"Bill In Alexandria" was an E-6 Missile Fire Control Technician from 1963 until 1970, and has extensive experience with the Tartar Weapons System, including the Mk 118 Computer, the Mk 51B and 51C radars. He has also worked with the Mk 68 Gunfire Control System, including the computer, radar, and director. In a supervisory role, he has also worked with the DDG Weapons Direction Equipment and 3-D surface search radar.
Bill has a BS in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts (1974), and an MS in Systems Management from the University of Southern California (1983).
As a contractor (1974 to 1988), he supported Army, Navy, and Marine Corps weapons development programs. Specifically, he supported the Navy's Standard Missile Program for about 3 years, and the Aegis Program for about 4 years. He personally wrote the Acquisition Plans for the Standard Missile and the Aegis Combat System (but that was in the late 1980's, so he doesn't remember much!). Of note, the Plan for the Aegis Combat System was rejected by an Assistant Secretary of the Navy, who sent it back to be revised so that it would include two bidders (rather than "sole-source"). At the time, Bill thought it was a dumb idea, and he had no reason to suspect that the Assistant Secretary was getting kick-backs from the second source! (Eventually the scheme got the Assistant Secretary 6 years in the clinker (you might remember Operation Ill Wind?)
As an old guy, Bill worked for 23 years (1988 to 2012) in the Department of Defense as a Professor of Acquisition at the Defense Acquisition University at Ft. Belvoir, VA. His specialty was in Organizational Development, with interests in facilitating large-group participatory problem solving and in Strategic Planning.
