@boguz - This isn't my entire code, just a section that I brought over to a new sketch to work with it. The time variable was intended to go into another array that would have its positions in lockstep with the alarmmessage one, I just hadn't gotten around to using it yet.
@AWOL - I am trying to use the loop there to generate some messages with different text in them, so I can watch it move through the final array. It was a string function initially, and that would take my static text and put the current step number at the end of it.
@DavidOConnor - I am trying out the code you sent over, I have never used a structure before, but thanks to the Google, it looks like that will be a big help. What are you doing with the %0xFFFF after the millis() statement?