The Aircrew Life Support Management System
(ALSMS)
Thanks for the opportunity
to set the record straight as to who is the "Author of ALSMS".
Many will lay claim to my
program, but it is my baby...
I am the one who introduced
the Life Support Career Field to "Automation".
I created this program back
in 1984. It was during this time that the Air Force was being introduced into
the computer age. I started designing my program using the then fabulous
database “Condor” (smile.) At this time I was a member of the 136th Airlift
Wing,
From there my program was
given to Active Duty Computer specialist for enhancements. I was never asked to
be a part of this endeavor!
Nonetheless, I placed the
benefit of my program to the career field over my own personal feelings. Now
since this time all of the "ole heads" have retired and moved on, and
now many of the new guys are laying claim to my program.
The first Concept design
utilizing Condor Software was in the 1984 – 1985 time frame.
Next, the program was converted to DB II. It was then upgraded to BD III with a
FoxBASE Compiler and eventually evolved into what we have today.
I am extremely grateful to
you for allowing me this chance to set the record straight.
Thanks,
Robert Reeves, Jr.
From:
GMauel@aol.com
To:
tombob@shawneelink.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 10:44 AM
Subject: Life Support ALSMS program
Tommy,
I saw your request for information on the ALSMS program and Dave Cramer on the
ALS web site and I would like to provide the following insight.
As you certainly know, Dave Cramer was the Life Support Chief for the Air
National Guard in the mid 80's stationed at the ANG Readiness Center at Andrews
AFB, MD. During his tenure he pushed through the funding that gave each of the
ANG life support shops their first computers and issued a request to each of the
ANG Life Support shops for any ideas on automated programs they might be
tinkering with. During a Life Support conference, Dave organized the
presentation of a couple of those prototype programs for the community to
review. Several "sections" or ideas for components came from EACH of the
offerings that were presented at that conference and were used as the foundation
for what became the ALSMS program for the Guard. Truly a group effort. During
that time I was the Life Support Superintendent for the 170th AREFG, at McGuire
AFB, NJ (ANG) and made frequent trips to Andrews and Scott AFB to work on the
project while the Air Guard tried to come up with a viable program. Version 1.1
of the ALSMS program was written in March 1985. Subsequent versions continued to
be refined until the rollout to Guard units in 1988. At the Guard Bureau the
program did indeed start out written in DB2, was compiled with a program called
"Clipper" and passed through DBase III, DBase IIIPlus and DBase IV before ending
up as a FoxBase Pro program. During the workup phase of the project, we did
indeed use active duty programmer support from Scott AFB. A SrA Rick ??? came to
Andrews and McGuire several times while working on the project. We also had help
from a Sgt ??? Booher? who was working Life Support for the ANG unit in Souix
City, Iowa. The last versions I remember having anything to do with was v4.0 or
maybe v5.0 which consisted of some minor refinements on the Supply module made
while I was working the Life Support cell for Chief Cramer at the ANG Readiness
Center during Desert Shield/Storm. After my Desert Storm activation, I returned
to my unit in July 1991 and left the Guard in August of 1991.
I've always been curious as to how that program turned out and wondered if it
was ever adopted for use Air Force wide. Thank you for allowing me to shed some
more light on the past.
Sincerely,
Gregg Mauel
Bob,
I kept copies of all the source code we used throughout the entire project
cycle so it shouldn't be too hard to figure who did what. Since last week I've
looked back over a lot of it and all of what I have goes to the ALSMS version as
put together under the guidance of Dave Cramer at NGB. While I did some of the
programming, most of my involvement centered around putting together the pieces
and coordinating the work that was being done in-house at the Guard Bureau and
at HQ MAC by the active duty programmer, SrA Rick Hansen. I spent a LOT of time
TDY to Andrews working on various phases of the project and was TDY to Scott AFB
twice while we ironed out some of the kinks. I don't want nor do I deserve the
credit for inventing the program, I was merely the project manager that helped
get things rolled out to the Guard units. I do however feel that a fair share
of the credit should go to Dave Cramer. He pushed through the funding that got
the Guard Life Support shops their own computers and got a bunch of guys with
great ideas together in one room so we could put together the working concept.
After Dave, credit should indeed go to the Guard Life Support shops that did
their fair share from providing initial ideas and concepts to working with the
"beta" versions of a work in progress. Truly, a GROUP effort.
Thanks for taking the time to hear my version of the events.
Sincerely,
Gregg Mauel
(I was the Superintendent at the 170th AREFG/NJANG at McGuire AFB, NJ)
You might also know me as the gatekeeper of the early versions of NYTELINE
email/message program that we used for Life Support Shops.
-----Original Message-----
From: GMauel@aol.com [mailto:GMauel@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 1:33 PM
To: robert.reevesjr@l-3com.com
Subject: Life Support ALSMS project
Robert,
Bob Mcelwain from the ALS web site asked me to drop you a line regarding the
old ALSMS program that was developed by the Guard. He's trying to figure out
who developed the first version of the program that is used today. I read your
comments on the Life Support web site and agree with most of what you said. I
too attended that conference where Dave Cramer brought together each of the
various programs that were in the works...including yours. I've emailed Bob
Mcelwain the following info to offer what I remember, hoping to clarify the
matter. If it's any consolation, the Guard was never happy with much of the
work that the Active duty programmer did. It always came back to refinements
made by Guard guys. BTW I have copies of all that old DBII and DBIII stuff if
you'd be interested in seeing it again. It's actually kind of amusing to see
what we thought was "State of the Art".
Gregg,
Hello, I remember you very well as a matter of fact you and I conversed
extensively concerning my program. I took my program to Cramer and he took it
and started getting you guys together to refine the program and add some touches
to it that at my level I was unable to do since I was not a computer "GEEK". I
remember all of the personnel who worked on it as well. I agree it has been a
tedious process even up to now. My "First Version "was written in "Condor"
utilizing the then famous Z-100 computer. Then it was brought to the table for
Active Duty personnel to enhance. The only problem was that by the time the
active duty was making head-way, they would rotate out and another person would
take over and start all over again.
Anyway, if you have the DB2 and DB3 versions you will see that the fields are
almost identical to the fields used in my old Condor version. MSG lighter has
done a remarkable job keeping the program vital.
Thanks for your input...
NOTE: Both parties agreed that several
computer programs or database files were used to manage life support equipment
maintenance and that Dave Cramer brought everyone together to create one
program. They also agreed that the program used today is a derivative of Robert
Reed's efforts?
Bob McElwain