House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence- US House of Representatives (HPSCI)

This coin is from the US House of Representatives- Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). In 2009, I applied to the Army's Congressional Fellowship Program and was accepted. I began the graduate program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (MPS Legislative Affairs- GSPM) in the summer of 2010 and served as the Defense Fellow in Congressman Mike Rogers' (R-MI-8th) personal office; Chairman of the HPSCI. This was a good program- selecting leaders with extensive operational experience and exposing them to the Hill- a valuable experience to see first-hand how Congress works and how the DoD/DoW interacts with staff and members. Fellows are assigned to personal offices or committee staffs of jurisdiction (armed services, intel, foreign affairs/ foreign relations, appropriations, etc.) and work defense portfolios for the member/ committee. This program (as well as others- like JCS intern) are an important part of strategic leader development for senior NCOs and Field Grades- providing them with the insight and experience to make them more effective leaders as they continues to serve. I was only competitive because I had a letter of recommendation from the VCSA (courtesy of his former ADC- Todd Fox) and had just come off of 3 deployments to Iraq, beginning in 2004. I am forever grateful to the personal staff of Mike Rogers (Mary Randolph Gannon, Diane Rinaldo, Andrew Hawkins, Andy Keiser, Pat McGlone, Shannon Stehouwer, Meghan Stone) and the PSMs on the HPSCI. Working constituent issues, HR 1497 (Barbary Pirates!), CODEL and STAFFDEL travel, and the experiences gained in OCLL-Intel Programs has helped me in every job since.