucson Resort in Tucson, Ariz. The 14-team event hosted by the University of Arizona begins on May 19.  Joining Army in the regional are Texas A&M, San Diego State, Texas Tech, California, Liberty, Washington, Pepperdine, Oregon State, Purdue, UC Davis, Arizona, Texas-Arlington and Loyola Maryland.  The Black Knights earned the NCAA spot by winning the Patriot League Championship for the 10th time in school history. This marks Army’s 24th NCAA appearance. 

* Sadly, the Army’s men’s tennis season came to an end with a 4-0 loss at No. 8 Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Taube Family Tennis Center at Stanford.  Army ended the year with a 13-12 mark, winning its 10th Patriot League title in program history and advancing to the national tournament for the fifth time.
*  Similarly, the Army’s women’s tennis season came to an end with a 4-0 loss at No. 11 Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Championship.  The Black Knights ended the season with a 23-7 mark which included their 12th Patriot League title and 11th NCAA Tournament berth.

Finally, while they won the Patriot League last year, then shocked the world by beating annual powerhouse Syracuse in the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament, this year’s Men’s Lacrosse team finished 9-6 and did not advance to any Tournament play.  The USMA Hockey team, always another strong unit, finished their season with a record of 11-20-4.

Bring on FOOTBALL SEASON!  GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

Aaaarrrggghhh – our Navy tries Crowdsourcing!

Ahoy, this just in from the Navy.

Apparently our Navy doesn’t know how to beat the pirates.  Not the Pittsburg Pirates (they have no starting pitching and a weak lineup) but real live Somali pirates.  So they have developed a game for the internet that can be played by anyone to help them solve this problem. Blimey!

Just think, you can help the Navy rid the world of pirates over the internet by playing a game! Now that is a radical use of “crowdsourcing” to solve a problem. AYE!

Bottom line – the Navy developed MMOWGLI (obviously standing for Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet) to collect the best ideas. And you thought YOU had problems with no solutions…

Here’s the link if you’d like to read more about it – it really is groundbreaking.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/navy-crowdsources-pirate-fight-to-online-gamers/