Posted on Mar 5, 2021
Are there apps that you use routinely to manage your military life? Like an PFT and pay calculator, that sort of thing? If so, what are they?
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Posted 4 y ago
Responses: 7
We relied on Brain, one each, MILSTD, green, amphibious. That, along with 14 Leadership traits, and good mentoring made things work.
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I hear you, chief. I entered service in '82, so I know what you mean, but times have changed...
CWO3 (Join to see)
They sure have Steve. All commodities physically delivered a daily courier disk to processing back then. Before that we used decks of hard cards, such as a load plan for a ship. I didn't start seeing computers until early 90s and the only wireless was a PRC-77 or similar. Congrats on being a survivor. Best wishes. Will
This is not an app. It is a DTS Smart Book which I created to help people navigate DTS. I was an AD soldier working with the Alabama Guard and had a small budget shop to include two NCOs who were DTS admins. They were inundated by people needing DTS help. Sometimes it was a very inefficient process because my NCOs needed relevant information to travel, so they had to hunt down the travelers.
I had no clue how to use DTS, so I decide to rectify my and the travelers' ignorance. For a week I went step by step on how to use DTS from start to finish. I then sent the file to the unit and told them to use the smart book, and get in contact if they needed further assistance. Our work load dropped 90%. It has been updated can google it. What I will post was my original smart book.
I had no clue how to use DTS, so I decide to rectify my and the travelers' ignorance. For a week I went step by step on how to use DTS from start to finish. I then sent the file to the unit and told them to use the smart book, and get in contact if they needed further assistance. Our work load dropped 90%. It has been updated can google it. What I will post was my original smart book.
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Yeah, I'd share that. Should I just Google it?
MAJ Ken Landgren
MAJ Steve Alvarez - I would google it and contact the POC if the file is relevant due to the changes.
In the old Corps we did not have apps to download to our phones!
For the Opsec side of things - most apps track your location and activities. Why, oh why does the military even allow smart devices?
For the Opsec side of things - most apps track your location and activities. Why, oh why does the military even allow smart devices?
SSgt (Join to see)
Sorry sir - came off a bit trite. Let me explain a little more.
I am a software architect and developer. It is an easy estimate to say that well over 50% of apps in the Play Store/Apple Store/Windows Store have built in tracking functions. I use Jefit for my workouts. I used to use Endomondo for my biking - now it is Under Armor's Map My Run (Ride). MyFitnessPal to track my daily caloric load. I also have plenty of google apps preinstalled on my Android device. I have a Windows Surface Book with preinstalled Win 10 apps. I have finance software, etc, etc, etc.
BofA is now making every gun related purchase available to the government. Ammo, range time, gun purchases, accessories. Coupled with all the search engines info on what you search for in any 2A category - put it all together and anyone with chops has a threat scale evaluation of you. And if it is available to the government it is almost guaranteed to be on the dark net as most of that info travels through the deep web.
When I make a purchase at a store - buy a washing machine and dryer for example - then go home and visit several sites I am inundated with washer & dryer ads. From stores I did not visit or use their web to search for a set. I've not had a FB account for 5+ years, my twitter account was deleted last year and my "social footprint" has dwindled down to a few sites. Yet, everyone has my info! How?
And by info I do mean buying habits, frequented places, times I am home, times I am away, what window of time I execute most of my searches for products, and the list goes on. Hell, my wifi connected scale tracks my weight and body fat in the cloud.
There is a ton, and I do mean a ton of meta-data that is captured by every app on your device. Individually, each app may only capture 2-10 things about your habits. But, put that all together and you have a complete dossier on everybody. And read the fine print carefully. You personal info won't be shared - but what will be shared? They never say!
If I had the money I could tap into subscription streams that give me this info on everybody. I may not know your name but I will know what age bracket you are in, what sex you are (they still use just male and female for this), how much time you spend where (including on base), what your spending habits look like, how many times you visit that strip joint or adult bookstore, where you run, what routes you take and when.
No, no one is interested in my fitness journey. But when bad actors decide to strike certain targets they have the data at their finger tips. They don't know who *you* are but they do know a man in the military who spends his time at the "command center" (for instance) on the base can be a valuable target.
Why do you think the Pentagon is in a panic about this new theater of war - the cyber-theater? Hell, missile site locations have already been sold on the dark net all because cell phone tracking (via all the apps) led to a "dead spot" where cell phones were not allowed in.
How do you think google makes money off all their free offerings? There are companies that pay good money to tap into Google's data streams on people. YOU are their product. Your data is their service.
When you use 2GB of data on your phone you don't think it is all from music, videos, web sites, tracking fitness and all the other interactions you use it for do you? A good 1-2% of the data that goes over the air is your location, you movement, your meta-data. Constantly being broadcast.
