Hello! Welcome to The Risk Blog. For those I haven’t met yet, I am Russ, a retired US Marine Corps Officer, current project manager, and the owner of Forty-Four Risk PM, LLC.
I’m starting The Risk Blog as Forty-Four Risk PM’s first initiative, and I plan to deploy other initiatives iteratively throughout the future. Ensure you join the newsletter to receive the latest and greatest updates on the company’s initiatives.
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This initial post is me expanding on the “About Me” page. Today’s blog allows me to give you more details on me and why I have created The Risk Blog.
It is important to know who I am and where I’ve come from and just putting my resume up on the page would be just boring! This is a summary of my career and the story of how I’ve grown into the project manager with a love for risk and teaching I am today.
I started with The Risk Blog due to my passion for learning and writing about project management, project risk management, and leadership. Each of these areas, I have gained extensive experience over my 20-year career in the US Marine Corps and my current career as a project manager.
Overview of The Risk Blog:
What is in the Risk Blog:
Project Risk Management, Project Management, Leadership, and Book Reviews
Forty-Four Risk PM, LLC Mission:
To establish a premier blogging and educational platform for Project Managers and Project Risk Managers to learn, grow, and develop themselves as practitioners and leaders.
Career:
I’m a retired US Marine Corps Officer and current Project Manager in the financial sector with 20+ years of experience in planning, project management, project risk management, and leadership development.
Current Certifications:
PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-ACP, LSSBB, CSM
Overview of Your Blogger:
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, with four siblings. As a normal kid, I enjoyed sports, girls, and time with friends. My father was on the SWAT Team for the Cleveland Police Department, and my mother worked at the post office. – Nothing too exciting here.
In 1995, I got my introduction to what would become my future in the Marine Corps when I enrolled in the Young Marine program at the ripe age of 10.
The Young Marine program is “a national youth program for boys and girls, ages eight through high school, focused on leadership, citizenship through community service, self-discipline, and living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.”
In the Young Marines, I developed my drive to join the Marine Corps straight out of high school, and it was the foundation of my leadership training in life. By the age of 13, I was being put in charge of other Young Marines in our unit. By age 16, I had attended a National Leadership School and a Survivor School.
At a young age, I was introduced to planning while on the leadership team for the unit, for which I was incorporated before I even turned 15. I would work with the adult staff on training plans, community relations, and development programs for the unit.
It is safe to say that by the time I was 18, I was ready for the Marine Corps.
The Enlistment:
I shipped off to Parris Island, SC, one month after graduating High School, ready to take on the world. It was 2003, the Iraq War invasion had just happened, and I knew war would be in my future. That first year, though, it was Boot Camp, Marine Combat Training, and my military occupations specialty (MOS) training.
In early 2004, I finally checked into my command. Upon check-in, I immediately received the news that in less than a year, we would be in Iraq. And the real training started.
Our deployment would be to the Haditha Dam in Iraq from Feb – Oct 2005. As a 19-year-old Lance Corporal, I did not serve in a leadership role. But, I did get to observe our leadership from the junior ranks. I observed how they walked, talked, and planned for operations. Without getting into details, they did not impress me.
Aside from my thoughts on the leadership, Iraq turned out to be a defining year of my life. During that deployment, we lost 48 Marines and Sailors – something that I think about until this day. The tragedy this was, it became my purpose in life to help not repeat such an occurrence. A motivation I would carry with me for the rest of my career.
Post Iraq, the Marine Corps promoted me to Corporal and then Sergeant. I attended additional leadership schools, did some overseas exercises, and led our team through multiple inspections. I also attended school during this time, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Criminology in December of 2008.
In January 2009, I shipped off to Officer Candidate School for the next chapter in my career.
The Commission:
Afghanistan 2012:
In March 2009, I pinned on Second Lieutenant and started my next stage as a Marine Corps officer. As with all Marine Corps officers, The Basic School (TBS) became my first stop.
TBS is a unique school across the Department of Defense. All Marine Corps officers attend the six-month training. This gives every new officer the same foundation in knowledge, training, and planning. And for most young Lieutenants, it is a true place of torture.
During this training, the instructors teach the basics in the Marine Corps Planning Process. This turns into extensive talks on how we, as Lieutenants, will fall into this process. Especially when we serve as Platoon Commanders within our commands. Their main goal – teach us how to analyze a mission statement to create and develop a plan through mission analysis.
