​Bryant Livingston is a Virginia entrepreneur who serves as account technician with the VA Hospital in Roanoke. Possessing a background with the US military, Bryant Livingston was deployed to campaigns in Haiti, Iraq, and Somalia.

The US was involved with Somalia as part of an international peacekeeping and humanitarian effort in the early 1990s. It started with Operation PROVIDE RELIEF, which involved airlifts of food from Kenya to Somalia’s famine-ravaged interior in August 1992. This was envisioned as a way of avoiding contested roads and ports and delivering supplies without American boots on the ground. Unfortunately, warring political factions and marauding gangs took many of the supplies and used them as strategic bargaining chips while targeting international organizations.

With the situation spiraling out of control, the military launched Operation RESTORE HOPE in December 1992. Navy Seals arrived in Mogadishu by helicopter and a total of 25,000 troops were sent in to restore order. Unfortunately, mayhem continued to plague the capital city and beyond, and President Bill Clinton eventually ordered a drawback of troops. The remaining 1,200 American combat soldiers, accompanied by an international peacekeeping force, focused on targeting the warlord Muhammed Farah Aydid, whom they blamed for the turmoil.

On October 3, 1993, US-led forces staged a raid on the Olympic Hotel in Mogadishu, where they believed that Aydid and top lieutenants were meeting. Unfortunately, several mishaps occurred, resulting in the shooting down of two Black Hawk helicopters, with US soldiers becoming trapped by Somali fighters who filled the streets. Continuous fighting over 17 hours led to the loss of 18 US soldiers, with 84 more wounded. While the mission was technically a success (in that a number of Aydid’s highly placed associates were captured), the cost in lives led to a rapid end of the operation. The US troops left, followed by the UN troops within a year. Meanwhile, clan warfare continued in Somalia without letup.

​Bryant Livingston is a Roanoke, Virginia, professional responsible for managing accounts at the VA Hospital. A sports enthusiast, Bryant Livingston has experience playing semi-professional football and has also coached basketball.

One of the vital short-range basketball moves on offense is the layup. This versatile, high-percentage move involves a one-handed shot at the basketball hoop. Teams often stack their tallest and best defenders in the paint to block such shots and take away the layup option.

An important facet of drilling layups involves practicing both left-handed and right-handed approaches to the basket. In addition to the standard overhead layup, which is aimed at the corner of the backboard’s painted box, players practice an underhanded layup, with the ball rolling off the tips of the fingers on breakaway moves.

When facing taller athletes, the floater also comes to play, with the player not aiming for the backboard, but rather pushing the ball up such that it arcs just over the opponents’ reach. This requires a soft touch, such that the ball settles squarely on the top of the rim, dropping through. There are also variations to these moves, such as the reverse layup, which seeks to surprise the defender by switching up the angle of attack close to the rim.

​Bryant Livingston is a military veteran with 25 years of federal service. Since December 1, 2021, Bryant Livingston joined VA Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia, as an accountant technician. One of his roles is to process obligations and payments with the help of various software applications.

Software applications are essential tools in medical facilities as they help to improve efficiency, accuracy, and patient outcomes. Healthcare facilities can utilize these technologies to handle complex administrative and financial tasks that can be challenging when performed manually. They can store and manage electronic medical records, enabling real-time access to information.

A good example is using software applications for scheduling, service delivery, patient communications, and billing. A good software application helps streamline workflow and simplifies the tasks involved. For instance, healthcare facilities can automate patient check-in and check-out using software to ensure patients receive care within a limited time. It also makes it possible to show the status of every task transparently. Furthermore, besides helping with the day-to-day operations, the software applications help a medical facility comply with medical standards. This is possible using payment card industry (PCI) compliant systems, offering online employee training, and securing cloud data backup.