There are Navy JTACS, in NSW and elsewhere. But no, that isn't what we're talking about. The suggestion is for OSs to attend airwing Fallon to practice and improve their airborne intercept control skills with the people they will actually be controlling while deployed.
But hey. That paint isn't going to chip itself.
As with most things, it comes down to funding and priority.
I've seen CGs who are expected to be W get funded to send their entire CIC (including the OS's) out to Fallon for a week or two.
Your average DDG? Yeah, not likely.
The truth is the OS's and the ships are overtasked and undermanned.
All of the above is a great idea to get a team smart on AAW.
It'd probably be just as good to set aside some time with VP/HSM to practice/learn ASW.
Same goes for NSFS to practice Call for Fire.
Or National/Theater tasking BMD.
Or a Strike cell.
When there are a lot of competing priorities pulling from the same resources, it's hard to focus enough to get good at any one thing.
That's pretty rich coming from a SWO. The whole reason we send pilots to do jobs on ships is because the SWO community can't be trusted to give a shit about anything unrelated to the ship. I don't see any SWOs being attached to squadrons broadening their horizons.
There are SWO "WTIs" attached to NAMDC. I don't think other billets for cross-pollination/horizon broadening exist, though I agree it'd be useful. Not sure what the issue is, other than funding and getting Surface/Aviation community leadership to talk to each other...we have more than enough JOs.
I sure as shit wouldn't have minded doing a liaison tour with VP or MPRA back when I was an ASWO...I got farmed out to the TASWC cell for a few weeks at the end of a tour which was certainly enlightening.
SWOs don't even learn about tactics, weapons, aviation, etc until DH school!
Not entirely correct. It depends on platform/billet. JO's with weapons/combat systems billets should pick up tactics/weapons knowledge.
I had a leg up on some of my peers on the tactical shit with a Weapons billet, but that meant they were ahead of the curve on stuff about the Engineering plant or Deck stuff.
DH/TAOs is where that uneven distribution of tactical knowledge should be evened out.
I'm familiar with the offensive and defensive capabilities of each of our ships, yet I'm hard pressed to find a SWO who can tell you the difference between a Romeo and a Sierra.
If you know about the offensive/defensive capabilities of ships, I'm guessing you picked it up out of personal interest and exposure...not as a community requirement.
I've encountered senior VFA/VS aviators (post Command) who did not know the weapons/sensors differences between a CG/DDG. I didn't hold it against them, because if you're not picking it up out of professional necessity, you're only doing it out of personal interest. Not everybody has the same level of personal interest in extracurricular Navy shit.
Your average SWO TAO should know in a general sense what the Romeo brings to the fight, and why they don't really give a shit about the Sierra other than to bring shit from Amazon.
Fuck, I'm hard pressed to find a SWO who can get the winds in the envelope, they're more scared of waking up the captain than actually making some god damn decisions.
Yeah, that's a different set of problems.
