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I am familiar with the process of dropping bombs and I agree that the legal and ethical problems are harder than the technological ones when it comes to giving a machine weapons release authority. Once we've cracked the technological ones well enough to even seriously entertain the thought of...

If a lot of human mistakes in combat are caused by fear or fatigue (which machines don't get), then couldn't there be a point where our AI is so good that are better than humans at making these decisions, and thus it would be irresponsible to not give them weapons release authority? Not that we...

There's never any shame in our community for saying that it was Plan B at OCS or you were too broken to do anything else at USNA, but there are some folks who will outright say that on average we aren't as strong performers as the guys who came in the front door. Some of that is resentment over...

One motivator for intel that hasn't been mentioned is who you get to work with. Say you're an aviation NPQ or a BUD/S-dud. Intel can give you a chance to work in those communities for your initial operational tour and maybe once or twice again after that. So while it is more Jane's than James...

Funny thing is that the Navy didn't have admirals until around the Civil War, which changed because we got tired of always being outranked by the Army (as well as the awkward interactions with other countries who had admirals)...I guess the shoe was on the other foot. Also, why was there...

I think we've reached the "my experience has told me otherwise" / "agree to disagree" point of the conversation. I've noticed both real world and on here that SWOs who have worked as a strike officer but not at a fleet HQ disagree whereas those who have done both agree. They do, but it's not...

I never said there wasn't, I just said that most of it was based at the fleet TLAM shop. And that is coming directly from SWOs who have worked in TLAM afloat and ashore and know all of this better than I do. The "grain of salt" comment isn't meant as a put down or to detract from their...

My chest-beating point was that, international repercussions or not, wasn't about weapons release authority per se but rather that even the process of getting a TLAM from launch to target is largely out of the hands of SWOs. Whenever they scream that "but we've been TLAMing stuff!" I take it...

Won't bother going back and digging out the quotes... No one should pretend for a second that TLAM gives the surface navy tactical credibility. The ships themselves have very, very little to do with making those missiles hit their targets in the grand scheme of things when compared to the...

Hasn't been employed that way in real life, and probably never will, but the Blk IV can be used in a tactical situation.

Going to venture a guess and say that the bit about going after pro-regime forces and showing tanks being struck might have had something to do with it. If I'm not mistaken, the particular WSV of the Su-22 shootdown here was already publicly released.

Go aviation. I love being an intelligence officer, but one of my main goals in my career is "how do I spend as much time near the flight line as possible without totally tanking my career?" Most aviators probably start to feel that way after their MSR, I feel that way right now and I only put...

FYSA, Corry Station is generally more focused on the cryptologic community (1810) which includes things like SIGINT, cyber, etc, vice straight stick intelligence (1830). Both communities will likely appreciate your language skills. I'm an 1830, feel free to PM me or post any questions.

Hah! You know, I'd never actually seen it or bothered to look up the scene. That was a good laugh.

Where did you stop? I know a lot of folks read the first three and then quit when they start God Emperor of Dune. Yeah, it takes a 3000 year jump in the timeline and gets weird; it puts people off. I read Frank Herbert's six books (don't bother with what his son wrote) to the end and they...

A family friend told us that folks kept thinking the F-117 had the capability to carry SOF teams and do in-flight boarding operations that they had just seen in some crap 1990s action movie. Some people really didn't believe him when he explained it was just a single seater.

Supposedly the Russian Yak-38 Forger (Harrier-skiivitch!) would auto eject when the aircraft rolled past a certain point, which I'd imagine to be when hovering.

To add to this, Grossman interviewed a veteran who said that this was like virgins discussing sex. And to a point, he's somewhat right. However, if I may put my psychologist** hat back on for a second; when I was in academia we constantly had students taking psych 101 who were hell bent on a...

Not a SWO, but I used to be in a pretty serious relationship with one. I'll spare you the details of the relationship, but here's some things to add to the "Don'ts" column: - Avoid long distance. Don't take orders to San Diego when your SO thinks the odds are they will stay in Hampton Roads...

And they got shafted by their own people. Loved the movie, was pretty upset when I read about the aftermath once they returned home.

Just curious (not up for LCDR for a while), but what exactly does SECNAV do with it other than approve it? Are there briefings on the results and manning? Can he say "screw it, do it over" if he wants?

If I recall there were plans/discussions about doing this with USN F-35Cs back when Lizzie was supposed to be a CATOBAR boat.

The boat doesn't spend an entire tour underway, whereas you're stuck in Bahrain when you aren't on leave. Your odds are better pretty much anywhere else. Unless you're into ladyboys, then this island is definitely for you. Speaking of leave...in case anyone was wondering, if you aren't...

Sums it up pretty nicely. I will say that NAVCENT is a lot of work, and there are times when I wish I was on the boat instead of here. It can sometimes be similar working hours minus the camaraderie. Then again, I was never ship's company, so I know I missed a lot of pain that would come...

