Osama bin Laden and Public Service Recognition Week

Does anyone else find it interesting that the day bin Laden was taken down marked the beginning of Public Service Recognition Week?

Recently came across this great post from Federal Computer Week blogger Steve Kelman. Steve talks about how many fail to realize that it was indeed govies who took out the high-profile terrorist. Yes, military service men and women fall under the “govie” moniker too, but let’s not forget the hundreds of supporting public servants inside and outside the Department of Defense who played a major role in the operation as well.

Check it out on Federal Computer Week via the link below, or scroll down to read a few paragraphs of article:

Osama bin Laden and Public Service Recognition Week

Osama bin Laden and Public Service Recognition Week

By Steve Kelman

There are doubtless few outside the Beltway — and relatively few other than government employees — who are aware that this week (May 1-7) is Public Service Recognition Week, when we pause to think about the generally unheralded and unappreciated contributions of those who work for the government.

And of the small number who are aware of it, how many have thought about the fact that the recent success in the decade-long pursuit of Osama bin Laden occurred on the first day of this annual event?

The coincidence is significant because, of course, the Navy Seals and the other uniformed and civilian military and intelligence employees who accomplished that task are, in fact, government employees. But I suspect few Americans think of these people as govies.

Indeed, it often seems as if any time the government is involved in something seen as admirable or heroic, many people separate those doing the good deeds from the mental category of “government” — as if, by definition, government can’t do good stuff. Recall the perhaps apocryphal stories of seniors telling politicians to “keep the government’s hands off my Medicare.”

The attitude that the government can’t do good work is unfortunate and even pathological, but in the spirit of turning lemons into lemonade, I have been reflecting on why the military is often able to avoid the popular distaste attached to other government organizations.

Read rest of Kelman’s ideas on full article