If I recall, computers in the Coast Guard were in the mainstream starting around 1982 or 1983. Before that, I was a tape ape, banging on a UGC-6 teletype, chadless....I had 96 hour liberty and didn't have a computer at home until around 1987....so I reckon it's been about 20 years for me.
Why just this weekend during a trip to SE Penna, but it was much like the scene in "Magic" where Burgess Meredith as the agent tries to get Anthony Hopkins to put down the ventriloquist dummy...