Congratulations Neal; quite an achievement these days. Your dedication and continued efforts in support of this unusual community is certainly worthy of everyone's respect and admiration.
1997...I was facing the end of my youth...well, finishing my 49th year of life anyway. Just entering "middle age" in my view and had some wonderful people...wife, kids and two grandkids already...to "help me through the 50's" as some of them put it; I thoroughly enjoyed my 50's!
I was working for Naval Sea Systems Command on new ship propulsion plant designs and particularly on fixing propulsion plant problems with the Minesweepers (MCM-3 and MHC-51 classes) home-ported at Ingleside TX.
Travelling there for one or two weeks out of every month from home in Alexandria, VA (practically had a reserved suite at the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi). Freshly retired from Active Duty but still getting "4 bells" coming aboard or going ashore every time I crossed a quarterdeck and showed them my ID...wishing they wouldn't do that...I felt that I had to apologize to the COs/XOs for getting them running (sometimes actually running) to the quarterdeck just to find out it was only me and one or two helpers coming to do some tests and/or work on their engines...oh well.
I wasn't yet into computer gaming/simulations...no time to spare. My younger son, 1yr out of High School and with a lot of time on his hands before he decided to go to Annapolis, had Silent Service II, Silent Hunter II and SSN-21 SEAWOLF, as well as an old Commodore Amiga with a shelf full of submarine games/simulations (Silent Service, Sub Battle, Destroyer, Das Boot, 688 Attack Sub, Hunt for Red October, etc.). He had just discovered SHIII and I inherited all that stuff when he left home for "Boat School".
It was a couple years later that I started playing SHIII and discovered SubSim...a couple more years of "lurking" before I joined and began using the MODs provided by this unbelievably talented group of enthusiasts.
So, a big THANK YOU to all the Modders and a huge CONGRATULATIONS to you and everyone who supports and contributes to SubSim. May we all enjoy another 20 years together.
BTW...as with Dowly, I don't need to be included in the raffle.