Believe me - I am in no way blasting you on this. I am hoping, as a former comms specialist who was trained on how the enemy finds us in the field (in the 80s/90s) that the "war" has expanded to the cyber-theater. And we are *all* complicit. Any cell phone you pick up is a weapon of "the enemy". Smart or dumb phone - data is still in the cloud. By using cell tower triangulation and signal strength I can track any phone to within 10m of its position. But, I don't track individual's phones, I track patterns of thousands of phones instead. It is a scary and often never thought of field today sir.
I am a software architect and developer. It is an easy estimate to say that well over 50% of apps in the Play Store/Apple Store/Windows Store have built in tracking functions. I use Jefit for my workouts. I used to use Endomondo for my biking - now it is Under Armor's Map My Run (Ride). MyFitnessPal to track my daily caloric load. I also have plenty of google apps preinstalled on my Android device. I have a Windows Surface Book with preinstalled Win 10 apps. I have finance software, etc, etc, etc.
BofA is now making every gun related purchase available to the government. Ammo, range time, gun purchases, accessories. Coupled with all the search engines info on what you search for in any 2A category - put it all together and anyone with chops has a threat scale evaluation of you. And if it is available to the government it is almost guaranteed to be on the dark net as most of that info travels through the deep web.
When I make a purchase at a store - buy a washing machine and dryer for example - then go home and visit several sites I am inundated with washer & dryer ads. From stores I did not visit or use their web to search for a set. I've not had a FB account for 5+ years, my twitter account was deleted last year and my "social footprint" has dwindled down to a few sites. Yet, everyone has my info! How?
And by info I do mean buying habits, frequented places, times I am home, times I am away, what window of time I execute most of my searches for products, and the list goes on. Hell, my wifi connected scale tracks my weight and body fat in the cloud.
There is a ton, and I do mean a ton of meta-data that is captured by every app on your device. Individually, each app may only capture 2-10 things about your habits. But, put that all together and you have a complete dossier on everybody. And read the fine print carefully. You personal info won't be shared - but what will be shared? They never say!
If I had the money I could tap into subscription streams that give me this info on everybody. I may not know your name but I will know what age bracket you are in, what sex you are (they still use just male and female for this), how much time you spend where (including on base), what your spending habits look like, how many times you visit that strip joint or adult bookstore, where you run, what routes you take and when.
No, no one is interested in my fitness journey. But when bad actors decide to strike certain targets they have the data at their finger tips. They don't know who *you* are but they do know a man in the military who spends his time at the "command center" (for instance) on the base can be a valuable target.
Why do you think the Pentagon is in a panic about this new theater of war - the cyber-theater? Hell, missile site locations have already been sold on the dark net all because cell phone tracking (via all the apps) led to a "dead spot" where cell phones were not allowed in.
How do you think google makes money off all their free offerings? There are companies that pay good money to tap into Google's data streams on people. YOU are their product. Your data is their service.
When you use 2GB of data on your phone you don't think it is all from music, videos, web sites, tracking fitness and all the other interactions you use it for do you? A good 1-2% of the data that goes over the air is your location, you movement, your meta-data. Constantly being broadcast.
Believe me - I am in no way blasting you on this. I am hoping, as a former comms specialist who was trained on how the enemy finds us in the field (in the 80s/90s) that the "war" has expanded to the cyber-theater. And we are *all* complicit. Any cell phone you pick up is a weapon of "the enemy". Smart or dumb phone - data is still in the cloud. By using cell tower triangulation and signal strength I can track any phone to within 10m of its position. But, I don't track individual's phones, I track patterns of thousands of phones instead. It is a scary and often never thought of field today sir.
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Oh no, I didn't take it wrong at all. I've read with much dismay how the services need to rethink what is viewed as a threat. Clearly most see that cyber and information warfare are the battlefields of the future. Well, actually, it is happening now. But I didn't take your comments wrong at all. I love your follow up though. For what it is worth, I agree that too much information is tracked by big data. My question was more informal about what people find useful in managing stuff like PT, uniforms, travel, etc. All the things related to military life. But I can see where you're coming from. Even non-official type apps can be used to collect info and piece together complete pics. I hear you. Steve
SSgt (Join to see)
<phew/>
As a "cerebral" Marine, I often opened mouth, inserted both boots, and chewed vigorously. I had a mustang Capt, Company CO and former DI, who would turn that DI gaze on me when I hit that limit with him. Fond memories!
As a "cerebral" Marine, I often opened mouth, inserted both boots, and chewed vigorously. I had a mustang Capt, Company CO and former DI, who would turn that DI gaze on me when I hit that limit with him. Fond memories!
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SSgt (Join to see) - I'm a "mustang" although I know Marines are rolling their eyes right now since that term is reserved for USMC prior service officer types. Enlisted for 11 years before I went to the dark side. I've earned, but not given, a lot of those gazes. Haha.
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