Military Service

[lenogris]

So does anyone have any military service current, or past?

I personally am in the US Navy right now as an IT, one of 2 network admins. Have 14 servers, and 200 or so workstations. We are very out of date here, xp 2000, solaris, hp unix. I have alot of issues managing out equipment though, i cannot just say i need to reboot a server. I cannot do anything that has any kind of impact on users unless it approved by like 7 people. Needless to say my 6 main servers are out of space, and the only fix authorized is a reload, but i cannot get it approved. Anyone else as out of date and hard to fix in their military?

Also anyone deployed? My ship is deployed right now in the Persian gulf, escorting and rescuing people from burning ships.

 

[strollin]

I spent time in the army, '71-'74 including 13 months as a Site Chief for VHF Communications for a nuclear missile base in Korea (What bonehead puts a 19 yr old shave-tailed kid in charge of communications for a nuclear missile base?). I had to be able to repair 30 year old WWII equipment as well as the latest the army had (vacuum tubes to ICs).

My last 9 months I spent in a repair shop in Kansas. After repairing a piece of equipment we were supposed to have someone else verify that it was fixed and then sign it off. I felt I was the most qualified to determine if the equipment was fixed or not so I would sign it off myself. One day one of the guys noticed that I had signed off on a piece of equipment and started getting on my case about it. He went to the shop chief and complained since he was required to have his stuff signed off, the shop chief told him that I was the only one in the shop he trusted enough to sign my own stuff off.

 

[oldtech]

Lenogris - I do not intend to offend here but it is pretty easy to come on a forum and claim military service (especially active) Please provide some bonafides such as your MOS etc.

I think that if you are current active it is probably a really bad idea to be listing system deficiencies in operating systems, patching and procedures not to mention your current location, when you are in a part of the world that could not be more dangerous. Not to mention posting such in an open forum searchable by Google et al. But that's just me - I am sure you would not intentionally violate your security clearance.

Asking for other instances of out of date military installs kind of raises my spidey senses.

If you are for real I thank you for your service. If not ...well...

 

[lenogris]

Its good you got some skills repairing electronics, and got to test it out in a place that will pay you regardless if you mess it up. I am kinda in the same boat, everyone trusts me 100%, that bad is that i can bs them without actually knowing whats wrong.

So you did some radio work. Just VHF, or you get to do anything else? For me, im on a small boy, so i have to do both sides of IT the network, and the radios. I cannot stand working with crypto and radio gear.

 

[lenogris]

Lenogris - I do not intend to offend here but it is pretty easy to come on a forum and claim military service (especially active) Please provide some bonafides such as your MOS etc.

I think that if you are current active it is probably a really bad idea to be listing system deficiencies in operating systems, patching and procedures not to mention your current location, when you are in a part of the world that could not be more dangerous. Not to mention posting such in an open forum searchable by Google et al. But that's just me - I am sure you would not intentionally violate your security clearance.

Asking for other instances of out of date military installs kind of raises my spidey senses.

If you are for real I thank you for your service. If not ...well...

well like i said im an IT in the US navy, hold 2 NECs 2710 and 2791. i have been in for almost 4 years, thankfully only 3 more left.

The system deficiencies are well known, and trust me there are easily 3 more complete networks you have to get to be fore you even come to the ships firewall. If you do a google search you can find out more about the ships networks and the different variants on different ships. Its all unclassified. As for the opsec and location, the gulf is large with many ships, the world knows where we are deployed to, i am just not allowed to put dates exact ports and the like. Trust me i have to police/teach people in opsec one of my many jobs.

If you have a problem with me asking about sea stories, you dont have to share. Im an IT so i was looking for tech stories i could relate to.

 

[oldtech]

Well thank you for putting my concerns aside - I intentionally used MOS instead of NEC to see what your response would be. Good on you.

Should wait until you have access to tech only forum in my opinion for some of this discussion. I am pretty well versed on the US's networks having worked in that arena in years past.

A definite thank you for your service and as I said I did not intend to offend - simply wanted to make certain there was substance behind the claim.

 

[lenogris]

I understand, no harm done. Like i said was after some sea stories, and getting some posts so i can get into them tech only forums.

 

[cmonova]

" I cannot do anything that has any kind of impact on users unless it approved by like 7 people"

This might just be because you don't know what the other thousands of people are doing on their networks that you interact with, established policies, possible upgraded systems coming down the pike...etc

It is not an unusual situation by any means especially being part of the military and you are not in a "unique" position...There are very very few places that you can make those kinds of decisions on your own and run with them.

 

[lenogris]

O i know its not just me. Everything in the navy has to be pretested, and approved by SPAWAR. Cannot install programs, patches, or anything without them testing it on COMPOSE. My major beef is the stuff i can fix, all it takes is a reboot or re partition, locally that only effects 300 people. Instead they prefer to let the issue ride until the servers crash. Point being the fact that i have a few servers that are down to like 300mb of free space on the c drive. I an fix it by re partitioning, or reinstalling, but they wont let me. The server just hard resets itself every couple of weeks. One day it wont come back up, i hope im here for it.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

In my mis-guided youth....I made the mistake of not taking the path of joining the service. Here I am towards 50 and wish I did.

