Individual Augmentee (IA) info & questions

[Steve Wilkins]

Are there a ton of SWOs in the IA billets?

Yep

 

[Brett327]

The only additional info on the billet was "electronic warfare experience preferred, but not mandatory" so that school sounds like a good bet. Google also found a page on an Army ASE/EWO course.

This EWO support for Army units is a relatively new thing, details of which are beyond the classification of this forum. If you have SIPR access go to the EAWS site and snoop around:

www.eaws.navy.smil.mil

Brett

 

[McNamara]

Unfortunately I don't - looks like I'll have to wait for more specifics. Thanks though, this sounds like it might be interesting...

 

[webmaster]

NKO IA PORTAL (login required)

https://wwwa.nko.navy.mil/portal/splash/index.jsp?successURL=/portal/page%3Fpaf_communityId%3Dco40220014

 

[Gatordev]

This same billet description popped here 2 weeks ago, as well. Guess they need redundant bodies. If you can, report back what you experience for the rest of us potential targets.

 

[McNamara]

Will do. I can forward you the email if you want, I don't know if you have the original text or just heard about it.

 

[Gatordev]

I just saw the official request and email go out telling us we were on the hook. So far I'm in the clear, so no biggie. I just meant bigger picture, IA-type stuff.

 

[Brett327]

This same billet description popped here 2 weeks ago, as well. Guess they need redundant bodies. If you can, report back what you experience for the rest of us potential targets.

With the EWO billet, they're placing an ostensibly EW smart officer in every ground pounding Army battalion to oversee and train folks on how to use some of their EW gear. If you think about how a lot of these IEDs are triggered and use a little imagination, you'll see the utility. From what I understand, this was initially going to be a bunch of Prowler guys, but they've decided to move many of them up echelon to manage the big picture programmatics. Basically, if you know what a sine wave is (or are willing to learn), you'll know more than your MK 1 Mod 0 Army guy who's trying to operate a bunch of gear he doesn't understand. That's about all I can say at this level, but there's obviously a whole lot more to it.

Brett

 

[Gatordev]

Sheesh. I'm raising the white flag. Brett, you and I have talked about this before. I understand what the job is, I was just speaking about general IA experience/gouge, that's all. I totally understand why there's the need.

 

[Brett327]

Sheesh. I'm raising the white flag. Brett, you and I have talked about this before. I understand what the job is, I was just speaking about general IA experience/gouge, that's all. I totally understand why there's the need.

Oh, I know, no worries. I was putting it out there for McNamera's edification.

Brett

 

[zab1001]

With the EWO billet, they're placing an ostensibly EW smart officer..........Basically, if you know what a sine wave is ...

Even I know what a sine wave is, but I still had to look up "ostensible"...I now have my 20 dollar word of the week. Thanks Brett.

 

[Brett327]

Even I know what a sine wave is, but I still had to look up "ostensible"...I now have my 20 dollar word of the week. Thanks Brett.

I'm sure the Chileans will appreciate that. I guessing their English $20 word would be things like "the" or "and." Not that I'm one to speak (Spanish). "Por que esta el bano, con quesso, por favor. Sin leche?" I'm very popular at Spanish only cocktail parties.

Brett

 

[McNamara]

With the EWO billet, they're placing an ostensibly EW smart officer in every ground pounding Army battalion to oversee and train folks on how to use some of their EW gear. If you think about how a lot of these IEDs are triggered and use a little imagination, you'll see the utility. From what I understand, this was initially going to be a bunch of Prowler guys, but they've decided to move many of them up echelon to manage the big picture programmatics. Basically, if you know what a sine wave is (or are willing to learn), you'll know more than your MK 1 Mod 0 Army guy who's trying to operate a bunch of gear he doesn't understand. That's about all I can say at this level, but there's obviously a whole lot more to it.

Brett

Roger that. I asked the same question at ar15.com (lots of grunts hang out there) and was told to google things like "warlock, ECM, MMBJ," etc. and I pretty quickly figured out what they were trying to describe. I'm pretty stoked now, and I might even find out today if I am the wing's official nominee for the billet. Gonna be hard not to bug the OIC every chance I get.

Zab, to clarify, "ostensibly" is the adverb form of "ostensible," but since I haven't studied sine waves in a while I could be WAY off base here.

And as far as emails, I should clarify that I'd only send what I got to another .mil address. Most of the details are probably innappropriate for a public forum.

Gatordev, I'll definitely keep y'all posted on my experiences.

 

[Schnugg]

"Por que esta el bano, con quesso, por favor. Sin leche?"

Translation: My moped runs on cranberry juice.

McNamara...you got access to SIPRNET? If so, PM me.

 

[P3 F0]

Not sure if this helps any, but a friend of mine (EP3 pilot) just got dragged out of his shore tour to do this in Baghdad w/ the Army. He's been there a few weeks now. Here's an excerpt from an email: "They don't need ew experts. They picked me. From what I can see, the army never really asked for us, and my job is nothing that someone in the army can't do." Basically, the navy is touting us VQ guys as EW experts to the Army. That would be funny if it hadn't resulted in all these billets popping up out there for us.

I'm sorry to see this insanity has spread to Afghanistan, too. Anyway, not sure how much training you'll need, if any (especially if you've been through Corey Sta. or Whidbey).