Posted on 09/02/2007 1:09:49 PM PDT by kristinn
This might just be another BS moment at the Kos - they’ve had so many of them I’ve lost count. But if this is legit we just had a serious breach of national security.
“I have a friend who is an LSO on a carrier attack group that is planning and staging a strike group deployment into the Gulf of Hormuz. (LSO: Landing Signal Officer- she directs carrier aircraft while landing) She told me we are going to attack Iran. She said that all the Air Operation Planning and Asset Tasking are finished. That means that all the targets have been chosen, prioritized, and tasked to specific aircraft, bases, carriers, missile cruisers and so forth.
I asked her why she is telling me this.Her answer was really amazing. ….”I know this will sound crazy coming from a Naval officer”, she said. “But we’re all just waiting for this administration to end. Things that happen at the senior officer level seem more and more to happen outside of the purview of XOs and other officers who typically have a say-so in daily combat and flight operations. Today, orders just come down from the mountaintop and there’s no questioning. In fact, there is no discussing it. I have seen more than one senior commander disappear and then three weeks later we find out that he has been replaced. That’s really weird. It’s also really weird because everyone who has disappeared has questioned whether or not we should be staging a massive attack on Iran.”"We’re not stupid. Most of the members of the fleet read well enough to know what is going on world-wise. We also realize that anyone who has any doubts is in danger of having a long military career yanked out from under them. Keep in mind that most of the people I serve with are happy to be a part of the global war on terror. It’s just that the touch points are what we see since we are the ones out here who are supposedly implementing this grand strategy. But when you liason with administration officials who don’t know that Iranians don’t speak Arabic and have no idea what Iranians live like, then you start having second thoughts about whether these Administration officials are even competent.”
(So much for the “apolitical” moniker)
“I asked her about the attack, how limited and so forth.
“I don’t think it’s limited at all. We are shipping in and assigning every damn Tomahawk we have in inventory. I think this is going to be massive and sudden, like thousands of targets. I believe that no American will know when it happens until after it happens. And whatever the consequences, whatever the consequences, they will have to be lived with. I am sure if my father knew I was telling someone in a news organization that we were about to launch a supposedly secret attack that it would be treason. But something inside me tells me to tell it anyway.”
I asked her why she was suddenly so cynical.
“I have become cynical only recently. I also don’t believe anyone will be able to stop this. Bush has become something of an Emperor. He will give the command, and cruise missiles will fly and aircraft will fly and people will die, and yet few of us here are really able to cobble together a great explanation of why this is a good idea. Of course many of us can give you the 4H Club lecture on democracy in the Mid East. But if you asked any of the flight officers whether they have a clear idea of what the goal of this strike is, your answer would sound like something out of a think tank policy paper. But it’s not like Kosovo or when we relieved the tsunami victims. There everyone could tell you in a sentence what we were here doing.”
“That’s what’s missing. A real sense of purpose. What’s missing is the answer to what the hell are we doing out here threatening this country with all this power? Last night in the galley, an ensign asked what right do we have to tell a sovereign nation that they can’t build a nuke. I mean the table got EF Hutton quiet. Not so much because the man was asking a question that was off culture. But that he was asking a good question. In fact, the discussion actually followed afterwards topside where someone in our group had to smoke a cigarette. The discussion was intelligent but also in lowered voices. It’s like we aren’t allowed to ask the questions that we always ask before combat. It’s almost as if the average seaman or soldier is doing all the policy work.”
She had to hang up. She left by telling me that she believes the attack is a done deal. “It’s only a matter of time before their orders come and they will be sent to station and told to go to Red Alert. She said they were already practicing traps, FARP and FAST.” (Trapping is the act of catching the tension wires when landing on the carrier, FARP is Fleet Air Combat Maneuvering Readiness Program- practice dogfighting- and FAST is Fleet Air Superiority Training).
She seemed lost. The first time in my life I have ever heard her sound off rhythm, or unsure of why she is doing something. She knows that there is something rotten in the Naval Command and she, like many of her associates are just hoping that the election brings in someone new, some new situation, or something.
“Yes. We’re gong to hit Iran, bigtime. Whatever political discussion that are going in is window dressing and perhaps even a red herring. I see what’s going on below deck here in the hangars and weapons bays. And I have a sick feeling about how it’s all going to turn out.”
