Y2K? Why Not Y2K?
Story & Photos by SPC Charles Ames - Posted Jan, 2000
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The Y2K bug - every significant organization in the world had grappled with this wispy apparition over the last two or three years. When you think about it, the state had already gone through a type of Y2K transition as the Fiscal Year turned over in October of 1999.
So how did the Guard's USP&FO (United States Purchasing and Fiscal Office) fare as they backed into the anomaly of 'FY00'? "We didn’t have any problem because planning and preparation had started early on", says COL Oscar Hilman, the introspective commander of the USP&FO. "There was a lot of attention placed on the preparation for the transition to Y2K."
The USP&FO had rolled over flawlessly into Fiscal Year 2000, and a repeat performance was expected for the new millennium.
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Even before that, on the 9th of September, our data processing technicians conducted a "Database Default Rollover" to check computer systems. Everything had checked out fine. The months since then had been filled with preparations and checks of every conceivable kind.
LTC Rick Patterson, Public Affairs Officer, Washington National Guard; "Our first concern was, would National Guard equipment be ready for Y2K? We began by testing all our potentially vulnerable equipment. Those tests were concluded in May 99, so we were confident our equipment was ready for any contingency".
"Then, we looked at what sorts of things we might be asking our soldiers and airmen to do. After studying the issues it came down to this: most likely, we would be doing the same things as during any other state emergency: assisting the local authorities aid in protection of life, property and the environment, and the preservation of peace, order and public safety. We were prepared to support the Governor if he had called", said Patterson.
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Everyone is "online" these days, and the Guard is too. In addition to the website you are reading now, we use an "Intranet" (sort of a closed-circuit website) to communicate across our network. E-mail has become an increasingly common means to communicate as well.
LTC Pat Klein, our Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management (DCSIM) and his crew had been preparing for well over two years for this event. Our computerized phone system had undergone extensive upgrades and testing as well.
"In preparation for Y2K we spent the last year going through and testing all the equipment and identifying Y2K problems and replacing the components", said Klein.
"We felt that, back in late July, we had everything completed or identified. We anticipated no major problems and so far we’ve been able to confirm that we had everything pretty well taken care of."
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The Emergency Management Division (EMD) is one of three primary organizations that form the Washington Military Department. 'Y2K Central' would be the Operations Center in their new headquarters located on Camp Murray. Their state-of-the-art coordination and communications center would run round the clock through the transition to the year 2000.
Mr. Rob Harper, the Public Information Officer for the Emergency Management Division; "We had about 20 different agencies that were working in our Y2K Coordination Center during the rollover weekend. We benefited by making new contacts with different agencies. The foremost challenge before the EMD was contending with a new reporting system that drew from over a hundred reports from various sources to create a single report issued every 12 hours", said Mr. Harper.
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The other two primary branches of the Guard are the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard. Quite some time ago caution urged that at least some of our Guardsmen should be available on New Year's Day weekend. The January 2000 weekend drill dates, for some soldiers, were moved from the second weekend of January to the 1st and 2nd. The state's 81st Infantry Brigade, with armories fairly well distributed throughout Washington, was chosen for the mission. The military staff of the Washington National Guard maintained command and control of the brigade from its own Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in the main headquarters building, also on Camp Murray.
The Countdown
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On December 15th, huge trucks and dozens of technicians in hard-hats arrived. They spent the day erecting two giant antennae just outside of the main headquarters building on Camp Murray.
The new equipment had been brought in as a standby communications network in the unlikely event that the telephones and other networks failed.
Although our minds were focused on the coming holiday break, the sight of the new communications equipment being installed seemed to move the millennium a lot closer.
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Starting on December 24th Camp Murray Security began 100% ID checks, which would remain in effect until January 3rd.
Patrols were increased, and nearer to New Year’s Eve Army National Guardsmen augmented security.
Christmas day came and went. Everyone spent time with loved ones, knowing that, regardless of what Y2K brought, it would include some long days and nights away from their families.
On the national news "Caches of explosives are discovered as they are smuggled in and around America".
For some, the millennium vigil began as early as the 28th of December when the EOC officially commenced operations, and personnel returned to work at Camp Murray after a long weekend. At this point, there were only a half-dozen people on hand. By the time it was all over, up to 20 had crowded into a room the size of a forgiving living room, jammed with radios, computers, charts, monitors and a coffee pot. More unbelievable, they were actually able to work there!
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At nearly the last minute our own local New Year's celebration, centered around Seattle's Space Needle, was scaled back for security reasons, as a chain of events hinted at a possible threat to public safety.
Only about 100 hours separated us all from... well that was the problem... no one was really sure what was going to happen.
The news reported "As a precaution Amtrak, Union Pacific, and commuter trains in San Francisco and Chicago will pause in their tracks just prior to midnight on New Year's Eve".
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Finally December 31st arrived. At 2:00am local time, New Zealand was among the first to experience Y2K. We watched the news and waited for problems. By 2:00pm, only a handful of Y2K related failures had been reported. "But", we thought, "Y2K hasn't come to the United States yet".
As the dateline rolled across Europe, with a dependence on technology similar to our own, everything seemed to be running like a Swiss watch.
The Eiffel Tower was lit up like a Roman candle, and England served up 36 tons of fireworks in 15 minutes to millions of awed onlookers. Still everything worked.
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Then at 9:00pm local time, the East Coast finally celebrated the New Year’s Eve of a lifetime. Two tons of confetti (shaped like various countries) was dumped out of skyscrapers on Times Square. It was a peaceful, vibrant event. Too suddenly, too soon, it was here. Before anyone had even decided what we would call this new decade, it was here.
As the local clock ticked on to midnight it was finally our turn. In an instant the dateline slid over Washington and headed for the Pacific islands and the final holdouts from this now past century.
After that... well nothing happened after that. In fact, nothing happened during the rest of the weekend. Everything worked. The hard work and long hours paid off. We were ready. America was ready.
It is a New Year, a new decade, a new century, and according to the majority, a new millennium. No pressure on those New Year’s resolutions, eh? And consider this: In Roman numerals, these years will be much easier to figure out. Instead of 'MCMXCIX' or 'MCMLXXXVIII', it's just a simple 'MM'.
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But for some unexplained reason, I’ll still be writing '1900' on my checks. Sheesh. After all the hoopla, it was really nothing more than...
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- You May Now Turn Off Your Computer -
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