🚀 go-pugleaf

On Monday, January 22, 2018 at 1:20:48 PM UTC-5, Lynn Wheeler wrote:
> The Next New Military Specialty Should Be Software Developers
> https://warontherocks.com/2018/01/next-new-military-specialty-software-developers/
> 
> To be clear, cyber warriors are not software developers. A common
> misperception is that cyber refers to anything involving computers.
> Cyber teams design weapons, not user interfaces and reports. They write
> code, but not in MySQL, Python, or Ruby. They are not creating new tools
> and systems to improve efficiency within their services. The services
> have created no occupational specialties for software coders or even
> skill identifiers for qualified personnel. To remain a dominant force in
> the Information Age, the U.S. military -- all four services -- must
> create a corps of software developers in uniform.
 
> ... snip ...

In one sense, the military has had this since WW II, when a 
dedicated groups of tab machine specialists were placed in a
truck to produce statistics.  (See Pugh's "Building IBM".)
Also were the military personnel involved with both the
pioneering ENIAC and Harvard Mark I.

The military utilizes computers for all sorts of applications.  
On the one hand are plain commercial applications, such as 
providing the payroll for a large domestic military installation.
(One relatively small army unit, with 5,000 employees, still
needed an IBM 158.)  Also, keeping track of inventory is an
ancient military DP task.  There is also, of course, accounting
functions.

There are radar systems, such as SAGE and its successors.

But the military also needs development of fire control systems,
which vary tremendously, from hand-held weapons to ship borne
missiles.  

There is cryptology.  

It is hard to say when kind of dedicated force should be
provided.  Processing the payroll is very different than
developing fire control systems.