Military Computer Books (Waz: Off-topic...)

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Thu Jan 29 14:21:32 1998

RE: Military course books,

  I don't know about the Navy but when I was in the USAF you could order
the manuals for any course that they tought. This was free to anyone on
active duty and I *think* to retirees. If you know anyone in the military,
have them contact the base education office and see what's avilable. You
may even be able to get them from the US Government printing office. Tech
manuals were available from them for many years, but I don't know if they
still are.

  Joe

At 10:27 PM 1/28/98 -0800, you wrote:
>>Just this past year, my wife's uncle was throwing out some "old books" when
>>he decided I might just like them, so he dropped them off at our house.
>>Wouldn't you know it, but there was a Navy coursebook in "Introduction to
>>Programming in BASIC" in perfect shape, revised in 1983.
>
>Well, that is one of three, there is also one on COBOL, and another on
>FORTRAN. I know I did all three while I was an Electrician in the Navy in
>'88. It's when I found out the Navy had a Rate that did nothing but
>computers. In '90 I switched Rates to Data Processing Technician, in late
>'96 I got out as a DP1(SW). Amazingly I taught myself enough while in the
>Navy to get a good job, their computer courses for the most part are
>totally pathetic, only one was even slightly challenging.
>
>The 3&2 is pretty cool, especially if you can get an older copy than I've
>got. The older copies have a bunch of IBM/360 stuff in it. The Modern DP3
>manual was pretty good. Don't really remember the modern DP2 manuals (they
>had two in the matter of a couple years), the DP1&C book is basically all
>military related, not computer related, though it does have a little old
>Mainframe stuff.
>
>Other manuals that would be good would be the (they did the Hardware)
>manuals. I remember 2-3 years ago sitting in the computer room while at
>sea, looking over and being dumbfounded that one of the guys was studying
>core memory for a test he had to take. I wish I had a set of these.
>
>The NEETS modules are also good, there is something like 23 of them. They
>are on Electricity and Electronics, including how to use test equipment.
>
>Then of course there are all the course materials I collected over the
>years, but except for the stuff for the Honeywell DPS-8 Mainframes that's
>all garbage.
>
>As of sometime last year there are no longer Rates known as "Data
>Processing Technician", or "Data Systems Technician". At least that was
>the plan when I got out, one of the reasons I got out. All the Data
>Processing Tech's were being converted to Radiomen, go figure. Oh, well, I
>make about 3x what I did in the Military, and I even get to come home at
>night :^)
>
> Zane
>
>
>| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
>| healyzh_at_ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
>| healyzh_at_holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
>+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
>| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
>| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
>| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
>| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
>
>
>
Received on Thu Jan 29 1998 - 14:21:32 GMT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:30:58 BST