SWO, Son of maintenance thread

[HAL Pilot]

If I was an aviator coming up on orders for a disassociated sea tour, I'd be gunning pretty hard for those TAO orders.

If you are someone who is looking to get that number 1 fitrep - no one sees the CVN CO more than an OOD. He knows who you are. Plus if you earn Sea & Anchor OOD, he really likes you.....

But TAO is probably more in tune with your warfare specialty (for any aviator) and gives you great knowledge for your DH tour or staff tour. And the CO probably knows the TAO almost as well as he knows the OODs.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Now the only URLs that can earn a SWO pin are the 111X & 116X designators...

No, no, no. For a complete list, take a look at the instruction.

http://neds.daps.dla.mil/Directives/1412_2h.pdf

And yes, aviators who qualified as SWOs could wear the pin.

Yes, but that doesn't matter anymore since aviators can't qualify it. Unless they do a lateral transfer.

Not always. I was the TR's Boarding Officer after Desert Storm (before I got SWO qualified).

I know I didn't specify, but I was referring to small boys. If carriers are still doing MIO ops, I'd be real surprised. This is now treated as a seperate warfare area and the ships train up pretty hard on it.

 

[HAL Pilot]

No, no, no. For a complete list, take a look at the instruction.

I should have said 116X and 119X - it's been a while since I thought about designators. But aren't all the rest of the designators on that list LDOs / CWOs not URLs? (honest question - not a smart ass one)

Yes, but that doesn't matter anymore since aviators can't qualify it. Unless they do a lateral transfer.

True - and that would be really sadomasochistic.....

I was referring to small boys. If carriers are still doing MIO ops, I'd be real surprised. This is now treated as a separate warfare area and the ships train up pretty hard on it.

Our CO decided that since all the small guys had a boarding team, we'd have one too. Couldn't let them have all the fun and glory now that the air war was over.....He had the MarDet teach train us in close quarters combat and fast roping from helos (I was actually Infantry and Air Assualt qualed from my Army Reserve days in college so this was "fun" for me).

We called them MIF ops back then. I never did see why a carrier should be doing this. 80% of the time we heloed to the small boys and operated off them with their boats anyway. The rest of the time we used our boats (rarely as launching during air ops was a no go) or fast roped roped from the HS H3s (not for any tactical reason but only because it did not interfere with the air ops - but it was very fun and very cool..... ).

 

[Gatordev]

I haven't personally witnessed or experienced the backstabbing. I've heard things here and there and know it goes on from time to time, but I just don't get myself wrapped up in those reindeer games.

One thing I would always see would be a lack of ownership by the DHs which would carry over to the Divos on down. While not a good thing, it's only natural when you have people w/ a lot on their plate and, how do I say this, no real end in sight.

It would be routine that when there was a problem, and it could be pawned off on the Air Det, it would be. If the Air det wasn't around to defend itself, then it was no longer the DH in question's "problem" anymore. Kind of like "fixing the glitch." When you have an Air Det DH that's backing himself up w/ knowledge and stands up for him/herself, then this pawning off of the problem doesn't happen more than once or twice. I can see how this would be perceived as back-stabbery, and I know the same thing happens amongst the regular Shoe DHs (I've seen it happen).

Ops: Hey, this widget doesn't work, but Cheng owns it.
Cheng: No, that belongs to CSO, he should pay to have it fixed
CSO: No, remember, that's Ops' gear...

...and repeat 179 days.