Does Crime Pay? "Somali Jack" Sparrow says "Yes!"

[JoeyDonuts]

When I was a GCYH during my POF I had certain aversion to CINA-events and would divert to my SUP at every chance. Had a CINA-3 once that I diverted with the tried and true DWH tactic. Ah, good times. Was almost a shame to leave the GC and transfer to WIO. That was all before I went FREECON.

When I was a Garden Center Yard Hand during my Period Of Failure I had certain aversion to Customer In Need of Assistance events and would divert to my Supervisor at every chance. Had Three Customers In Need of Assistance once that I diverted with the tried and true Don't Work Here tactic. Ah, good times. Was almost a shame to leave the Garden Center and transfer to Work In an Office. That was all before I became a Freelance Contractor.

Blecccch. I don't eat Acronym Soup from New Zealand.

 

[Alareth]

Would I be correct in assuming you were an OS?

I was.

Random trivia, my CICO on the Monterey was the man that ID'd the Iranian airbus as a hostile.

 

[JoeyDonuts]

I was.

Random trivia, my CICO on the Monterey was the man that ID'd the Iranian airbus as a hostile.

From what I was taught about that Vincennes incident, he did everything by the book. I never learned if the EW's ever picked up COMAIR off the guy. I really doubt it...I have yet to meet a TAO that would go Winchester on a contact with correlating ES from a COMAIR.

 

[Darth Rotor]

A-ha. I speak LAMPS. We had a C2W exercise that was M4 (WAY out of date) status the whole time I was there. It's the one where the ALQ-142 sends data to the SLQ-32 piggybacked on the HAWKLINK. The problem was, our goons down in the radio shack could NEVER get us interfaced with it. We tried it with multiple different helos from multiple different ships a multitude of different times and not ONCE did it sync up for us.

Back in the day, I found that if you landed on the ship you had been handed off to and rekeyed the Hawklink using the same gun the ship was using, (this is over a decade ago) that you'd more often get a green over green. Getting both the crypto right, and the initial connection in the various battle computers (still in YK series? ) in CIC synched up tended to be the solution. (Yeah, I know, it's not supposed to require that, but the SLQ 4 back in the day was slightly tempermental. ) If you didn't habitually work with the LAMPS, it was easy for just one piece of gear to be "not right" and screw the works.

We managed to get the "red" voice circuit up but that's about it. No data whatsoever. That's really too bad. I always wanted to be an ESMO.

Playing ESM picket was a boring mission, but it was useful for the EW team in CIC.

So did you ever get to play ASTAC? That is a critical part of Awfully Slow Warfare, ya know.

ASTAC? Brain not parsing the acronym. I guess they had to invent a few new ones.

DR

 

[JoeyDonuts]

ASTAC? Brain not parsing the acronym. I guess they had to invent a few new ones.

ASUW Tactical Aircraft Controller...if I remember correctly.

 

[Darth Rotor]

ASUW Tactical Aircraft Controller...if I remember correctly.

Well, we had ASACs and ATACOS from H-2 to H-60, who covered all the mission areas the embarked LAMPS covered, which included EW, ASW, ASUW, SSSC, SAR, Cargo/Pax, and so on.

That someone chose to give ASUW its own discrete acronym for this role, since one has to control a variety of aircraft types and sorts in ASUW (F/A, A, S, H, P and so on) makes sense, now that I think of it. Since we routinely worked with an ASAC or an ATACO, any old voice on the ship in CIC on a scope was an ASAC or an ATACO, even though the OS might have been in tracker alley or an AAW pro. *shrugs* As you mentioned earlier, alphabet soup.

DR

 

[TJM]

Bump.

Pirates attack US flagged freighter; USS Bainbridge has reported off Somalia

The crew fought off the attack however, their Captain is being held hostage. Interesting event.

 

[JoeyDonuts]

IIRC, it was more of a case of the skipper exchanging himself for the safety of the crew.

So now we have a life boat with one hostage, four pirates, no possible escape route in any direction, and the USS Bainbridge closing in.

Tough tactical call. Surround them and leave them nowhere to go. Can't go for a shooting solution on a lifeboat. Hostage would get pegged. I think the pirates will trade when they get finally cornered. (P-3's have already pegged its location with ISAR.) They are materially motivated, and I hope they decide for a non-violent end to exchange the captain over.