2004 was my first full year in the military. In fact, I was taken away in the second half of December 2003. But 2004 was truly a year of service.
At first, I was an ordinary laborer. Most of it was grueling physical work. Previously, I had no idea that I was capable of digging a trench on rocky soil for shooting from a standing position.
Subsequently, I became a communications operator. To my surprise, then I had the skills to repair telephones and the ability to repair a break in the communication line.
I did not advertise my computer skills in order to remain in the team of colleagues called to serve with me.
In the middle of the year, the command learned about my computer skills. They started taking me to work with documentation. I had to combine this with working as a communications operator. I hardly slept.
We were doing really great work until one day I caught a cold. I didn’t stop working. After a week of living with a high body temperature, my friend sent me to the medical unit, and then I ended up in the hospital. It was pneumonia and it was really dangerous. I spent a month in the hospital.
When I returned to my duty station, I was no longer a communications operator. I had a different position.
No matter what I did, I was always looking for a way to streamline the work process, make it simpler, and automate it. And I was also a pedant.
I cleaned up the mess and developed an optimal workflow. Using Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic for Applications, I developed software to automate work.
My new position and power put a lot of pressure on me. I was under a lot of stress for a couple of months. Giving instructions to senior officers is really difficult when you are an ordinary enlisted sailor. Making decisions about rewards and punishments and remaining subjective and neutral is perhaps difficult for everyone. Over time, I got used to it and learned to work better with people.
At the end of the year, I had some time for myself and made a small keyboard trainer.
Aleksey Nemiro
2023-09-09