[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 12, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2342-E2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO LT. COMDR. PETER R. McCARTHY

                                 ______


                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 12, 1995

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a long time friend 
and constituent of mine, Lt. Comdr. Peter R. McCarthy, USMC, retired.
  He has made an excellent transition from a Marine officer to a 
private sector businessman, providing continued support to the 
military, much of which is on a pro bono basis.
  His philosophy is simply to pass on to the next generation for their 
benefit, all of the professional transition knowledge and know how that 
he has gained. He has been highly successful in this regard.
  I am placing in the Record an article describing his efforts which 
appeared in a recent Washington Post Sunday magazine.

               [From the Washington Post, June 11, 1995]

                            Basic Retraining

                          (By Brigid Schultz)

       ``In the '60s, '70s and '80s you could carpet-bomb the 
     marketplace with resumes and get a response.'' Peter McCarthy 
     is conducting a briefing. ``You could shoot a shotgun in the 
     sky and ducks would come down.'' His voice is loud though his 
     audience is small. ``You could spray machine-gun fire and 
     you'd get a hit.'' Eight officers are sitting posture-perfect 
     behind oversize cards with names like Warren, Dick and Mark 
     scrawled in big letters.
       ``Today you've got to be an Olympic rifle shooter.'' 
     McCarthy's voice quiets and his face grows stern. ``You've 
     only got two magazines.'' He slams an imaginary cartridge 
     into an imaginary rifle and holds it to his shoulder. He 
     squints one eye, takes a step forward and aims. ``You pick 
     your targets, and boom!'' He pulls an imaginary trigger. 
     ``Into the black. boom!'' He fires again. ``Into the black. 
     Every time.''
       The officers--seven men and one woman--nod solemnly. They 
     have reported to this room at the Radisson Executive Retreat 
     Center in Alexandria expecting grim news, and they are 
     getting it. The U.S. military is downsizing. These officers--
     Army colonels, Marine Corps majors and Navy captains--will be 
     among those to go. They have come to learn how to search for 
     a job.
       As McCarthy's report sinks in, some of them twist their 
     bulbous service-academy rings and stare out the window.
       ``P and L.'' He is pacing in front of them. He served in 
     the Marine Corps for 20 years, some of them in Vietnam. ``To 
     you, that has meant professionalism and loyalty. But in the 
     private sector, it's the 23rd of December, you've got a 
     number of kids, and on your desk you find a pink slip. 
     There's P and L for you: profit and loss. A knife in the 
     back. . .  You guys are so used to knowing who's in the next 
     foxhole, counting on him, that you've got a built-in 
     naivete.''
       McCarthy has made his own foray into the private sector as 
     a consultant specializing in helping service personnel cross 
     to the other side. Many of them have been in uniform since 
     the day they got out of school. Most of them are only in 
     their forties. After 20 years in, they can draw a pension of 
     half their base pay; for people with children and mortgages, 
     that isn't enough. Civilian firms are eliminating the middle-
     management jobs for which they would be best suited.
       ``There's a psychological bridge between you and 
     the private sector. At the top of the bridge is a granite 
     wall 12 feet high and 12 feet thick. Once you walk over 
     that bridge, it's a whole different culture. . .''
       The first lesson is in ``creative research.'' Before the 
     officers arrived, they were asked to fill out a form titled 
     ``Understanding You.'' McCarthy asks them to identify their 
     hidden skills, assets and interests that may translate to a 
     civilian enterprise. ``If you were recruiters, you're great 
     salesmen,'' he says. The group brainstorms about growing 
     opportunities in law enforcement, leisure, finance. ``Child-
     abuse counseling seems to be a growth industry,'' offers one 
     Marine colonel. McCarthy hands out a reading list: Age Wave, 
     Megatrends 2000, Powershift, What Color is Your Parachute?
       For the ``primary attack,'' he says, you have to research 
     companies, figure out what they need and tailor your resume, 
     appearance and demeanor to fit. But don't be too hasty: Get 
     your act together first.
       ``Look, you're a battleship heading up this way.'' He draws 
     a pencil-shaped ship steaming head-on toward enemy targets. 
     ``I don't want you to fire now. You've got one gun firing at 
     the target. Instead, I want you to come here.'' He positions 
     the ship closer to the target and swings it around, 
     broadside. ``Fire all your guns at all the targets. Mass your 
     fire, just like a column of artillery. Get ready get 
     organized and--boom!''
       Networking is next. McCarthy tells them to run their 
     friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances as if they were 
     intelligence agents, using them as ``listening posts'' doing 
     ``recon'' on the marketplace. Their ``secondary attack'' is 
     to ``explode'' these ``intel'' networks, adding more and more 
     listening posts to report back to them.
       Then, resumes. McCarthy tells them not to use acronyms like 
     CINCEUR and JIB and LANTCOM. Instead of saying Marine Corps, 
     say ``large international organization.'' He turns to the 
     board and begins writing an outline: Situation. Goals. 
     Parameters. Execution. Administration. Control. ``This look 
     familiar to you guys?''
       Relief washes over their faces.
       ``This plan was used by Moses to cross the desert, by 
     Arthur Andersen to expand globally, and by Norman Schwarzkopf 
     to go into Kuwait.'' It is the field order that the military 
     uses for combat and just about every other situation. 
     McCarthy takes them through it point by point, and after 
     ``Control,'' he also asks them to add a ``love 
     statement''--family considerations.
       After lunch, the officers study how to dress. For this 
     representative of Nordstrom has been enlisted to outfit some 
     mannequins with dark blue and gray suit coats, red patterned 
     ties and braces. McCarthy shows off his own Hickey-Freeman 
     suit and wingtips.
       They start with the basics: Never wear a brown or olive 
     suit to an interview. Never wear a plastic running watch. Do 
     wear pressed French cuffs with gold cuff links, but skip the 
     monogram. Do wear natural fibers . . . 
       The officers are scribbling in their briefing books.
       
[[Page E2343]]

       . . . Never wear pilot's glasses or shoulder pads. Always 
     wear over-the-calf socks. Unbutton your suit coat when you 
     sit down so the collar doesn't ride up. Get used to clothes 
     that fit more loosely than your uniform. Do not accent your 
     new suit with Corfam military shoes.
       Next, interviewing. McCarthy's first advice is to scope out 
     where you're going the day before. ``It's just like in an 
     operation. I can remember in Vietnam, if you could go out and 
     helicopter along the line--you're been out there, you've seen 
     it, it makes you more comfortable when going out on attack.''
       And loosen up: No more yes sir, no ma'am. Get rid of the 
     82nd Airborne Shuffle or the Eighth & I Walk. ``You're no 
     longer the captain of the fleet on the bridge. You need to 
     soften up.'' But not too much: ``They may be waiting to hear 
     your spouse say, `Joe's worked so hard in the Army, he's 
     ready to take his pack off.''
       Recon your interviewer. Maybe he protested against the 
     Vietnam War. Maybe she thinks military personnel are 
     automatons. ``Assess the situation, suck up to the ego if you 
     have to. You guys are flexible enough to adjust, because 
     that's what you do on the battlefield.''
       He closes the seminar day with tips on writing thank-you 
     notes and negotiating compensation. The officers have two 
     more days of this to go, and already they look worn out.

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