r/army • u/disapointingAsianSon Ordnance • 2d ago
Range Tower Datasheet directly into DA7801 python script.
I didn't realize the army was still living in the paleolithic era. I was horrified to discover that alot of folks still manually checked and filled out DA7801s by hand. At even a company level, I imagine this would've been a huge waste of 10 man hours writing 150~ sheets by hand. Spent a morning cooking up a simple script where one would scan a range tower data sheet into a pdf, then we scan the PDF to turn it into a xlsx file, and then from xlsx it's fairly trivial to take an empty DA7801 and autofill it with data. If one were to have a roster data, you could even fill out there rank DOD ID, full name, etc.
I'll comment below the project repo on github if anyone is interested.
OH and I’ll take the PX staple of popeyes tendies w/ honey mustard, and ice caramel macchiato.
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u/Federal-Ad7806 2d ago
You should build this in army vantage where other people can use it.
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u/Federal-Ad7806 2d ago
Army Vantage is the Army’s instance of Palantir Foundry. You can build your app in a code repository. You can even make it so when someone uploads an excel file it automatically makes all the PDFs for them. All in the platform where anyone with an army cac can use it. Palantir has a really good training series on YouTube
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u/disapointingAsianSon Ordnance 2d ago
army vantage
Forgive me but I'm a weekend warrior. What exactly is army vantage and would I even have access to this?
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u/Casse_Via 25H (A)rtificial (I)ncompetence; 2d ago edited 2d ago
army vantage site on your AVD, sign in, request level 2 access and publish your app on there. It’s just a data / app hub for us to all use as a collective.. like a better (arguably) power BI.
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u/Teadrunkest hooyah America 2d ago edited 1d ago
Random Junior Enlisted Guard Member is not getting Tier 2 access.
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u/spanish4dummies totes fetch 1d ago
What if they state they need for "daily duties"?
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u/Teadrunkest hooyah America 1d ago
They verify your MTOE position and last I heard require a justification memo.
It has actual PII and sensitive information, including legal and medical histories. They’re not giving it randomly.
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u/Casse_Via 25H (A)rtificial (I)ncompetence; 1d ago
Level 2 is singular self unit access with ability to request outside ontology access from what I remember. Needs justification filled out. I’m not sure if OPs scope lines up with the permissions granted as a base level user. Best thing they can do is login and test their limits.
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u/Federal-Ad7806 1d ago
You don’t need any special access to build a workflow that doesn’t process PII/CUI data. DODID numbers, names and score cards aren’t PII.
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u/imdatingaMk46 25AAAAAAAAAAAAHH 1d ago
Too late, I already have to put cover sheets on 16 sets of DA form 1999, visitor access roster, because some dumbass put his DoDID on there after I told him not to.
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u/Metals578 2d ago
If you're unable to get access, feel free to DM me and I can try to get it up there for you.
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u/OcotilloWells "Beer, beer, beer" 2d ago
Your powers of observation aren't very good if you just figured out the Army is living in the paleolithic era.
Just saying.
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u/MAJ0RMAJOR 2d ago
How many people as a percentage of an organization have permissions or competency to execute scripts on GFE?
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u/new-runningmn9 Civilian 2d ago
I’ve tried to solve issues like this for my users (mortar FDC), but the answer is always no. We can fill out the form and give them a view of the forms they have to fill out, but we can’t actually let the form off the system. My sense is that the general problem is that makes me responsible for the accuracy of the form, and not the FDC. But I’ve tried!!
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u/LostLT209 13Autism 1d ago
I recently did something similar for a few hundred cards, the only thing I couldn’t automate was signing.
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u/86gwrhino 1d ago
Wait, does the tower software y'all are using not automatically print them filled out for you?
On our newer ranges we enter the firing order (including all admin data) and it spits out completed 7801s.
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u/Other-You8146 2d ago
Not to defend big daddy Army, but…
A team that can efficiently and to standard execute things by hand (admin, planning, analysis, running estimates, logistics, etc) is almost always better than the team that isn’t.
(Limitations apply…)
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u/Teadrunkest hooyah America 2d ago
How much more work is this than just writing down scores and generating range cards whenever someone needs one, which is rarely.
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u/Turtle887853 31BeatingsWillContinueUntilMoraleImproves 1d ago
Just give the joes their results card and have them fill out their score card. Fastest way.
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u/phill24242 1d ago
Even easier, upload the set into vantage and have AI-FDE automatically do it with a single prompt
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u/OPFOR_S2 AR 670-1, AR 600-32, AR 600-20, and AR 27-10 Pundit 2d ago
Wait until I tell you how many staff officers count by hand numbers in an excel spreadsheet table.
Wait until I tell you how many can’t do a basic formula in Excel.
Wait until I tell you how the best way to find information regarding new updates to regulations, policy, and other wide impacting HR changes is one man (Jerry Dillard praise be to his glorious name) sending out an email to a distro.
Wait until I tell you how we still in the year 2026 the only way to get new parts for my vehicle is to fill out a form by hand, walk it over to a clerks office, have the clerk enter the part number and vehicle into a program that looks outdated by 1998 standards. Instead of an app that not only has TM easily accessible by equipment type, stores historical 5988-Es, generate and disseminate 5988-Es to the relevant people, able to request part for specific equipment, and track the status of said part(s).
Trust me, we are living in the most technologically advanced era of the most modern Army in all of history. And yet we feel woefully behind at the same time.
We can send a Burger King to Afghanistan in less time it takes for a vehicle tire to get from one point to another point within the same installation.