[lmr]

A Computer-Info nightmare. In today's automated society, Data Entry doesn't always keep up with real life. Databases aren't updated as they should be. And, although the correct info is in one Military Database, it isn't in the other... so on an so forth...

However, these things can be prevented with proper organization and management skills by those who implement, rely on, and use this information. A cross-reference with the database containing the deceased and a simple update to this register could have prevented this. Good database managers analyze and prevent pitfalls like this.

[dayglored]

> A Computer-Info nightmare... However, these things can be prevented with proper organization and management skills by those who implement, rely on, and use this information.

Your statement is quite correct.

I'll be interested to see if the people responsible for this frack-up try to "blame it on the computer". I would bet a good steak dinner that no computer anywhere was at fault, rather that people created the error. Out of any given 100 "computer-related" mistakes, typically 99 are errors on the part of people, not the computer. (And the remaining 1 is typically a Windows hiccup, but that's a different flame.)

What an awful shame -- my heart goes out to the families involved.

[Boris99]

lmr has described the problem quite well. If the Army had a requirement for soldiers to fill a certain assignment, for example Drill Sergeants, they would do a scan of a database for all the soldiers that met the basic prerequisites to become a Drill Sergeant. They would usually send out post cards stating that they met the prerequisites, and encouraged soldiers to see a career counselor to inquire about becoming a Drill Sergeant. It was not uncommon for some of the people receiving the cards to be former Drill Sergeants who had already completed a tour in that job.