What happened to the paper-less army?

SGT Brendan Beely — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 14:11:54 -0500

I remember when I joined back in 2000, there was a push to transition towards a paper-less army - digital forms and e-mails and such. But over the years, at least in my experience, it seems as if that has been lost by the wayside. Now training certificates are to be printed out *and* e-mailed. In the last two units I've been in, it takes no less than 8 pages of printed material to submit a leave request.

How can we, as a force concerned with sustainability, continue to push towards a more digital system, Army-wide?

Response by SGT Gary Frank made Nov 26 at 2013 2:44 PM

SGT Gary Frank — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 14:44:26 -0500

You're just asking for trouble to think that the military can handle a paperless system. They do a poor enough job with paper, but can you imagine the nightmare that would cause due to a system crash. At least with a paper trail one can eventually piece everything back together, if a virus gets into the system, well Sorry Charlie.

Going completely paperless will expose the military to another vulnerability, Cyber Attacks. I am not saying that a digital system is a bad idea, but needs paper as a back up.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 26 at 2013 5:26 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 17:26:40 -0500

I personally do not like the digital army, its a pain in my rear. not everyone can afford their smartphone and ipods or whatever.

Response by SGT Thomas Sullivan made Nov 26 at 2013 6:19 PM

SGT Thomas Sullivan — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 18:19:03 -0500

We push for a digital system and sustainability through accountability. Security is always an issue, but in general it has much to do with training soldiers how to keep things digital, and more importantly, training our senior leadership how to adapt to the digital world that our youngsters already live in. Typically a unit is paper based because someone in the system is not good/organized with computers (ie the guy with 560 shortcuts on his desktop), the unit has been paper based forever and the senior leadership utilizes the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality, or there is a bureaucratic system in place within your unit where you have multiple people wanting to have eyes on the same document.

The idea of a paper trail is a joke, how many times have I turned in a leave form and for it to get sucked into the nothing (Never-Ending story reference), just to have S1/leadership later claim I never turned it in. Accountability is a key factor, and the last thing I want to do is start issuing hand receipts for turned in paperwork.

This is where the digital format of paper makes more sense, you can establish a pretty secure and accurate paper trail by keeping things online/email.