[Milsurplus] ARC-5 and other Docs

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The problem is at least as significant as you have described.

The problem starts when the documents are stored. At least in our 
organization pulling anything from the storage system is a major pain. 
Rarely is anything where it should be. Multiple pull tickets for "all 
the likely locations" are the order of the day. Typical retrieval time 
can run into a couple of weeks as a result.

If you go over and do the disposal process at the end of what ever the 
retention period is the source of the problem is pretty obvious. 
Roughly 90% of what's over there never should have gone anywhere but 
the dumpster. Storing it for a week, let alone 10 or 20 years is simply 
stupid. All the useless stuff just makes it harder to find the stuff 
you need.

The time to start the retention process is right up front. That's when 
people still remember what is in which file folders and which ones have 
the useful information. The next time I see a project with funding for 
this kind of sorting will be the first time .... It's the good old 
"don't spend anything today to save money next year".

The lawyers may save us all from ourselves. If you watch what is going 
on there are more and more laws about what you have to hang on to *and* 
how fast you have to be able to produce it. Some organizations (not 
ours ...) are starting pay attention to what they store and how. I must 
admit this is probably the first time I have ever said anything nice 
about litigation ...

The only solution I can see is to get historians involved early in the 
process. Unfortunately it would cost something....
	
	Take Care!

		Bob Camp
		KB8TQ



On Oct 30, 2004, at 1:56 AM, J. Forster wrote:

> You're right. The real problem is deciding what will be useful in the 
> future.
> I've been in warehouses full of documents for missile systems like the 
> Patriot
> and there are hundreds of shelves full of cardboard boxes of paper. 
> When the
> project is over, who is going to go through and decide what tiny 
> fraction is
> worth keeping?
>
> If it were up to me. I'd keep all the drawings and information needed 
> to
> duplicate the unit, the engineering change history, and the production 
> serial
> number logs. Even that would still be a considerable bulk for 
> something as
> simple as an ARC-5.
>
> But realistically, who is going to pay for triaging all the 
> documentation. So it
> gets stored for a while, then dumped.  Too bad. No one but collectors 
> or
> historians really care.
>
> -John
>
>
>
> antqradio at juno.com wrote:
>
>> I understand the sentiment of this thread but lets be realistic, no 
>> one
>> individual has the storage space available for the tons of documents 
>> that
>> were disposed.  And just putting the documents in boxes in a dry
>> environment, does no one any good either.  If the collection is not
>> cataloged, it is next to useless.
>>
>
>
>
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