We must understand the basics in military operations and something that could sound familiar to project managers. Our training encompassed various aspects of the military lifecycle, but there was a focus on analysis of:
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The threats and opportunities in our operations
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The resources we have available to us
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Development of a plan for the preparation and execution of our mission
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How to supervise the actions of the plan
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How to do after-action reports post execution
After TBS, I found myself with a 31 Marine platoon. And with a pending deployment to Afghanistan in a little over a year, we needed to train hard. So, it was time to put my training in planning to the test in training my own platoon.
During the deployment, my transportation platoon and I participated in multiple different operations. Each involved detailed planning and risk analysis encompassing the terrain, IED threats, and other types of risk events.
Luckily, I had a fully functioning team that operated a highly proficient level. This allowed me to focus on identifying individual risk events, mission (project) risks, and responses during our execution of 114 convoy operations.
During this deployment, I saw true leadership in my supervisor and the infantry leaders I supported. I learned a lot on that deployment – about myself as a leader, my Marine Corps trade, and true leadership in the face of danger.
My greatest feeling of accomplishment from that deployment is that, within my platoon, we did not lose any Marines. There were injuries due to an accident, but everyone came home to see their families. We were able to manage the risks of the deployment and come home to fight another day.
Afghanistan 2013 and General Support Motor Transportation Company:
Coming home from Afghanistan in December 2012, the Marine Corps promoted me to Captain in the Spring 2013. From there, I moved to a different unit and immediately put into the middle of the new units training cycle. We trained for my next deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2013.
Therefore, I took command of Support Combat, Combat Logistics Battalion 6, and found myself quickly back in Afghanistan.
During this deployment, I led a maintenance organization that focused on repairing the unit’s equipment and recovery support. I inherited an amazing team with one of the best Chief Warrant Officers I’ve ever served with. Serving as my Executive Officer and Maintenance Chief, he truly made the team successful. I learned a lot from him on different leadership styles and tactics, some that I still use today.
Our role was to plan out preventive and corrective maintenance for the unit. This allowed us to operate and conduct missions in providing logistical support across Helmand Province. Even though this was my shortest deployment, the team identified some significant risks with our equipment. Thinking quickly, they put appropriate mitigation actions against those risks, streamlining our work and providing an increase to our readiness.
The proficiency and work ethic of the Marines completely impressed me. It hit me hard when my Commanding Officer called me to his office. He let me know I needed to redeploy early due to an issue back in the States with one of his other units.
Two weeks later, I returned to North Carolina and assumed command of General Support Motor Transportation Company (GSMT).
Afghanistan 2015:
GSMT had become a “dumbing ground” for the Marine Logistics Group at the time, if you couldn’t deploy as a motor transportation operator or mechanic – you were sent to this unit. They had lower priority for training, and, as one expected, as a result, morale was low.
I allowed myself a few weeks of observation and planning before I jumped into action to get the company back within standards. It was difficult, but I convinced my boss to provide me with some strong Lieutenants and new senior enlisted.
Without getting into details, we were able to turn the company around within a year. Morale was high, maintenance levels were back to within tolerance for readiness, and we provided support across the East Coast. To this day, that company was one of my greatest moments of success as a leader, but I also learned from one of my greatest failures as a planner during this time as well.
The Failure That Created a More Effective Planner:
In the late summer of 2014, higher HQ tasked GSMT with providing a select group of the company to go out-of-state to support an external agency independently. Due to new reporting requirements, this level of support required a presentation to our Commanding General (CG), and we quickly made the schedule to present to him.
Now, we have supported multiple events similar to this one, but this time, we had a new CG and new guidance. As busy as my team was in providing support and focusing on executing my plan to build the company back to standards – I did not review this new guidance to the level I should have.
On the day of the presentation to the CG, he walked in, I started talking, and less than 10 minutes later, he closed his book, stood up, and said, “Obviously, my message has not been received, and the people on the left side of me [his staff] need to talk to the people on the right side [my units staff].” And he walked out of the room.
In the Marine Corps, that was the nicest way he could have made that statement. Over the next 48 hours, I worked with members of my unit’s staff, and we refined our plan at the very last minute to meet the CG’s intent. It was not an easy task, but we got it done, presented it, and got approval to execute it.
