Re: EBCDIC to ASCII OPTCD=Q? (JCL)

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> In article <1158706861.008406.85620@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
> Alistair <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: 
>
> There are military offices in the building in which I now work and
> sometimes I'll see a four-, five- or six-stripe Air Force Sergeant (Staff
> Sergeant, Technical Sergeant or Master Sergeant, respectively) on the
> elevator... seems like folks are earning rank at a younger age every year.
>

Sorry that I could not help further. Is the young staff sergeant/police
officer syndrome the same one where the guy who loads the waste bin on
to the back of the dust cart is deemed to be a "waste disposal
engineer"? ie job title inflation. I notice you don't have privates in
the army but that everyone is a "specialist".

On 20 Sep 2006 10:51:03 -0700, "Alistair"
<alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Sorry that I could not help further. Is the young staff sergeant/police
>officer syndrome the same one where the guy who loads the waste bin on
>to the back of the dust cart is deemed to be a "waste disposal
>engineer"? ie job title inflation. I notice you don't have privates in
>the army but that everyone is a "specialist".

It's interesting that the opposite trend occurred with general
officers.    At one time, the title of each general officer described
his function.   In Washington's time, people knew what a general's
specialty was by his title.    It was closer to the way we have titles
in business today.   One didn't need to rise through the ranks to run
the Army's supply lines.

Now rank is more of a pay grade with authority.

A room that says "Private" on it can be entered by generals.
A room that says "General Admission" on it can be entered by privates.

In article <1158774662.910290.181790@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>,
Alistair <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 
>
>Sorry that I could not help further.

One does what one does, Mr Maclean... your assistance, in this instance,
has been worth at least double what I've offered to pay for it.

>Is the young staff sergeant/police
>officer syndrome the same one where the guy who loads the waste bin on
>to the back of the dust cart is deemed to be a "waste disposal
>engineer"? ie job title inflation.

Not that I believe, no.  Advancement in rank in the Air Force is governed
by a variety of things, not the least of which are Time In Service and
Time In Grade.  The enlisted grades that I recall being taught were things
like:

E-1: Airman (one stripe, blue star in the middle)
E-2: Airman First Class (two stripes, blue star in the middle)
E-3: Senior Airman (three stripes, blue star in the middle)
(noncommissioned officers)
E-4: Sergeant (three stripes, white star in the middle)
E-5: Staff Sergeant (four stripes, white star)
E-6: Technical Sergeant (five stripes, white star)
E-7: Master Sergeant (five stripes down, one stripe up, white star)
E-8: Senior Master Sergeant (five down, two up, white star)
E-9: Chief Master Sergeant (five down, three up, white star)
E-10: Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (five down, three up, white
star flanked by wings)

The Air Force did not make use of the Warrant Officer grades (W1 - W4); I
believe the Army did for helicopter pilots... but the commissioned
officers were:

O-1: Second Lieutenant (yellow bar)
O-2: First Lieutenant (silver bar)
O-3: Captain (two silver bars connected by smaller bars)
(senior officers)
O-4: Major (bronze oak leaf)
O-5: Lieutenant Colonel (silver oak leaf)
O-6: Colonel (silver eagle)
O-7: Brigadier General (silver star)
O-8: Major General (two silver stars)
O-9: Lieutenant General (three silver stars)
O-10: General (four silver stars)
O-11: General of the Air Force (five silver stars in a circle, a wartime
rank which was held only by Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold, the 'Father of the Air
Force')

... but this was a few decades ago; my memory is, admittedly, porous and
things might have changed in the meanwhile.

>I notice you don't have privates in
>the army but that everyone is a "specialist".

I am not as familiar with Army rankings but I believe that a Specialist is
an E-4 grade, between Private First Class (one stripe and a 'rocker') and
a Corporal (also an E-4 but considered a noncommissioned officer).

(also of note is the use of the same label - 'Captain' - for Army, Air
Force and Marine Corps officers of O-3 grade and a Navy officer of O-6
grade... which the other forces call 'Colonel')

DD

In article <us03h2dunrqk7rlqjk19jog80v8bv3eb2d@4ax.com>,
Howard Brazee  <howard@brazee.net> wrote:
>On 20 Sep 2006 10:51:03 -0700, "Alistair"
><alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> 
>
>It's interesting that the opposite trend occurred with general
>officers.    At one time, the title of each general officer described
>his function.

The mnemonic we were taught was 'Be My Little General':

Brigadier General (one star)
Major General (two stars)
Lieutenant General (three stars)
General (four stars)

The 'General/Admiral of the Army/Armies/Navy/Air Force', five stars in a
circle, was a rank invented to impress officers of other nations with whom
the USA had to perform jointly.

DD

> > .. but it was fun while it lasted! 
> OCOPY likes DD names, not datasets names. Allocate the input and output
> datasets, and then it's
>
> OCOPY INDD(ddname) OUTDD(ddname).
>
> Of course, SMCOPY is FAR superior, but that requires the IBM session
> manager up and running.


And now, for the full monty, in Rexxspeak:

"Alloc f(inn) DA(junk) SHR"
"DEL JUNK2"
"Alloc F(out) DA(junk2) NEW LIKE(JUNK)"
"OCOPY INDD(inn) OUTDD(out) CONVERT((BPXFX311)) FROM1047"
"FREE F(inn out)"

This works, I have just tested it.

Mickey

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:46:29 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf@panix.com () wrote:

>The mnemonic we were taught was 'Be My Little General':
>
>Brigadier General (one star)
>Major General (two stars)
>Lieutenant General (three stars)
>General (four stars)
>
>The 'General/Admiral of the Army/Armies/Navy/Air Force', five stars in a
>circle, was a rank invented to impress officers of other nations with whom
>the USA had to perform jointly.
>
>DD

Not counting George Washington, back when the ranks were titles.

