[300winmag]

DON'T BUY RADIOS TO SEND TO A COMBAT ZONE... ESPECIALLY RADIOS THAT OPERATE IN AN UNSECURE MODE... I THINK IT'S A BAD IDEA...ESPECIALLY IN AN URBAN "POLICE" ROLE...

I'm aware of that problem. I think the troops are, too. They seem to feel lack of secure commo is less of a problem than no commo at all. I'm here to grant them their wishes as best I can. Besides, these are Reserves, and may never get official secure radios anyway. I'm grateful they're not asking for body armor, or IR suppression for their helos.

And used properly, unsecure communications can make for some interesting sport. Announce that your convoy will be at the intersection of Saddam Ave. and Uday Blvd. at noon. Have your sniper teams in place by 0800, and see how long it takes to bag your limit.

[Ramius]

Seems we have a situation here where command directive meets hard cold reality.

The open channel radios would worry me, mainly because I've got an easily available Radio Shack type digital scanner (thanks Hair!) that can easily listen to all the freqs, plus analog cell phones... the works...

Seems to me that this nut ought'nt be that hard to crack. There ought to be a way to do this.

[msdrby]

...unsecure communications can make for some interesting sport

ohmygoodness!!! Do I have stories I wish I could tell regarding that! Unfortunately, I am bound my oath to never reveal that kind of stuff for another 90 years.

[Rose in RoseBear]

<batting eyelashes innocently> There's a limit?