Things have gotten back on track this past week. We are flying missions again and I actually flew four days in a row. It is nice to get the consistency and feel comfortable with the mission. With my mission two days ago just about everything went wrong that could have gone wrong. Due to a time miscalculation we showed up late, we couldn’t print any of our planning documents, the aircraft pod would not link to the computers that control it, we couldn’t get the radios loaded with the new fills (so we couldn’t talk secure) and the turbulence was bad at the altitude we had to fly. In spite of all that our mission was a success and we were able to help the guys on the ground avoid an ambush. Last night I had another long mission lined up but a dust storm moved in and cancelled the mission we were going to support. It was starting to get warm – the high two days ago was 87 then a cold front brought the dust in and today’s high was only 57. The dust is still with us along with a nice cold wind out of the north. It is supposed to clear up sometime tomorrow but this seems to be the pattern for this time of year. It’s the same thing we saw in Iraq - fronts would pass through with almost no moisture but lots of wind and a sharp drop in temperature. The only other mission item of note is that our secret internet system has been down the last few days. It makes it really hard to do our planning and shows how much our system of conducting operations relies on inner connectivity. I am always amazed at how many different units and even services can go out and support a mission on a few hours notice without ever planning together. Of course that can only be done when all the players have access to the same information. Once we lose that everything really slows down. As you can imagine our computer and network guys are becoming increasingly more important. It is one of those jobs where no one pays any attention to you until it doesn’t work then you get the blame. It is amazing how high-tech our military has become in just the last 10 years. Briefing rooms on my first deployments had dry erase boards and butcher block paper – now it is all computer screens and smart boards.
Dust H 57 L32
I should read posts in order. You answered a question I just asked. (: If you can't go out, do the guys on the ground stay in as well? It couldn't be that simple, but I am too ignorant to ask good questions. (:
ReplyDeleteIs computing contracted or are computer guys military with computer MOS? Or is it MOSes?? (: I ask another question...also ignorant. What countries have sent troops to support this NATO mission?
I can't give too many details on your first question but I can say it usually works the other way - we can fly in worse weather than the helos but if they don't go then there isn't much for us to do.
ReplyDeleteThe guys we have in the back are EWOs (electronic warfare officers). They do get special training but they come from all backgrounds. This is becoming such a big part of our operations that all different kinds of units identify individuals in their command to get this training so they can work with all the electronic assets we have. We have a lot of contractors that design and work on the systems but all the EWOs are military.
I will have to research as to all the countries that have troops here but here is who I have seen so far - England,, France, Italy, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Romania, and Belgian. I am sure there are more that I haven't seen.
I am thinking that it is not a disadvantage to you, as a pilot, not to have had specialized computer training? Controls look so amazingly intricate to me, but I think on your end, you are responding to visible readings and you do not have to know how they work, computer-wise. I know you need to know how what they indicate is happening to the aircraft means and how that works. I am also thinking that NATO troops from other countries are not many?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about the computer training. I don't think it is an advantage for a pilot. There are a lot of different configurations of the instruments and the various manufacturers have their unique styles but they all display the same information. So once you learn the information you need it is just a matter of knowing where to look for it.
DeleteAs for the NATO troops I think the next biggest is Great Britian with a little over 5000 then the other countries anywhere from a couple of thousand to a few hundred. The US has 90 some thousand but decreasing throughout the summer.