After serving 4yrs in the U.S. Army, I enrolled in an Electronics Technology (ET) program at a local community college. I had taken Electronics classes all 3 years in high school prior to entering the service, and after leaving the service I decided working in the field of Electronics was what I wanted to do for a living. I completed the ET program 2yrs later and worked initially as an Electronics Tech (later as a Jr. Electronics Engineer) at various companies in Silicon Valley for the next 11yrs. After this I decided to change careers and started working in the Information Technology (IT) field, which I did for the remainder of my working years. I first started working in the Network Security field in 2000, and now work as a Sr. Network Engineer in a team supporting a global network security infrastructure.
UPDATE: I officially retired in early 2018... I had worked for a total of 38yrs in Silicon Valley and decided it was time for the next chapter in my life. So what do I do with all of my free time these days? Pretty much whatever I damn well please! Retirement is a wonderful thing.
Other Comments:
Info on my MOS (at the start and at the end of all of my unit assignments):
- Ft. Knox (Reception, BCT): 09B0O (Trainee) at start, 09B1O (Trainee Unassigned) at end.
- Fort Polk (Infantry AIT): 11B0O at start, 11B1O at end (note the 1O: MOS Skill Level = 10, SQI = O).
- Ft. Bliss (Redeye Gunner Crs.): 11B1O at start, 11B1OR6 at end (R6 = Redeye Designator).
- Coleman Kaserne, Germany (2Bn 48Inf, 2Bde 3AD, USAREUR): 11B1OR6 at start, 11B4OR6 (MOS Skill Level = 40) at end. (I also earned a 63C (Wheeled/Tracked Vehicle Mechanic) SMOS while I was stationed in Germany, which was upgraded to 63C4O by the time I left the service.)
Add'l info on my MOS (SQI and ASI):
The fifth position in the MOS is called the SQI, or Special Qualifications Identifier- note this is a letter field for enlisted ranks, not a number field. If you have no special qualifications that fall into this category (like me), the letter 'O' is listed in this field to indicate that- not a 0 (zero). There's apparently been a lot of confusion about this over the years- even my own military records occasionally list a 0 (zero) in this position instead of the correct letter 'O'.
The sixth and seventh position in the MOS is called the ASI, or Additional Skill Identifier. An ASI (which is either a letter/number combo or a number/letter combo) indicates add'l training that you've received related to the MOS the ASI is attached to. For me, the 'R6' ASI at the end of my 11B PMOS indicates add'l Redeye Gunner (Air Defense) training I received- a skill which would've been used to protect our 2-48 Infantry Battalion from airborne threats during combat.
Signed,
SGT Michael L. Fouts
PMOS: 11B4OR6 (Infantryman, Redeye Gunner)
SMOS: 63C4O (Wheeled/Tracked Vehicle Mechanic)
CSC 2Bn 48Inf (Dragoons), Bn Motto: 'We Set the Pace'
Coleman Kaserne, 2Bde (aka, the 'Iron Brigade')
3AD, USAREUR / Gelnhausen, West Germany
My wife was actually the one that got me thinking about attending Foothill College. I was laid off, and had been for sometime, when she told me about the Cisco Net Academy curriculum at Foothill College in 2004 (a college fairly close to where we live). She had mentioned Foothill and the Net Academy courses to me before, but it took me awhile to come around to her way of thinking. (She often comes up with good ideas and sound advice- I just need to do a better job at times listening to them!) Anyway, I looked into the networking courses at Foothill, went there to check out the classes and the labs, talked to the instructors and lab managers and I liked what I saw. I then signed up for my initial set of 4-5 unit Cisco networking classes at Foothill, at the age of 51. What in the world have I got myself into!
I eventually completed 6 quarters of Cisco (and some non-Cisco) networking, network security, and network design classes at Foothill. I started in the Spring of 2005, and completed my classes in the Summer of 2006. My overall GPA was 4.0 and I was on the Dean's List 3 times (for 3 different quarters) during that period of time. And much to my surprise, shortly before completing all of my classes at Foothill, I received a phone call from Cisco Systems asking if I would be interested in a full-time position they had available. I then interviewed with them (a very long interview), received a decent job offer from them, accepted the job offer and started working at Cisco Systems a few weeks later. Thus ending the longest period of unemployment in my entire 38yr career working in Silicon Valley. It was a huge win for me and for my family- and it all started with a great idea that my wife had!
P.S. Be sure to check out the pics below, when two VIPs visited the Cisco Net Academy at Foothill College in 2006.
