In 2004 my airborne infantry unit deployed to Iraq. To make a long story short I helped us purchase a commercial off the shelf satellite internet system, get it

In 2004 my airborne infantry unit deployed to Iraq. To make a long story short I helped us purchase a commercial off the shelf satellite internet system, get it shipped, set up, and configured for the unit. I got an ARCOM as well. I really was just trying to help my unit keep in touch with home. Laughably my command thought I was undercover CID, how else would a dumb grunt be so smart? What my command didn't know was that before I joined in 2003 at the age of 23 I already had 6 years (I started working while in High School) of professional software development, systems/network admin work under my belt. When we got back I was useless physically as I had to rehab after a surgery. The XO stuck me in the arms room and I also tried to help our (typical) overworked admin NCO with normal company business. Here's where it gets interesting. The admin NCO was a super bright guy with zero programming background. In fact it turns out he was just one of man bright NCO's with no programming experience who had held that job at one time or another. Guess how he kept track of the company's business? In a custom Microsoft Access application with plenty of home spun Visual Basic. The funny thing is he didn't write the app, oh no, some NCO years before him had written it and like some odd cultural tradition handed down for generations every NCO after him just progressively enhanced it to suit their needs. There was an old Access book on the shelf in that office and each admin NCO had picked it up, learned what they needed too, and carried on. Said admin NCO is now a doctor. As a consultant I've come across similar stories in different industries of people picking up VBA and building custom things with no programming background. They always warm my heart.