Getting Political… | Green Veterans

Green Veteran is an oxymoron. Two actually.

Taken one way after all, how can one be Green (new and inexperienced) if they are a Veteran (older and experienced)?

Taken another way it exemplifies a divide between political parties.

After all, most military people are Red-State and most Greens are Blue-State (or Ralph Nader fans). Conventional Wisdom does not consider a Red-Stater being an avid proponent of renewable energy. I describe myself, an Independent voting person, as a Green Veteran.

Red State | Blue State | What’s a Green Veteran?

After careful analysis for the past six years I believe energy is the next dot com and also the glaring strategic vulnerability that must be developed. We must become more self-reliant, period. For a lot of reasons, national security ranking the highest. I am agnostic to political parties in obtaining this goal. There is no Big Oil to me, only Big Energy.

My initiative to address this is Vets2Vines. Training active duty veterans in preparation for their eventual departure into civilian life. Retaining them in California and offering a smooth transition into an agricultural supervisory position that helps keep that management and leadership knowledge here in Cali. Getting farmers and vineyards to embrace renewable energy by seeing the cost savings.

This morning I met with Mike Reagan, the Solano County Supervisors Board Chairman today for about half an hour - unexpectedly. This was my first time meeting him; in the past I’ve dealt with his staff and just advised them of what we wanted to accomplish because I thought that was adequate for my stage in the game.

Today I had thought that would continue; after all, it was an afterthought to stop in once I was finished with my stop into County Planning / Building Resource Management. Sort of like being asked to give your elevator pitch of your project completely impromptu yet it went quite well.

Mike Reagan - Renewable Energy Visionary & Rural Use Advocate

It turns out that Mike is also a Green Veteran. I didn’t ask which party he votes; if he has served his country, is for national security, and for green power he’s a Green Veteran and that’s all that matters to me.

Mike was a zoomie who got in about the time I was born as an enlisted guy who went Officer. In the Navy we call those guys Mustangs. He used to run things over at Travis AFB located in Fairfield.

Mike Reagan has some great ideas and good resources to share and he’ll be an asset going forward. Check out his 80 ideas he wants to work on in his next 5 years as an example.

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