Originally Posted by
Stephanie B
Interesting thread.
My one story is this: I inadvertently "shot down" a friendly aircraft during an exercise. I was the Officer of the Deck of a ship that, for the purposes of the exercise, was given an AAW capability. OODs on AAW-capable ships carried a flare pistol with colored flares (my memory is that it was green). Friendly aircraft approaching ships were supposed to approach, without radio contact, on a specified relative bearing. When the call came from the lookouts that an aircraft was approaching, I brainfarted and thought the safe bearing was a true bearing. So I loaded the pistol and shot off a flare.
The aircraft commander was not amused. He broke radio silence and made a vociferous complaint.
My CO asked me what happened and I fessed up. He said that I was expecting to see an enemy aircraft and that when an aircraft appeared, I acted in accordance with my expectations. He told me that the trick was to be able to question my assumptions and yet do it fast enough to be effective.
I think about that from time to time.
Reply With Quote