From The Drudge Report:

TOKYO (AP) - U.S. jets roared over Japanese beaches and amphibious assault vehicles stormed ashore Friday as the Navy and Marines tested their readiness for the so-called Y2K computer glitch.

In the drills, which will continue until Sept. 26, the forces will advance the dates inside computers running ships, airplanes and other equipment, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said.

As the reset clocks roll over from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, Marines will be besieging beaches in Okinawa, the release said. More than 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan. About two-thirds are concentrated in Okinawa, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.

The exercise will also involve destroyers, helicopter carriers and food and oil supply vessels, said fleet spokesman Lt. Jeff Davis. More than 5,000 people will participate.

There is widespread concern around the world that computers will grind to a halt at midnight,New Year's Eve, because of a programming bug that may confuse the year 2000 with 1900.

The Navy hopes the test will find any weak links in systems that coordinate everything from automatic bank teller machines aboard ships to computers that help navigate at sea, said Davis.

Though some of the ships carry missiles, the drills won't involve live fire, said Davis. He said nuclear weapons will not be involved.

Less than 5 percent of the Navy's equipment is sensitive to the Y2K bug, he added.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), September 17, 1999

Answers

* * * 19990918 Saturday

kritter: Accept my apologies for the unintentional "jai***s" reference?! ;-)

The USAF has run at least a half dozen pseudo-Y2K scenario exercises at the Japanese bases since March of this year: NO POWER--NO TELECOM--NO WATER--NO SEWAGE!!

Thats' what _they_ EXPECT in Japan on roll-over!

I have a relative based there that has conveyed--first hand--their trials and tribulations at carrying out these exercises.

Why so many exercises? They learn lessons each time they run these extreme Y2K drills. Contingency omissions are constantly identified and refined.

Out of curiosity, I asked how the heck they got around the TELECOM scenario? His inimitable (but nervous) chuckling response: "Runners!!" (*sigh*)

They seem to be getting ready for the worst case Y2K scenario.

Regards, Bob Mangus

* * *

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus1@yahoo.com), September 18, 1999.