I passed this post on to the ONI AG - Office of Naval Intelligence AG to have a look-see and see if they can find this young lady - if she exists and have a chat. An active duty officer on a ship preparing for operations giving out the op plans to said operation is called - treason.
Again, considering the source (Kos), buyer beware, but if true the poster who goes by the name “Maccabee” - will be having some visitors.
I call Bravo Sierra! I left the military some years ago, but I cannot believe it has changed that much! It shouldn’t be too hard to find a female LSO, since I wouldn’t think there’s that many of them.
I would hope so. We always had detailed plans to attack, or retaliate against, the Soviet Union too. But we never did it, thank God. I used to help translate those plans into graphics for the flight crews of the BUFFs, so I know they existed, and were just as detailed, more so in fact, constituting what the Squids would call "Rudder orders".
Should have listened to your father little lady, if you exist outside the fevered imagination of some Kosovite.
He will give the command, and cruise missiles will fly and aircraft will fly and people will die,
That's why he's called the Commander in Chief. Check your Constitution, you know, the one you swore to uphold against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
But if you asked any of the flight officers whether they have a clear idea of what the goal of this strike is, your answer would sound like something out of a think tank policy paper. But it’s not like Kosovo or when we relieved the tsunami victims. There everyone could tell you in a sentence what we were here doing.”
Which was what in the case of Kosovo?
Oh and if you were around for Kosovo, you were also around for Desert Fox. What was the purpose of that, other than to draw attention away from the CinC's DNA and the creative uses he found for his cigar?
You think:
some things about it didn’t ring true. I think the poster is making it up.
The intel and ops people wouldn't even speak among themselves about policy much less to a junior LSO. We certainly would not discuss threat and operational planning with one.
When did an LSO ever give a rat's rear end about the level of weapon's stores and how they were designated? And who gave an ensign permission to think?
(big time)
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
The entry now reads: Sorry. I can't seem to find that story.
LOL!
lol internet.
Total BS. Anyone who was this flaming leftist and couldn't hide THESE feelings wouldn't last 5 minutes in the military. If I had a fellow soldier say something like this around me I'd kick their ass and turn them into my superiors as a huge security risk.
I haven’t read the thread, but I know about the War Colleges that the military runs.
How would you attack Great Britain?
Document and file it.
How would you attack Israel?
Document and file it.
How would you attack Iran?
Document and file it.
Conduct war games on the above.
The LSO in question is seeking to disrupt operations and IS guilty of treason. She should walk the plank.
Hey, I was an Ensign once. And...
...You're right. And for very, very good reasons.
“How can anyone take anything off KOS seriously?”
Regardless of your personal opinion about the website, they get some pretty credible diarists over there.
Just sayin’....
Wasn’t it “Baby MILK Factory”?
Thanks for the link Radar. Went to his blog and browsed around. Good guy...good instincts and glad he’s on our side!!
First of all, it isn’t even written like a disciplined LSO. That is the first thing that comes to mind. Second, she could only be on a few carriers and how many LSO’s are female? Seems like the poster would know they would locate her in about 5 min. How about officers “disappearing” It is not common to take officers off a carrier in the middle of the night and leave a hole in the command structure. How does this LSO know how many Tomahawk missiles the United States has in inventory? Frankly this was so bad I didn’t even read the whole article.
Are they all as credible as this one?
I am a somewhat mysoginistic pervert, and I found that bothersome....
“Liberals never let a little thing like facts or the truth get in the way of a good story” ;’}
Just a military illiterate relaying the story. Marine Carriers are ships that carry Marines, in this case the dumb as a post Kosovite is apparently referring to the so called "Harrier Carriers", which actually carry more helicopters than Harriers. IOW, Amphibious Assault Ships of the Wasp and Tarawa classes.
Of course if her "Friend" the Lady LSO, is also a Marine, that really cuts down on the potential list of candidates for a firing squad. Probably down to zero. There are Marines flying off the Big Deck Carriers, and their are female pilots doing so as well, a few of which are probably also LSOs. But a lady Marine pilot/LSO, really stretches the probabilities from barely possible to very very unlikely. Females have only been flying Marine Aircraft of any kind since 1995, and she flew the CH-53E, not a fixed wing bird. She transferred to the reserves in '04 after 12 years (total) on active duty. Can't be many senior enough and experienced enough to be an LSO.
More's the pity.
But the politicians have to reach down, find a pair, and "pull the trigger" before any of that planning actually gets used.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.