Couldn't help but notice that the file name was misspelled, felt this was relevant: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/11/marine-corps-spelling-bee/

But do they have that same lineage? I mean, we haven't had any real "spaceships" in the sci fi sense you're talking about yet. Airships also have similarities to surface ships in how they operate, yet even the biggest heavier than air platform is not run like a ship. The article that CDR...

And if this doesn't work for whatever reason, do an intelink search for "MISREP analysis tool", go to that site, and dig through the last week's worth of F-18E MISREPs, you should see one with a different icon on the far right for an intercept, and watch the WSV that way. Ditto for the mudhen...

Right, I should have been more clear that I was talking about the award in the context of those who aren't in/over country, like on the carrier. Just did some more wikipedia-ing, apparently there are 2x Vietnam medals. The first is for everybody involved, the other is specific to in-country...

According to instruction, intel doesn't rate the OIR medal. I'm mixed on who should get the real OEF/OIF/OIR campaign medals. The whole let's have-a-second-class-campaign-medal is a new thing since 9/11, which bugs me a bit since it doesn't have a historical precedent (I guess according to...

All this reminds me of the Army O-2 who nearly didn't make O-3 (that's a thing in the Army) because being a Rhodes Scholar screwed with his timing: https://warontherocks.com/2015/12/first-steps-towards-the-force-of-the-future/ *Returns to swim lane*

Still a thing on OIR, minus the "VFA not dropping" part. I felt bad for the VAQ guys who were doing good work and got the same medal as I did for briefing them in CVIC / the same medal as CSSN Schmuckatelli for burning their grilled cheese at midrats.

My brother went through several years ago and had an experience like you described; changes were made, and my sister's experience was not nearly as painful as his was. Apparently a good deal of sanity was restored to the program.

Sailors go to sea, Soldiers go to the field, Marines do both, and airmen...??? I think this is also why it's so easy to poke fun at the AF; there is no shared suck to which you can point. As much as I'm not a huge fan of life in Bahrain, having visited the lovely Al Udeid twice I sometimes...

"David Bowie's locker" - hah!

You have three different kinds of cone cells in your eyes, each type is optimized to detect red, green, or blue. Colorblindness** is more common in men than women, and is caused by the absence of a cone type, although a lot of people might just be deficient against a certain color vice losing a...

At first I heard "Catholic Mass is being held in the ship's chapel..." as "Captain's Mast is being held in the ship's chapel..." and thought "man...no better way to make a sailor feel like they're about to get crucified than to have Jesus himself nailed to the cross right behind the Big Skipper..."

A fact that has always boggled my little intel O mind...

That's my point - you guys can knock out the wicket with a two year sea duty tour and get to three stars, although some do more than that. So it's hard for me to take it seriously when someone says "IW is where the action is, intel is just powerpoint" even though I am well aware that you guys...

I absolutely get why what you guys do is important - I use your work all the time. I took issue with the idea that we just "brief" intel and that 1810s actually do it, which is a load of crap since collections is just one part of the process (and there are more INTs than SIGINT, which all fall...

If you want to spend your whole career in a SCIF, go IW. If you want to work with operators doing operations, go intel.

Yep, just left an Oceana squadron last September.

If the AI in question has any initiative and is willing to work hard, showing up at the start of maintenance phase means they have time to learn about their squadron's platform and get decent at briefing the ready room. Some squadrons make this harder/easier than others, but generally speaking...

I met a JG with a dive pin, and nothing else. I assumed he was an EOD or BUDS attrite because he was an athletic dude with a dive pin who had just finished intel school. Then in a conversation he mentioned that nuke pipeline didn't work out for him...apparently they sent him to dive school...

There will be squadrons on your slate. The number and types vary from class to class. They are a great first tour but you MUST be a self starter and you MUST have thick skin. If you aren't a self starter you're going to do nothing but security, get little professional development, and...

There's some memo out (or at least coming out) from big navy saying folks can keep their issued sets. There's really no point in turning them in if they aren't going to be issued in the future.

An on-track VFA dude will be qualified to lead a division (4 jets) by the end of his first sea tour, and will qualify to lead a larger strike package while a DH. And then (someone correct me if I'm wrong) re-qual as a new XO, albeit only having to do one strike vice a few. So I'd say that...

As others have said, a VFA JO section can fly into badguystan and drop a bomb with almost no "adult" supervision. To get a TLAM on target, in addition to whatever is going on aboard the DDG/CG, you have a whole cell full of people back at a HQ or on the CVN doing all sorts of crap to manage it...

As long as they make his username "Billboard Baggins" and make the image his profile picture, I'm all for it. In his not-defense: While I'm sure he had good intentions towards his father, he did in fact post a picture of it on facebook saying that he loved it....

Yep. That and the fact that said warhead is pretty small compared to some of the "hammers" we have out there.