[Night Hides Not]

Or would you rather the government only hire amateurs fresh out of school?

IMHO, the government should hire a mix of people. The "amateurs" can be trained by "professionals" like yourself, and the results are usually good for everybody.

None of us were "professionals" when we started our careers.

[Chainmail]

You need to settle down and apply some logic: I'm responding to someone who says that veterans who go on to serve in government or government support careers are not needed - and are really horrible "double dippers". I'm telling him that we are needed and even necessary. I did not say that we shouldn't have people coming straight out of civilian life too. We need a mix of people and viewpoints and varieties of talents.

As far as "getting over myself" goes - why? I have done an exceptional job of serving my country (including losing part of my right leg to a machinegun bullet) and I have done really great things to keep our country ahead of the world technologically. There are certainly many, many others that have done the same but I don't see any reason at all to hide my own light under a bushel basket.

Like many others, I didn't get a parade when I got back from Vietnam - quite the opposite, really. Now I am my own parade.