Hello, It is Nice to Meet You

As you may have heard, the economy has turned south and it is impacting everyone in different ways. My employer is New York State, and as the home of Wall Street, New York has run into a budget problem. One of the very wise actions New York State is taking to compensate for the loss of funding is allowing a number of contracts to expire, including a number of consultant contracts. While my contract runs through the end of next year, many consultants are saying their goodbyes, and I for one am sad to see... well at least a few of them let go.

Many of you have asked me over the last year and half who I am. The time has come to introduce myself. Galrahn is an alias for Raymond Pritchett. I a technologist, entrepreneur, and own a technology consulting company in upstate New York. My experience ranges from the technical roles in secure Enterprise IT architectures, internet media marketing and business strategies, and developing secure information sharing technologies between clients and partners. I have worked for numerous private companies in a variety of industries, with previous clients ranging from Wal-Mart to Government in a variety of industries ranging from health care to massive multi-player online gaming. Over the years I have done everything from pen-testing major financial institutions to building basic html homepages, and have helped a number of businesses develop secure and successful e-commerce strategies and stores. I have no military experience, am self educated, and currently work as a Senior Systems Consultant for New York State government.

Why Galrahn? Galrahn was a name I used in various ways when I was associated with online gaming. The internet is a reputation based market, and that name has long been one of several reputation based aliases that I have used over the years when online. I've been online in one form or another since I was 14, long before DNS, and have had a lot of experience building online presence and communities in various forms. When I began blogging last year, my employer asked for a pair of conditions, 1) I would use an alias and 2) I wouldn't talk about work. Now that they know my blog doesn't ever talk about my work they no longer care about the alias. Leveraging the reputation based environment of the internet, the alias is one of several ways professional writers absent any credentials can allow themselves to be judged by ideas, essentially allowing a name to become part of a marketing gimmick if (and only if) your work resonates successfully with an audience. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Why the Navy? As someone who has helped build very popular online presence of various forms throughout the years, I found myself reading blogs more and more but knowing little about them. When I decided to start writing, being that I couldn't write about work, I began writing about my hobby. Clearly my hobby is the study of maritime history and strategy, and it is why for a long time I described what I am doing on the blog as a hobby.

Why say all this? As I have mentioned, the internet is a reputation based market. The blog has been wildly successful, beyond even my high expectations. While it is probable that as my current contract expires next year I will find another gig as a technical IT consultant, the blog has opened up the possibility of other options, a road concealed by fog but potentially a future worth seeking. I have come to really enjoy writing about the Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines. I enjoy debating and discussing strategy, and I think this blog has become a unique community in the Navy discussion that has opened some eyes to what is possible in the information space as part of the national security debate.

Is there a professional future in some form in association with what I'm doing here? I don't know, but as an entrepreneur who isn't afraid to take risks, has no fear of failure, a solid background in the development of internet space to meet online strategy objectives, and is blessed to be in a position to seek opportunities as a choice... the time has come to allow my reputation as Galrahn to also be associated with my real name.

Next week the Navy blogosphere evolves as any growing network often does. It isn't my place to give specifics, nor issue a premature introduction, but I have been invited to be a participant in something I believe will have long term benefit to the type of discussion represented on this blog.

As I was looking through the names of the other contributors, many you know or have heard of, I realized as I was looking through the list that I am the rogue node on that emerging Naval network. Every single other person involved is supremely qualified, well educated, highly experienced, and brings the professional credentials I would pick if I was developing this type of venture myself. Everyone that is... except me. I am easily the youngest, least well known contributor. I certainly have the thinnest professional resume when the evaluation is specific to military services. Indeed, my resume is solely as a blogger of these pages, and my body of work has become a social media space that many professionals are still skeptical of. The only credential I have is the audience of this blog, meaning my opportunities have only become available because you read here. With that in mind, thank you, I owe you more than an alias. Hello, I am Raymond Pritchett, it is nice to meet you.

* The photo above was taken from professional photographer Christopher Cavas of Defense News using my camera on a very cold but clear November day at the UNREP station of USS Freedom (LCS 1) cruising between the national borders of the United States and Canada.