From this failure, I learned more about identifying your stakeholders and understanding their requirements in your project. Collaboration with your stakeholders across your organization and gaining advice from your peers and industry experts are critical elements in ensuring your project’s successful outcome and go/no go during management assessment.
After this experience, I learned to dive deeper into details, understand my stakeholders who hold power and their requirements, and how to react to failure—all areas of expertise required of a project manager and project risk manager.
Shortly after the failure, I learned my two years as a Company Commander were ending (this is well above the average time spent in this leadership role). My next stop would be Afghanistan again, and in January 2015, I joined the Special Operations Joint Task Force-Afghanistan as a planner in the Joint Logistics Operations Center.
This was my first higher-echelon planning role as I focused on sustaining food, fuel, maintenance parts, and contracting for 11 US and Coalition Special Operations camps across Afghanistan. During this deployment, aside from my daily responsibilities, I had three specific projects that increased my proficiency in planning. Still, the one I was not assigned is the one I received the greatest accolades for managing.
I identified risks associated with our downsizing throughout the country, creating what I know now as a Known Unknown – as I assumed we were becoming too lean to respond to any emergency that might arise.
On my own, I decided to use my experience in the Marine Corps, where we were trained to be expeditionary and started putting equipment aside for emergency purposes. Doing some stakeholder analysis, I saw the key friction points in the supply chain external support. I started developing relationships with these individuals (Never underestimate coordinating coffee catchups with individuals).
Suddenly, one morning at 3 am, I was woken up and told that our headquarters base in Kabul had been attacked by a Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvise Explosive Device (SVBIED), and there were issues. The two areas under my control that had quickly become an issue for me were the power had been knocked out and the chow hall roof had collapsed on the chow hall.
I immediately cashed in on my coffee catchups and started waking people up to coordinate air support to quickly move supplies into Kabul. We got immediate support across Bagram Air Base without anything aside from a promise the paperwork would come eventually. I drove down to my supply yard and started preparing the equipment I had stored for shipment.
By noon, I had coordinated the ship through sling loading from a helicopter and expeditionary field kitchen set that I had pulled out of what best can be described as a junkyard months earlier when I realized it could be used for some of our teams.
I also had additional sling loads coordinated for multiple generators I had stored over the past few months. I shifted fuel trucks to the area and had an emergency request for bottled water and food to be flown in via helicopter.
Within 18 hours, the base was fully stocked with food, water, generators, and a kitchen to sustain the people on it. Mine and my team’s actions earned us all awards, but the pride in identifying an uncertain event that was not considered and finding ways to respond to the issue after a trigger allows me to feel pride about that day.
Coyote-44, Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group:
Returning from Afghanistan in January 2016, I went off to my career-level school for the Marine Corps with a follow-up assignment to Twentynine Palms, California, to serve as Coyote-44 for Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group (TTECG).
As a coyote for TTECG, I led a team that conducted service-level, live-fire training for transportation and logistics elements throughout the Marine Corps. This duty was one of my favorite and most humbling, and it surged my planning and risk-planning skills. Coyotes’ main role is to conduct safe and effective training. We put Marines through combat-related scenarios with myself and the team, ensuring all risks were mitigated to provide a stressful yet safe training environment.
Our focus was on managing risks and finding and mitigating risks. Very seldom, and not without senior-level sign-off, could we accept risks aside from those completely out of our control. There was a high level of communication amongst the team:
Before a training evolution: The team and I would huddle up before execution to go over tasks, the execution, and safety protocols for the training.
During the training: We were all in constant communication, talking in a brevity code we all understood to control the environment around us.
After each training day: We did an after-action, going over the good, the bad, and the ugly – professionally calling out anyone who missed anything or had any slippage with our control procedures.
We were a well-oiled machine that tackled complacency through daily engagements and reminders that we did not just provide training to Marines but also safe training.
If we developed a new range, protocols were for range estimations on fields of fire, terrain analysis, cross-coordination with other training elements in the area, and multiple factors. All of these needed to be meticulously planned out for almost any variance that could result in new potential risks.
Our main goal in our planning was risk management, where we focused on finding a risk event, determining our response to the risk, and managing the positive or negative effect or effects of the risk throughout the training cycle.
From this role, I named my company “Forty-Four Risk PM,” representing the 44 number I wore, identifying me as the lead transportation instructor-trainer for the organization. I also bring with my experience in this role the drive to find and respond to individual risks according to their weight and the organization’s risk appetite.
