No thumbdrive?!? How do I get any work done?

[phrogpilot73]

Yeah, but we're not going to see that in the fleet - that's my point.

Actually, I didn't see it at NSA. I saw it in use by the MEU Staff in Lejeune. Of course, the MEU I went with blew the bank spending-wise (almost as much as all of II MEF), so I'm with you that widespread adoption in the fleet is a ways away.

 

[phrogdriver]

For what it's worth, my OpsO (who owns the ITs right now) said he thought floppy drives were legal but flash and external hard drives were not. Might be a Navy thing or he could just be wrong, but I'd ask your command nerd herd.

Floppy drives?!?

GD! It'd take a series of 10 floppies to hold one .ppt brief! "Questions?...umm...yeah, let me get out disk #4..."

It all comes down to--if they want an all-electronic standard, the big blue-green (does that make "aquamarine?") team has to ante up the hardware to do it, otherwise individuals will have no alternative than to use personal gear.

Although I am not a proponent of the "the government didn't buy adequate body armor/HMMWV/MRAP" wah-wah crowd, this is the IT equivalent. Don't want to give us what we need? Okay, we'll figure out how to get it done on our own, just don't ask how we did it. Kind of like those people who did bake sales to buy Dragon Skin for grunts. Can we have a "hard drives and wireless for the troops" drive?

Makes me long for alcohol pens on a transparency sheet with the overhead projector.

 

[Gatordev]

Floppy drives?!?

GD! It'd take a series of 10 floppies to hold one .ppt brief! "Questions?...umm...yeah, let me get out disk #4..."

You guys apparently did that to yourselves. I'm lucky if I can find the ORM paper for a brief. But yeah, a floppy isn't optimum, but can be used for our FITREPS/EVALs. But since they've been removed, now everyone has to do individual FITREPS in Word, then send the Word document to Admin by email (because NMCI won't let you send a .mdb file) and then they have to copy it into NavFit. Efficient use of everyone's time.

 

[Mumbles]

Can somebody at DIA explain why the Early Bird hasn't been published on JWICS for the last few weeks. I know it has something to do with this hullaballoo...but not sure exactly what.

 

[squorch2]

You guys apparently did that to yourselves. I'm lucky if I can find the ORM paper for a brief. But yeah, a floppy isn't optimum, but can be used for our FITREPS/EVALs. But since they've been removed, now everyone has to do individual FITREPS in Word, then send the Word document to Admin by email (because NMCI won't let you send a .mdb file) and then they have to copy it into NavFit. Efficient use of everyone's time.

Rename .mdb file to .zip. Email through NMCI. Recipient renames .zip file to .mdb - everyone wins!

 

[Brett327]

Rename .mdb file to .zip. Email through NMCI. Recipient renames .zip file to .mdb - everyone wins!

Easier said than done for your average computer user (I've tried to explain this before and I get deer in the headlights look >50% of the time).

@Dev: We do our FITREPs via the network shared drive where the .mdb files are maintained and moved around to various folders with permissions set according to who needs to view or edit the files. Seems to work pretty well.

Brett

 

[pennst8]

Just to beat this to death:

The ban isn't going away anytime soon. Given how slow big Navy is to adopt and approve new gear, this is going to continue to be painful.

The solution? Its still being worked out. The right people are on it, its just not an easy problem to fix overnight.

In the mean time, rely on your networks, floppy disks, overhead projectors, etc as best you can. If you have a *legal* workaround share it with others. This thumbdrive issue has gone from nowhere to becoming the #1 IA priority and because of that all of the network security related stuff is under a microscope... so if you're skirting other security rules its gonna catch attention.

Oh and did someone really suggest bluetooth? Seriously? Ugh... time for me to upgrade that beer to a mix of night train and nyquil.

 

[ghost]

Can somebody at DIA explain why the Early Bird hasn't been published on JWICS for the last few weeks. I know it has something to do with this hullaballoo...but not sure exactly what.

I am going to guess it has something to do with how they get things from the NIPR to SIPR. Don't really know for sure, but you can find it at http://ebird.osd.mil

 

[Gatordev]

Easier said than done for your average computer user (I've tried to explain this before and I get deer in the headlights look >50% of the time).

Exactly. I've done the above before, but that was in another squadron w/ more tech-savvy people.

@Dev: We do our FITREPs via the network shared drive where the .mdb files are maintained and moved around to various folders with permissions set according to who needs to view or edit the files. Seems to work pretty well.

Brett

I've done this before as well. Worked great. Apparently they don't "do" it that way here. Was kind of busy when O-4/E-6 stuff was being done, so didn't try to sell this technique. Maybe next time.

 

[FlyinSpy]

Floppy drives?!?

GD! It'd take a series of 10 floppies to hold one .ppt brief! "Questions?...umm...yeah, let me get out disk #4..."

DVDs and CDs are fine, as long as you "finalize" the disc so it is not re-writable. Anyone who tells you otherwise has not read the instruction or is naturally not bright. If you get pushback, *insist* that they show you the instruction.

The Early Bird was produced using flash drives to cross deck files between NIPR and the high(er) sides. Took them a while to get back to the "old way" (which isn't that old...) - I'm glad to see they're back, though!

 

[ArkhamAsylum]

Unrelated topic: noticed yesterday for the first time that NMCI/SkyNet is now blocking Airwarriors. WTF, over?

 

[Brett327]

Unrelated topic: noticed yesterday for the first time that NMCI/SkyNet is now blocking Airwarriors. WTF, over?

Only for Marine installations, AFAIK.

Brett

 

[Gatordev]

This whole thumbdrive thing is getting ridiculous. No one seems to know the actual story on it. I was sitting in a joint briefing today (all five services plus some other alphabet soups) and at the end, this topic came up. No one had the same story as to why it the rule was put in place or what the actual rule was (thumbdrive vs USB HD vs USB at all vs etc). Kind of comical to hear when it was SO VITALLY IMPORTANT that everyone follow the directive.

 

[Banjo33]

They started scanning the network today. If you plug in a thumbdrive, NMCI gets a notification and lock you out of your account. Our OPSO couldn't access his email all day!

On another note, I couldn't access GOOGLE or the Navy Safety Center website today. Kept saying they were "unauthorized".

 

[Flash]

This whole thumbdrive thing is getting ridiculous. No one seems to know the actual story on it. I was sitting in a joint briefing today (all five services plus some other alphabet soups) and at the end, this topic came up. No one had the same story as to why it the rule was put in place or what the actual rule was (thumbdrive vs USB HD vs USB at all vs etc). Kind of comical to hear when it was SO VITALLY IMPORTANT that everyone follow the directive.

The rule was put in place because they figured out that is how it was spread, simple as that. As for the confusion on what the rule actually is, I think it is an excellent example of how DoD's IT infrastructure and practices are too Balkanized and dysfunctional. Then again, that may be a good thing. Clear as mud?