A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”?
2. In what movie (and who said it), did we hear, “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”?
3. In what song (and who sang it), did we hear the following lyrics?
   It was back in nineteen forty-two,
   I was a member of a good platoon.
   We were on maneuvers in-a Louisiana,
   One night by the light of the moon.

---

A Short Navy Resume…

While in the US Navy, my rating was Aviation Boatswain’s Mate-Handler (ABH2). My first duty station was NAS Agana, Guam in Crash & Rescue (’73-75), then aboard USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63 in V-1 Division/Crash (’75-77). During the Westpac ’75 cruise, I worked on the flight deck. In both my duty stations, I was an aircraft Crash firefighter. Later, after our year in the Bremerton Shipyards, I became a Fly-3 Yellow Shirt director, moving aircraft about the flight deck.

Yeah, I’ve “been there & done that.” Like so many us, I gained that veteran confidence through experience.

Last week, I shared a short story about my post-Navy life with references back to what I learned during my 4-year “career.” Several of you commented about your post-Navy life, too, and things you’d experienced that surprised you. Things that fall into that category of, “I thought I’d heard it all…”

This week, I’ll share another story…

Brief Background

With a Bachelor’s (’82) and a Master’s (’89) Degree in Engineering from the University of Florida, I worked as an electronics design engineer for several years in the late 80s.

After working several years “in industry,” I decided to launch my own computer consulting business, primarily working with lawyers. My dad had been a lawyer in Gainesville and my uncle had been a Florida Supreme Court Justice—the “name thing” worked for me for a bit, but I also knew that I needed to prove my own worth.

I musta done something right, because I had a long, successful 30-year career in legal technology, including establishing the Legal Technology Institute at UFLaw. Most of that was as an independent legal technology consultant, working with over 300 law firms all over the country as well as government agencies, law schools, and software companies.

Life as a Computer Expert Witness

After being in the technology business for a while, I found I could call myself an “expert.”

I mean, why not? Right?

Lawyers often pay well for “experts.” Over my 30-year career, I worked about 15 cases as a computer or technology expert. Every project was unique, and I soon became selective about which cases I’d accept.

“Send me the legal complaint and $500 and I’ll take a look at it.”

One particular case I remember all-too-well… it involved a local physician, a patient, and his wife. I won’t go into the juicy details, but let’s just say that I believe there was a little ménage-a-something going on…

The older and spectacled 60-year-old physician and his 45-year-old patient had an affair—that’s an ethical nightmare, by the way. I only met his wife once, who was in her late 50s; I never met the “patient.” The physician’s hair was gray and thinning like a horseshoe bald spot on his head with fringe, but he looked much older than 60. A question in the back of my mind… “How much of it had grayed since “working” with this patient?”

Despite the circumstances, the physician struck me as a compassionate and extremely smart (well, sort of) man. He cared deeply for his patients—that was obvious. Unfortunately, IMHO, he cared a little too much for one in particular.

Days of DOS

Aside from these minutiae details, this was in the early 90s and the early pioneering days of DOS—way before the Internet. It was rare (email hadn’t become a mainstay), but some computer users wanted to communicate with each other, point-to-point using a computer, so to speak. This, as opposed to picking up the telephone and simply having a conversation (UNRECORDED)!

If you’re as old as me, think in terms of the old BBS (Bulletin Board Systems)—those dial-up host services that allowed you to upload/download files, use message boards, and exchange messages with other users.

Yeah… I’m that old.

Back then, to connect your computer to another user’s computer via telecommunications, you’d use a dial-up modem (300-, 1200-, or if you had money, a 2400-baud modem) and a simple software application called ProComm.

Yes, I know that’s eons ago, but stay with me here… this is about to get interesting.

… In the Navy

Back in the Navy in the mid 70s aboard a ship, telecommunications consisted of a rotary dial telephone—calling department to department. Or it could be a “sound-powered” phone set, calling person-to-person over a single hard-wired point-to-point circuit.

As an example, this communication was required when operating the flight deck elevators—one Elevator Operator on one end of the phone and a Machinist’s Mate in the machinery room on the other end.

A sound-powered phone is difficult to picture in today’s modern technology world. Imagine two young kids playing outside in a field, each with a tin can connected by a string, talking to each other: one talks into the can while the other holds the can up to his/her ear. Hence, “sound-powered.”

Yeah… I’m that old.

Of course, when in port, you could always use a pay phone on the pier to call someone off the ship. Anyone remember those?

During Westpac ’75 when I made a long-distance telephone call from PI (Philippines) to Florida, I’d use a base pay phone and either call “collect” (my parents would pay the long distance charge) or I’d have a pocketful of quarters. In 1975, a 3-minute call from PI to Florida was about $15.

Yeah… you learn to talk fast and listen well.