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:41:24 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf@panix.com () wrote:

>E-9: Chief Master Sergeant (five down, three up, white star)

>O-1: Second Lieutenant (yellow bar)
>O-3: Captain (two silver bars connected by smaller bars)
>(senior officers)

When I was awaiting Pilot Training, I was a data automation officer O1
working for an O3.   Reporting to us was a E9 who ran the place...


>(also of note is the use of the same label - 'Captain' - for Army, Air
>Force and Marine Corps officers of O-3 grade and a Navy officer of O-6
>grade... which the other forces call 'Colonel')

I knew of a guy who changed services - but he was a 2Lt, 1Lt, Lt Jg, &
a Lt.   I never knew anybody who was both types of captain though. I'm
sure it must happen.

This reminds me of a completely different story.   This sergeant who
worked with me had earlier been on duty in Korea while his home
station was in Hawaii.   He had his fiance move to Hawaii where he got
married on the radio.   She moved into married quarters and set up
house, while his pay went up because he was married.   When he came
back, all their friends and relatives vacationed in Hawaii while they
had their church wedding.

Between Hawaii and Korea is the International Date line.    Every
year, on separate days, they celebrated his anniversary, her
anniversary, and their anniversary.

In article <4043h2hj516cu2rkd1kgiupir2rvi2codf@4ax.com>,
Howard Brazee  <howard@brazee.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:46:29 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf@panix.com () wrote:
> 
>
>Not counting George Washington, back when the ranks were titles.

From [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ General_of_the_Armies#George_Washington[
/url]

--begin quoted text:

During his lifetime, George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14,
1799) never held the rank "General of the Armies."

[snip]

On 11 October 1976, by Act of Congress, Washington was posthumously
appointed to the rank of General of the Armies.

--end quoted text

In 1976, 'back when the ranks were titles', aye.

DD

In article <8t33h2luhdk2k0fr6c01fu6ei68g4gua16@4ax.com>,
Howard Brazee  <howard@brazee.net> wrote:

[snip]

>And now, for the full monty, in Rexxspeak:
>
>"Alloc f(inn) DA(junk) SHR"
>"DEL JUNK2"
>"Alloc F(out) DA(junk2) NEW LIKE(JUNK)"
>"OCOPY INDD(inn) OUTDD(out) CONVERT((BPXFX311)) FROM1047"
>"FREE F(inn out)"
>
>This works, I have just tested it.

Bingo!  Absolutely outstanding, my thanks and compliments to all who gave
this bit of trivia time and effort.  The job I cobbled together to do this
in batch has the guts of:

//STEP020  EXEC PGM=IKJEFT01,REGION=512K
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSTSPRT DD SYSOUT=*
//EBCIN    DD DSN=NODE1.NODE2.EBCDIC.DATA,DISP=SHR
//ASCOUT   DD DSN=NODE1.NODE2.ASCII.DATA,
//            DISP=(,CATLG,CATLG),
//            UNIT=FILE,
//            SPACE=(CYL,(168,25),RLSE),
//            DCB=(NODE1.NODE2.EBCDIC.DATA)
//SYSTSIN  DD *
OCOPY INDD(EBCIN) OUTDD(ASCOUT) CONVERT((BPXFX311)) FROM1047
/*

Now... there's still a bit of jiggery-pokery needed; it seems that there
in one of the fields (surname) they want X'7D' EBC (') to be translated
as X'20' ASC (space)... I'm sure there is a Very Good Reason for this but
I believe I can get DFSORT to deal with it using ALTSEQ, viz.

OPTION   COPY
ALTSEQ CODE=(7D40)
OUTFIL FNAMES=SORTOUT,
 OUTREC=(1:1,18,19:19,16,TRAN=ALTSEQ,35:3
5,5966)

... to create an &&TEMP with X'40' EBC in the right place which is then
used as input instead of NODE1.NODE2.EBCDIC.DATA.

Thanks again!

DD

"Alistair" <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1158774662.910290.181790@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
[snip]
>  I notice you don't have privates in
> the army but that everyone is a "specialist".

Privates are E-1 through E-3. Specialists are E-4
through E-7. It is probably true that the number of
Specialists exceeds the number of Privates; but it is
true that every Specialist was once a Private. At one
point, the time-in-service requirement for E-4 was
one year, thus Privates may reach their time-in-service
prior to, or soon after, deployment overseas.
Promotions during training and assignment in the US,
may be why you don't notice Privates but do notice
"that everyone is a 'specialist'".

There is Private (E-1 has no chevron and E-2 has a
single chevron) and Private First Class (E-3 has a
single chevron with an arc below the chevron).

My experience (I served in the US Army more than
thirty years ago and things change) was that a further
distinction was made on the basis Military Occupational
Specialty (MOS). Those enlisted soldiers trained in the
combat arms: Infantry (small arms), Armor (tanks),
Artillery (howitzers, missiles), etc., wore chevrons.
Those trained for support of the combat arms: clerks,
food service, supply, mechanics, technicians, etc., wore
the "eagle device" of a Specialist.

There are four ranks for Specialists, Specialist Four
through Specialist Seven, corresponding to Corporal,
Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Sergeant First Class,
respectively.

The insignia for a Specialist Four is the eagle device
only. Specialist Five has a single arc above the device.
Specialist Six has two arcs above and Specialist Seven
has three arcs above.

The insignia for Corporal is two chevrons, for Sergeant
three chevrons, for Staff Sergeant one arc below three
chevrons, and for Sergeant First Class two arcs below
three chevrons.