>> I like most about what I'm doing in that I'm making a difference.
The work that I'm doing at The Pentagon at the headquarters,
where we're able to touch all the different weapons programs that we have in terms
of gauging how well they can use the money of if the money is going
to be more effectively used somewhere else really makes you feel like you have significant,
important impacts on what's taking place at The Pentagon.
The challenges with acquisition are that it is a heavily legalistic
and regulatory governed process, and ever since I've been in the world of acquisition,
which is only about 10 years, you always hear about acquisition reform.
So the challenge for the acquisition community is how best to tailor the weapons program
so that you're still meeting the intent of the laws but you're not getting caught
up in all the regulatory aspects that can be waived
if you're smart enough to figure out how to do that.
The other challenge in being a civilian in the Air Force is that not being a member
of the military or a former member of the military, I don't have those extensive networks
that an Air Force or Air Force retired person will have,
and those networks are really important to future of career promotions,
progressions, contacts, and so on.
So there's a lot of work that the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense are doing, actually,
in enhancing the civilian professional development at the Defense Department.