please respond to my classmates discussion post listed below
My current major is Homeland Security. The five courses that capture my attention are as follows:
Introduction to Homeland Security (HMLS 302) – I am excited about this course. I think I have a basic understanding of homeland security. In my current job as a federal law enforcement officer, I have had the opportunity to conduct counter-terrorism operations. I think my knowledge in this field gives me a decent foundation. However, this course will help me refine my foundation.
Homeland Security Response to Critical Incidents (HMLS 310) – This course is also exciting. I originally chose my major because I wanted to be able to help people; I believe this course will help me do that. This course will more than likely give me a practical knowledge base of issues involved in responding to incidents. An active shooter situation immediately comes to mind when I read the descriiption of this course. This will give me a look into how and why law enforcement officials respond in a particular way to certain events.
Legal and Political Issues of Homeland Security (HMLS 406)– I expect this course to have a deep discussion on legal and political issues. For instance, gun laws may be a topic of this course. The right to have a firearm is protected by the constitution, however, it is difficult to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals without imposing on law-abiding citizens.
Infrastructure in Homeland Security (HMLS 408) – Infrastructure is needed at state, local, and regional levels. I expect that this course will go over the different types of infrastructure and how to protect them. I currently do this in my job on a federal level. It should be interesting to see how this applies to a civilian role in the private sector.
Homeland Security and Intelligence (HMLS 414) – This course focuses on intelligence in homeland security. This will probably be the most interesting course for me. I enjoy the study of counterintelligence and how to use the intelligence community to protect the homeland and its assets.
All the courses listed above have prerequisites that I do not have yet. As a result, next term I will be taking College Algebra and Writing 112. Writing 112 has a prerequisite to Writing 111; which I took two terms ago. I have already enrolled in and paid for college Algebra, however, I will still have to enroll in Writing 112 before the next term.
There are a few options I can use to graduate sooner. The first thing is to submit all my transcriipts. I have already submitted my military transcriipts once to UMGC, however, I think I may have earned a few more credits that may be applicable. I will submit a new transcriipt to UMGC. The second thing I can do is enroll in multiple terms. Each term has three sessions. If I take two classes in session one, one class in session two, and two classes in session three, this will give me a total of 5 classes per term. This will allow me to finish my degree very quickly as it will give me a total of 15 classes per year.