… In an Expert Witness Case

Today’s technology allows us to communicate in real-time using video (FaceTime, Zoom, etc.). And it’s significantly improved during this past year, because of COVID and people working remotely. We’re doing things now with technology that haven’t been done before and that continues to amaze me.

But back in the early 90s, to communicate with another person in real-time using your computer, you’d first connect to their computer with a dial-up modem and simply type your question, response, or whatever. The computer would transmit it through the modem, through the telephone lines, then to the other user’s modem to their computer.

All in real-time, not much different from today, albeit much slower. It’s similar to today’s texting, except you’d use two hands instead of your thumbs.

Well… except for the case I’m about to relay to you.

One of my “projects” in this case was to analyze the data traffic and communications between the physician and his patient; and I use the term “patient” loosely.

The attorney who hired me had already acquired the communications transcripts (i.e., the “typed messages”) as well as the log on/log off times via legal discovery.

The transcripts and the log on/log off times may not mean much to the general public, but for a computer guy like me, that information told me two things:

… I can’t make this stuff up.

First, the “discussion” between the physician and his patient. It made for some… let’s just say… interesting reading.

Just for grins, the nickname for his… how do I say this gracefully?… tallywacker was “Fred.” The nickname for hers was “Alice.”

Oh yeah… it gets better.

Part of me wishes I had saved those documents. But in a legal case like this, those are things you don’t want to keep around the house for someone else to find, especially with young kids around.

Besides the obvious telecommunication “discussions” in the ProComm transcripts (“Fred” and “Alice” seemed to have a good time “experimenting” with each other and… very detailed), from a professional analytical perspective, they also provided me with the number of words typed by each person.

Time for a Serious Side note… Seriously!

Let me pause here and perhaps introduce a new “term” to parents of pre-teens and teens: “sexting.” If you haven’t heard that term before, please (I’m serious here) look it up on Google. You’d be surprised at what you may learn. And if you don’t think your pre-teen or teen knows about it, think again.

But, I digress…

… Back to the Case

Second, I could analyze the length of time for these “discussions” between “Fred” and “Alice” by the log on and log off times. Combined with the number of words typed by each user, it was fairly easy to analyze the number of words typed per minute. It wasn’t rocket science or brain surgery.

I gained all kinds of interesting information from those two sets of documents… actually, more than I care to remember.

Long story short, when I testified, I was a little embarrassed. I knew the judge personally; she’d clerked for my dad when she attended law school. I think she about lost it when I made the following comment…

“I found it difficult to believe that ‘Fred’ could type that fast with one hand…”

Think about it… or don’t think about it.

I’ll just leave it at that.

Wrapping Up…

I actually used this “true-ish” case many times as an example when I taught Law Practice Management at UFLaw. Besides getting a giggle or two, it also provided my students with an insight into the “early” electronic discovery methods.

Funny thing is, at the time, I made the comment to my 2L & 3L law students, “Never email or post something online that you don’t want to appear on the front page of the Wall Street Journal… or the Gainesville Daily Mullet Wrapper” (as my dad used to call the local paper). That’s still true in today’s world, only the tools are sharper and the attorneys are smarter.

With today’s technology tools, experts can not only extract data from multiple sources (phones, computers, social media, video surveillance, etc.), but they also have the tools to combine the data and build graphical timelines of that data, their sources, and perhaps, the location.

Here’s a simple example: you’re downtown at an intersection, using your cell phone (either texting or talking), and you witness an accident. There are tools available now to track down your phone number via GPS (location services) and… eventually place you in the vicinity of the accident.

One such technical term is “geofencing.” But then… I’m way off topic for this post.

OK… one more, only if you’re interested.

Got a Twitter account? Go to it and type the following into the Search field (no spaces): geocode:32.713789,-117.17494,3km then press the “Enter” key – Twitter will gather the Tweets from that geo-location (within 3km) and list them in chronological order, newest Tweet at the top.

BTW, these GPS coordinates are for the USS Midway, CV-41 in San Diego. If you want to have fun, expand the 3km out to 5, 10, or 15km and capture all Tweets from San Diego Padre stadium, Balboa Park, and the San Diego Zoo. Who knows what or who you may find…

You’re welcome!

Until we meet again,
Andy

Previous Posts Mentioned in this Blog

• #87—I Thought I’d Heard it All… Personality Passwords
• #35—US Navy “A” School (ABH)
• #53—You Always Remember Your First…
• #10—You Light ’em, We Fight ’em
• #49—Westpac ’75: After Six Months, We’re Coming Home
• #77—Bremerton Shipyards April ’77: Adios
• #20—Port Call: Philippines

Answers

1. Marc Anthony.
2. When Harry Met Sally (1989), Harry Burns (Billy Crystal).
3. Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (1967), Pete Seeger; written by Pete Seeger.

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Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness. NEVER FORGET is FREE (eBook, PDF) for all veterans. Download your FREE copy HERE.