"I find it mildly amusing that many Intel/Crypto types can't accept their support roles."
As an IWO, I would say that the word "many" in the above statement may be a stretch. I have no desire to be in command of a warfighting unit. I clearly treasure my lane as do the vast majority of the community. Becoming an URL would dilute the community. We would become average at several things rather than excellent at our current mission.
I can't stand the self-licking intel ice-cream cone. As in, let's gather this intel simply for its sake rather than in direct support to the guys on the ground, sea, or in the air. So while I don't agree with Flash's last sentence detailed above, I do agree with him that our primary mission (in the kinetic world) is serving the warfighter.
I would like to open this debate to ways IW/Intel types could interact with or support the aviation/warfighter community to better serve the mission. We might need a new thread.
-What made successful IWO/Intel Os?
-What made unsuccessful IWO/Intel Os?
-Anything relating to the two communities working together. . .
I will start with an observation from today:
I make it a point to include a phone call with emails. This has surprised some folks, an Army Officer in particular who kept expecting me to leave him in the cold. Now that he knows he can get support, his mission is moving ahead. (It is, of course, not quite this simple. I sanitized it for brevity/opsec reasons. But I think you can get the point.)
Please share/rave/unload/flame about IW/Intel. Even horror stories help the dialogue.
