Networking?

Is it really possible to do the type of networking that I have been told over and over again you need to do in order to land a job, and do it from overseas? While I do everything that I can using my Facebook page and my LinkedIn profile, I gotta say that I am even all the more upset with the Air Force for this deployment... The #1 message that they drill into you at the Transition Assistance Program is that you have to network, network, and network some more... Well, there is nothing that can substitute for meeting face to face and talking to a person.

With all the talk of "People are our number one resource." and "We take care of our people." does the AF insist on pulling douchebaggery like this? Of course, I have always thought that those sayings are just words to them that really have very little actual meaning. Sure, there are services set up for people, but in everything I have seen, if it's something that really means taking care of people, the AF is just going through the motions at best. In many cases, I see things that are meant to help people actually act as a detriment to their careers and security clearances. They SAY that these things have no effect on that, but then why does the preponderance of evidence show people suffering for taking advantage of these services.

So yet again, the message that gets driven home to me at least is that no one in the AF cares, nor will they even try to do what is right for you. The only person you can really rely on in the AF is yourself.

Now, I am not so bitter as to think this doesn't happen in the civilian sector. In ways, I am betting that the back stabbing and douchebaggery is probably much worse. It's just in the AF, the consequences can sometimes be much more lethal.

Okay, that felt better to get off my chest. I'm still not happy with the treatment I have received at the hand of bureaucratic pinheads, but I'll fight through it and make my way on myown, despite their best efforts, and in no way because of them.