Re: Why soldiers are afraid of Ada

[cis.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!fco m.cc.utah.edu!u.cc.utah.edu!tcrook@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Tom Crook)]

In article <1993Jul7.141538.23375@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> Cobarruvias@asd2.jsc.nasa.g
ov (John Cobarruvias) writes:
>In article <SRCTRAN.93Jul7093257@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com
>(Gregory Aharonian) writes:
>>
>>   The July 7, 1993 issue of the Boston Globe had an article about
>worries
>>and anger inside the military under President Clinton.  One statement has
>a
>>major bearing on Ada.
>>
>>		"A 1990 survey by the Army Research Institute
>>		found that 25 percent to 33 percent of service
>>		personnel feared they would not be able to find
>>		work in the civilian sector if necessaary, and
>>		expressed concerns about their long term
>>		prospects inside the army.
>>		By 1992, the anxiety rate had almost doubled,
>>		with 62 percent of enlisted soldiers and 43 percent
>>		of officers questioned saying they were very
>>		worried about their long-term prospects for
>>		their military careers."  [page 14]
>>
>>And what worried these people?  Currently there are 50 to 100 times more
>>private sector C/C++ jobs than there are Ada jobs, as any sampling of
>>help wanted ads in metropolitan newspapers will reveal.  Thus there is
>not
>>much of a market for Ada skills, especially when companies are inundated
>>with resumes from many highly qualified applicants with the exact
>language
>>skills they request in the ads, reducing chances of soldiers arguing
>"Haven't
>>used C/C++, but Ada is better and I am a quick learner".
>
>Another example of logic on an acid trip. I can just see all the Desert
>Storm Grunts trained in the use of an M16, Chemical warfare protection
>use, offesive manuvers adapted to the desert, combat leadership skills,
>XM1 tank use and maintenance, really concerned about how they will fit
>into the software market place once they get out. Yep. Greg, you are once
>again ate some bad mushrooms.

In defense of Greg, who will probably never win a Mr. Congeniality award
but who IMHO does occasionally raise some good points: Officers must have
college degrees and at least in the Air Force, which I am familiar with,
many of them have engineering or computer science degrees.  These people
fit Greg's description quite well.