If your ship went through Bath Maine...I know the guy that probably worked on the systems and over-saw the comps that control the weapons systems. Have heard about some the dated OS's...but the ones that count are on *nix.

Agree about perhaps moving this thread to the tech only forum.....you don't need higher ups finding out you're making these kind of posts and getting your butt in trouble.

 

[cmonova]

One day it wont come back up, i hope im here for it.

Well you just might be and it won't matter because it will be your job to get it up and running..

 

[Campuscop]

Been there done that

Towards retirement in 2000 I was allowed to move over and work with the IT department. Being an Airdale with a bunch of Shoe's(ship types) was fun. I learned a lot and it helped me get a good job after retirement(laid off after 3 yrs.). The thing I wish I had not done is this: they used to send us out to fix or install fiber optic drops. To ensure we had a good cable made we were to connect it to the network and cup it with our hands to see if we could see the light. Now that my eyes are acting up I often wonder if this could be a reason. Could be age also. I always volunteered to do new things so I could learn. One day the ITC (then DPC) told me to let the kids have a go at setting up a UPS. An hour later they came in complaining that it wouldn't work. He finally sighed and told me to check it out. Imagine my smile as I entered the server room and looked at the UPS. I asked them to look it over (trying to be nice) and maybe figure out what was wrong, but they said they had given up. So, I walked over and explained nicely that in order to get the batteries to charge they had to plug the UPS into the wall outlet and not into itself. I still chuckle at that one. BTW, YeOldeStonecat I drive by your work every day on my way in and back from work.

Pat

 

[lenogris]

Im guilty of looking into the fiber cables, only be cause they wont order me a tester. I can only imagine how ashamed those techs were. I get a lot of stuff like that, i tend to be the clean up crew. I dont mind though i learned by screwing stuff up, so i let the new guys do the same, and only come in when the deadline is approaching.

 

[ArtemusComputerTechnology]

lenogris, you are speaking to a very proud Irar War devildog. That's Marine to yall Navy sailors..lol. Your equipment is pretty out of date. You are not the only one who is experiencing this problem. When I was in from '02-'06. The main OS was windows 2000 on workstations and servers. I did not like it. It is funny how the Navy is still using 2000 and a server is out of space..wow. The government do not want to upgrade their system, goes to show you.

 

[Campuscop]

Another good one

You ever have anyone come into the shop and announce that the internet is down? It would take us quite a bit to calm the Chief down after those little tidbits. I had an IT1(RM1) in charge of us even tho myself and another were senior. He pretty much left us alone to work on our projects. One day he was standing the quarterdeck watch when I had to let him know that one of the servers had locked up and needed a reboot. He told me to go in and reboot server #2. I stated that #1 needed it. He starts yapping at me and I said I'll stand in for you and you go look at it. If you disagree then fine but I disagree. He starts yelling about being in charge and positional authority and then states that he is giving me a direct order to reboot server #2! I said ok no problem. I calmly walk down the hall and into the server room. Now keep in mind that this genius is the one who mislabled the server racks I had assembled when I first joined the division. So, being the misguided sailor I was and knowing what would happen I held down the on/off button on the server that was not locked up. Now you want to see a bunch of ****** off officers running. The Warrant stopped me in the hallway scrambling about what the hell happened and I calmly stated that I had been ordered to reboot it. Man O Man did the stuff hit the fan. Picture a Harley riding, coffee slurping, fire breathing Warrant Officer chewing on this poor IT1. Of course he had a few choice words for me about knowing right from wrong and letting him know in the future. That was almost as good as the time the LT. found me jimmying the door to the PC classroom. Maybe another day.

Be good shipmate!

 

[lenogris]

I have been told they buy huge warehouses full of computer stuff, then they store it all for later use. So the stuff we were using the navy actually bought new 10 years ago. I know there are some new ships out there and old ones that are upgrading to windows 7.

Another note, our network is dang slow too, we run 10mb half duplex to all workstations, and gig from switch to switch. Makes NAS backups super slow.

we are slated to get that upgrade server 2008, and windows 7, with new switches, and the works. Though who knows if it will go through or not, its already been delayed twice.

 

[lenogris]

You ever have anyone come into the shop and announce that the internet is down? =

That has to be the most annoying thing ever, you are trying to troubleshoot and all you get is one phone call after another asking if the internet is down, and why, and how long. I usually reply very nicely, about how im working on it and they are slowing it all down.

 

[cmonova]

I retired in 2001 (Semper Fi) and was fortunate enough to not have all the stringent rules that are in place now i.e. NMCI crap and everything else.

I remember many moons ago we were on Banyan Vines (old school) using mighty enable and that's about it. Was told we drank the cool aid and would be migrating to Windows at the time is was another language to most military...Had about 30 servers (banyan vines) at the time spread over a 3 locations with thousands of users...

I think I had like 6 guys working for me and only 3 of them were actual so called techs at the time...Massive amount of learning and hours put into the whole build and it actually worked..But, we had no micro management at the time it was just "make it work"