For the older folks, where were you in the military when January 1st, 2000 happened?

CSM Carl Cunningham — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 21:54:17 -0500

I remember exactly what I was doing(deployed) during the Y2K "crisis." I just wanted to see if anyone was doing something neat or if they were deployed like me.

Response by SGM Mike Barbieri made Nov 27 at 2015 9:56 PM

SGM Mike Barbieri — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 21:56:56 -0500

I was in Korea. Nothing neat at all.

Response by CSM Carl Cunningham made Nov 27 at 2015 10:01 PM

CSM Carl Cunningham — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 22:01:48 -0500

I was pulling guard duty on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. I was one of the few doing it during that timeframe. They had a "ball dropping" on the camp that a lot went to at exactly midnight local. IT. WAS. COLD.

We were supposed to go out on patrol that night but we got 18 inches of snow in just as many hours so they cancelled all operations that were to go out that night. So, the joes got to pull guard. I will definitely never forget that moment in time.

Response by LTC Stephen C. made Nov 27 at 2015 10:11 PM

LTC Stephen C. — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 22:11:34 -0500

I guess I qualify as an "older folk" CSM Carl Cunningham! On 1 January 2000, the military was already a distant memory as I was assigned to the Retired Reserve on 11 May 1998!

Response by SGM Mikel Dawson made Nov 27 at 2015 11:37 PM

SGM Mikel Dawson — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 23:37:00 -0500

Yea, I was in and it was just another day.

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Nov 28 at 2015 10:00 AM

SGM Erik Marquez — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 10:00:27 -0500

Does it make me an Old guy if I had to look at my ERB to see where I was in 2000?
In anycase I was in Alaska, 501st.. and in Jan 2000 sitting in a US Air Force Airlift planners class

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 28 at 2015 11:51 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 28 Nov 2015 11:51:46 -0500

For the "younger folk" I was 2 months and 27 days away from being 7.

Response by SGM Robin Johnson made Nov 29 at 2015 1:38 PM

SGM Robin Johnson — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 13:38:55 -0500

I was the Pulmonary Case Manager at Landstuhl, so I was glad it was finally done and the sky hadn't fallen in terms of computer systems. We had implemented all the required Y2K patches on the various medical computer programs and systems had been checked, rechecked, verified AD NAUSEUM!!! And, of course, the files were backed up. I also had to have all my current cases on paper. I understand the importance (that data is vital for all our patients) but it isn't magic, it is computer SCIENCE. Once they put in the patches to fix the problems that should have been foreseen when they created the programs, they knew what would happen - nothing - which is what happened. I was just glad all the Chicken Littles could calm down and let us get back to business.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 3 at 2015 3:13 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 15:13:35 -0500

CSM Carl Cunningham For us really older folks, I'd already been retired for almost 6 years and was working as a DoD Civilian. I had been assigned to Stuttgart, Germany since 1997. We'd spent about 2 years listening to everyone in DC tell us how the end of the world was coming, and like SGM Robin Johnson said, we got so tired of hearing about Y2K it wasn't even funny. I supported the EUCOM J6, and he and his staff had worked with all the component commands in the EUCOM theater, and we had little doubt everything in our world was good to go. The only things we were worried about were the satellite systems and all the global systems out of D.C. (although it would have been a blessing if all the phone systems in D.C. had gone down)!

So we made a fest out of it, with German food and a few crates of bier. We waited until midnight our time, then midnight Zulu time, when any satellite problems would have shown up, then kicked off the party while we waited five hours for midnight D.C. time. At 0600 our time, all reports were D.C. was still connected to all our systems, so we all went home to get a few hours rest and came back to work at noon. So much worry over a problem that had been fixed months and months before!

Response by SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT made Dec 3 at 2015 7:07 PM

SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 19:07:45 -0500

I was the U.S. Armed Forces Senior Enlisted Advisor for Regional HQs AFNORTH NATO and Operations SGM for the only deployable international signal unit in NATO, Brunsum, The Netherlands.

We were very busy checking every computer device throughout the headquarters

Response by SGM (R) Antonio Brown made Feb 12 at 2016 9:28 AM

SGM (R) Antonio Brown — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:28:38 -0500

I was a Squad Leader in the 101st Chem Co@Bragg.