Reply From: Matthew Patton <patton@sysnet.net>
>[And we won't even mention the little problem of
>where DoD expects to produce 300 Ph.D. reservists who specialize in comsec
>from overnite.]
Totally IMO but the really gifted guys in my experience don't have any
sheepskins, ok maybe a bachelors. They wouldn't be caught dead with a PHd
let alone having to cross their t's and dot their i's for 6+ years in
academy.
If the AF wants to help cut some costs and retain what skilled personnel
they (accidently) manage to attract, they (military personnel system and
management) should stop going out of their way to screw over the airmen and
young officers who really have one mission, to do what they know best.
Career advancement and all that can get the ol' heave ho. Basically "get
out of my way and LET me do my job!" Seemingly the only skill one needs at
the Pentagon is kissing ass. [I must have cut that class] Englightened
management does have its uses: attending interminable meetings and running
interferance when doing things right just so happens to step on somebody's
sensitive little toes.
It's a scary thought that we've yet to have a pure computer (33Sxc) guy get
a star. Damn fighter jocks think they know how to run everything. We all
know the "Army crawls on it's belly" to use Nepolean's words. Well, if the
USAF thinks they are the answer to the computer driven information
battlefield then they damn well aren't going to go any more than their
ethernet will let them. That and their ability to do a passable job at
information/computer security.
I applaud the initiative shown by the guys at Langley in using Linux for
their 'net presence. Only problem is, their original configuration was
quite vulnerable: to the degree that mass mail programs have it's address
hard coded into the list of servers to use. That's why some of use OpenBSD.
Sorry for the blatent plug.
I'm sure I've stated it before (as have others) but the military's problem
isn't really a technical problem, it's a people management problem. To top
it off, the "tiger/swat" teams who do know their stuff don't bother to
conduct training classes or tell admins whose boxes they have r00ted how to
fix their gear. I have a HUGE problem with that.
Enough ranting...
--------
"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go around repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in their struggle for
independence," - Charles A. Beard (American historian)
-o-
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Received on Mon Sep 14 08:49:43 1998