Task Force 5/15, Bahrain:
After my promotion to Major in April 2019, I was promoted out of my Coyote-44 role, receiving orders overseas with my family to the beautiful country of Bahrain. Here, I would assume the role of Lead Exercise Planner for the UAE and Egypt.
As a lead planner, my role was to go to various countries, predominantly Egypt and the UAE to plan exercises with the country’s military. During the engagements with the host country, I led a cross-functional team from all key areas of the Marine Corps and Navy.
Before heading into a country to do training, we would get advice and guidance from our senior leadership and Commanding General. Additional planners on my team would guide our strategic objectives with the host country’s military. Then, my teams and I would negotiate training with the country to focus on obtaining our strategic objectives.
This planner role was quickly interrupted by Covid in 2020, resulting in all my exercises, minus one, getting canceled. Like the rest of the world, Covid became the new objective I had to tackle as I moved roles as the Headquarters Company Commander for TF51/5.
Planning against risks became another objective of this new role. Training was still a requirement, but so was Covid mitigation. Therefore, we developed a new risk matrix requirement for every training evolution, event, and everything we did to control risks and ensure COVID-19 mitigations and protocols were followed.
For my last year in Bahrain, my focus was maintaining morale for the organization through engagements and monthly events, maintaining yearly training requirements, coordination with the spouses also in the country (we had a few families as most of the staff did not have their families with them), and serving on planning teams for contingency operations.
Towards the end of my time in Bahrain, the Afghanistan evacuation was planned, leading to our unit being pulled in to lead a part of this evacuation. Serving on the planning team, I assisted with identifying requirements and the flow of forces, including the plan for establishing the headquarters element for our unit in Afghanistan.
Due to already having orders to my next duty station, I did not go to the evacuation, but right as it kicked off, I returned to the US to serve in my next and final role as a Marine.
Inspector-Instructor, Truck Company, 23d Marine Regiment, Las Vegas:
In the summer of 2021, I assumed the role of Inspector-Instructor for the 23d Marine Regiment, Truck Company, serving as the active duty lead for the organization. With my boss in Northern California, I worked independently in the area with a mission to manage the Reserve staff through my small, ten Marine active duty staff.
A challenging and rewarding role, I was fully prepared for the challenge of being in this position, but it too was cut short as I had a run in with medical issues that started my path down the road to becoming a project manager and project risk manager.
Why Project Management and Project Risk Management?
My true introduction to project management began with my wife. In 2017, shortly after we moved to Twentynine Palms, CA, she started pursuing the Project Management Professional certification – something that I had never heard of before.
Like anyone who has studied for any PMI certification, you know that having a study buddy is one of the best ways to learn the content. This study buddy role was put on me and I gladly accepted the challenge. This is when I started seeing the drastic resemblance to how we do planning in the Marine Corps.
Although I did not do much with the information I had studied with my wife – I did gain a few more tools and strategies to use while managing projects during my Marine Corps career. It wasn’t until 2022 that my itch to join my wife as a PMP that I understood project management and project risk management would become a new passion for my life.
The Trigger That Started My Civilian Journey :
In the fall of 2021, I was hit with a huge unknown-unknown risk in my life and career when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Due to its location, a biopsy was off the table and due to its size, surgery was scheduled to occur immediately – putting me under the knife in early 2022.
Coming out of surgery, I ended up with multiple rare conditions that resulted in some adjustments in life and the end of my Marine Corps career. When the call came in that my time in the Marine Corps would be coming to a close, I sat in front of my computer – unable to process that the career I had been in since I was 18 would be over in a year. I had no plan, no thoughts of my life post-Marine Corps, and a family to support.
So, I did what I had been trained to do. I pulled up a blank page on my iPad and wrote across the top, “Problem Statement: I have to get out of the Marine Corps in a year; what do I do, and how do I get there?”.
Have You Ever Thought About Becoming a Project Manager?
And from there, the journey started. I began by attending training at an organization on base that provided training and classes for service members. The first class on the schedule was an Extended DiSC class – so I signed up.
My DiSC assessment came back as an ICD, where I came back with strengths such as:
Can express your ideas
Are easy to get along with
Like to analyze and discuss
Follow instructions, but not blindly
Do many things simultaneously
And a communication style with strengths in:
Active sharing of factual information
Inspiring and motivating influence in people
Positive, lively, and inspiring communication
After taking the assessment, the career coach listened to what I enjoyed most about the Marine Corps, looked at my assessment, and asked me, “Have you ever thought about becoming a Project Manager?”
