November. All things point to Thanksgiving this month. As your Post President, I wish for you to reflect on what you are thankful for. Here in our Post, I thank all of you for being part of the SAME community. I am thankful for our Board of Directors, Committees, Volunteers, and all our members. From the big firms to the small firms in our industry, you all make a difference to our Society.

Over 45 Post members and supporters attended our November 15, Special Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Panel Webinar with Mr. Timothy Tetreault with Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) and Lucian Niemeyer with Building Cyber Security (BCS). Presentations provided overviews of the ESTCP program highlighting areas for engineer interest and the NoVA/DC Post Cybersecurity of Operational Technologies (OT) Industry Government Engagement (IGE) status, upcoming JETC warfighting seminar, and future events.  

The SAME NoVA/DC/Mid-Maryland Posts have been planning and coordinating the 2022 Leadership & Mentoring Program. We are proud to host 16 participants for the 2022 class which is focused on developing future leaders of the military, government, and industry. 

On October 4^th, our class met with Karen Durham-Aguilera, SES, Executive Director of the Office of Army Cemeteries & Army National Military Cemeteries, and COL Tom Austin, Director of Engineering for Arlington National Cemetery (ANC), to discuss the operations, challenges, and complexity involved with maintaining the cemetery. Our sincere thanks to Karen’s dedication to SAME and leader development!!

The LMP class met on November 8^th at Chill Axes in Crofton, MD to learn from several Small Business owners about “Leadership Lessons from Small Business Ownership” from Jim Hoffman, PE, LEED AP, CEM, (President, Summer Consultants), Jilian Breeden, PE, LEED AP (President, Engage Federal), and Kamau McAbee, CIEC (Co-Founder and Principal, Environmental Health Consultants). Thank you to all of SB speakers and to Sally Clark for organizing a great event and the follow-on Young Professional event involving axes, beer, and pizza!

Please join us on Dec 9^th at Maggiano’s in Tysons where we will celebrate this program and graduate our class! Please register to attend here: LMP 2022 Graduation Registration 

Please share this with our Young Professionals (40 years old and below) interested in joining a fun and rewarding year long program focused on leadership, mentoring, networking, and education!

Any Post member is welcome, but priority will go to members of the SAME DC Post and SAME Northern Virginia Post.

The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Washington DC and Northern Virginia Posts are excited to announce the application process is open for the 2023 Leadership and Mentoring Program (LMP).

The program is a unique opportunity for Young Members, Junior Officers, and NCOs to be mentored by SAME Fellows and senior leaders from government and private sector while developing their leadership skills through focused educational sessions. The program includes monthly in-person meetings with these industry leaders to discuss various topics regarding leadership and professional growth. A select group will be chosen to participate in the program, based on applications submitted, and can earn up to 20 PDHs over the course of the year.

The program application and agreements can be found here.

Eligibility: Open to SAME Young Members of any SAME Post (Under the age of 40 as of January 1, 2023) and must remain a Young Member for the duration of the 12-month program. Also, must be a current member of SAME with priority given to the DC or Northern Virginia Posts members. In-Person monthly attendance is required at locations in DC and Northern Virginia.

Tuition: $500 for industry participants; $300 for Small Business participants; complimentary for full-time government participants. Accepted participants will be invoiced at the beginning of the year.

Applications are due by December 16, 2022. For any questions, please contact Ed Chamberlayne at ed.chamberlayne@primeeng.com.

Our Post continues to search for new ways to provide value to our members. Since we have a large number of Veterans in our Post, we have started a Veterans Outreach Committee. Rather than reinvent the wheel, 1st Vice President Phil Hicks and Director-At-Large Mary Anderson are finding existing resources and events out there to pass on to our members. This "Veteran's Corner" has been established in the newsletter in order to pass that information out. Please check it out every month!

RECAP - Last Month SAME NoVA Post attended the MOAA's Network for Career Success event (above picture). It was a great success with nearly 100 high-quality transitioning uniformed servicemembers, veteran and military spouse candidates in attendance. They had a chance to meet with firms looking to hire veterans and services that help veterans find jobs. There was a panel discussion of veterans currently working in government positions and in private industry.

Veterati | America’s Mentoring Network for the Military: Join thousands of Service Members, Veterans, and Military Spouses in setting up free 1-hr mentorship phone calls with successful professionals. Register as a protégé or mentor at https://www.veterati.com/

Corporate Gray Newsletter | Founded by Carl Savino in 1994, Corporate Gray helps transitioning military personnel connect with employers in print, in person, and online by providing The Corporate Gray Military-to-Civilian Transition Guide, Corporate Gray Job Fairs for the Military Community, Virtual Military-Friendly Job Fairs, and Corporate Gray Online | November 2022 Newsletter is available at https://www.corporategray.com/CGnewsletter.html

reStart | For over 20 years, the reStart team has successfully produced more than 900 recruitment and boutique events tailored to the Defense & Information Technology industries. These events have attracted over 800,000 Security Cleared & Technical professionals, opening the door to tens of thousands of careers while saving employers millions of dollars and countless hours to obtain skilled professionals.

The Intelligence Community, Inc (TIC)| What started with a LinkedIn group in 2008 became a vibrant professional network. Our goal has been to solve several problems identified in the 9-11 Commission Report through a grassroots movement to "put community back into the Intelligence Community".