So, my assessment of the project management world began.
Certifications:
I talked more to my wife and looked for more info on the PMP. And from there, I jumped into it full steam. I created a Kanban board with all my studying material, and with the clock ticking to my retirement, I focused on getting as much information as possible for my studying (a post for a later time).
While studying for the PMP, I saw the similarities between PMI project management and the Marine Corps planning process. I found the most enjoyment in studying risk management. After I had achieved the PMP, I refined my studying skills and took the PMI-ACP exam.
With the risk management piece still pulling on my interest, I began reading books on project risk management and more about the exam. After starting my current role as a project manager, I decided to start officially studying for the exam – and eventually taking that one and earning my final PMI certification before putting full concentration into my new project.
Journey to Blogging:
Reflecting on my career, I realized my favorite and most rewarding times were when I was teaching and working with people to make them better. And I wanted to continue that passion within my new civilian career.
I talked to one of my risk management instructors, and he told me how he got into instructing by blogging. So, with my interest sparked, I pulled out a notebook and wrote “Objective: Starting a Blog.”
I started researching project management Blogs, newsletters, landing pages, websites, etc. It amazed me of the content out there and the programs that make this entire process seamless. I also knew this project success part was something I could do – so I put pen to paper and started building a plan.
And The Risk Blog concept was born!
Why "The Risk Blog"?
We have a risk register, also sometimes called a risk log, so this is the risk Blog – A place to write about the potential risks and opportunities facing us all as project managers and risk managers. I will write in-depth articles on hot topics with a concentration on risk, but I will also focus on project management topics, including topics on leadership in project management.
Does Risk Management Need a Stand-Alone Blog?
Short answer: Yes! But don’t take my word for it; check this LinkedIn post from the founder of the PMP, Lee Lambert, himself.
Project Risk Management is a vital topic for project managers. I have heard Lee Lambert, the founder of the PMP, talk multiple times, and he has always stressed the importance of risk management. And we can see from this post that it is, to Lee, the second certification next to the coveted Project Management Professional.
What to Expect in The Risk Blog:
Forty-Four Risk PM and The Risk Blog are poised to emerge as a distinguished educational platform specializing in project and project risk management, complemented by leadership development and book reviews.
Our journey begins with a robust blogging initiative, which we intend to evolve strategically into captivating YouTube content and culminate in providing certification educational hours training sanctioned by the esteemed Project Management Institute (PMI).
The mission of the Blog is to establish a premier Blogging and educational platform for Project Managers and Project Risk Managers to learn, grow, and develop themselves as practitioners and leaders.
Through a blend of insightful articles, engaging videos, and expert-led courses, we aim to foster a vibrant community of lifelong learners passionate about advancing their project management skills and leadership capabilities.
Content and Direction of The Risk Blog:
The Risk Blog’s content will evolve. I will start with introductions to the blog, move on to my study materials and strategies for my certifications, and then into topics surrounding our core pillars of project management, project risk management, and leadership.
Once the content and rhythm are developed for the Blog and website, I will start integrating short videos for the content, explaining key points. These videos will evolve into a YouTube channel where I will present presentations on our core pillars.
For the next few years, I will work to gain more experience in Blogging, videoing, and providing insights into my project management journey. After establishing the company for our third year, I will apply for a PMI-Authorized Training Partner, meeting the goal of teaching PMP and RMP courses for those pursuing the certifications.
Ways to Engage and Connect With Me:
I encourage everyone to connect with me on social media and follow along on this journey. You can also join The Risk Blog’s newsletter by signing up below.
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I am truly excited to bring weekly contact to you all through a weekly newsletter, project management, and overall project risk management blogs.
I am also thrilled to provide reviews of books I have read and plan to read – giving you insights on the book and if it is the right choice.
There will be social media engagements that I hope you all will join – to do so, ensure you click one of the social media links to stay informed:
I am also eager to hear your feedback, know what project management and leadership topics you want me to cover in the blogs, and know what books to read. If you have a recommendation, please email me at:
Thank you all, and God Bless! I look forward to engaging with you all to achieve my goal of becoming a PMI-ATP for Project and Project Risk Management!
-Russ Parker
