[MilCom] Pentagon New Terrorism Stategy to Affect HobbyMail lists?

[bradc944 at comcast.net]

...as I pick myself up off the floor....

Clay, GREAT POST!  THANK YOU!!  As an ex-mil intercept op, I FULLY appreciate the words you are saying, and the spirit behind them.  I only wish that I had the resources available to me "on console" that are available now.  It would have made my job & support of the Mission so much easier.... but finding & developing the stuff is half the fun :)

I see your input in the chat rooms, and wondered, but now I know, and can smile wide when I see you in there with your input.

You da MAN (well, one of them, anyways).

When it comes to on-site security personnel (and at the duty station I was at, we had to do our share of Gate Guard and Perimeter Security, because it wasn't a huge base), I try to treat them with their due respect.  They have jobs to do, correct, and they don't know us from Adam.  I even get questions from local police about why I have several antennae on my POV, and multiple radios around the dash & front seat.  I show them my Amateur Radio license, and they then go away somewhat mollified.  What really freaks them out, though, is when I have GHFS up, and in the middle of a conversation, an EAM goes off.  I even had one officer ask if it was legal for a civilian to be hearing those... we had a long conversation over coffee after he got off shift, and now, last I had heard, he was getting into Utility DXing in a big way.

So, I guess, my words to the rest of my brothers & sisters in the hobby, put forth a good face, be respectful of those on the gates, let's show them that we are resources that they can call upon if needed.  Same speech I give to Hams re:disaster comms. :)

And Clay, again, you rock, dude.  I owe you an adult bevvie :)

Brad // NP4AI // waiting for the next odd EAM on 11175

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: ClayMayrose at aol.com 

> 
> In a message dated 2/7/06 7:05:21 A.M. Central Standard Time, 
> n5fpw at brmemc.net writes: 
> 
> Yes there 
> are members of the military 
> 
> 
> Cheif, 
> 
> Thanks for the words of wisdom and level headedness. 
> 
> Folks I am one of those dastardly military communication operatives who 
> regularly monitored this list for both entertainment and intell. As I was a 
> shift supervisor at the Global station at Elkhorn, Nebraska for a number of 
> years, I used the list to keep tabs on what the operators were doing while the 
> big dog was off the porch. You provided near real time intell into several 
> situations which needed quick reaction to avoid an embarrassing incident to 
> develop. There were even a few situations that required operators to stand in 
> front of me and explain why things were done or not done while the microphone 
> was hot. At no time did I divulge the source of my intell. 
> 
> For Example, the folks on the list pointed out the incident where an 
> operator at ADW and one at OFF were using the Scope Command AMD as their own 
> personal sex lines completely unaware that the transmissions were going out 
> over 
> HF. There was another incident reported here that involved a hot mic and 
> vulgar language which imitated and not so warm and fuzzy conversation on Monday 
> morning. 
> 
> During my time at Elkhorn, Larry and I shared many a lighthearted and 
> enlightening conversation from a console at the above mentioned location. 
> While I was stationed there, I provided several tours to members of the list 
> and 
> allowed 2 Amateur Radio special event stations to be run from consoles at the 
> site. These events happened because I understood that this list doesn't pose 
> any threat to national security. 
> 
> . There seems to be quite a bit of over reaction happening here. First, 
> while all of us enjoy our monitoring at whatever level of enthusiasm suits us. 
> There are those personnel with in the military establishment who find it odd 
> that there are folks who want to monitor "their" communications. To them we 
> are radio geeks or nerds and lump us into a group similar to the Mathew 
> Broderick character in the movie War Games. 
> 
> Second, I have seen posts here to the affect of "when will they learn 
> that we are not the enemy". We all know that we are not the enemy; however, I 
> just checked my wallet and somewhere I have misplaced my USDA certified 
> "good-guy" card. I am betting good money that all of you don't have one either. 
> While taking a MILCOMMER on a tour of Offutt AFB, I along with the list member 
> and his son was jacked up by SF personnel because we got to close to the E-4B 
> on the alert pad. I forgot to put the "good-guy" sign on my car. 
> 
> My point is that those who are concerned with communication security and 
> physical security at your favorite local signal source do not know you from 
> Adam and they are trained to be vigilant against all threats. Through that 
> training anything and anyone is a threat until it or they are deemed otherwise. 
> Although you may have that good-guy card or sign, the bad guys can make 
> counterfeit credentials that are second to none. 
> 
> Try for a minute to forget your hobby and see the world through the eyes 
> of security personnel. Then let them do their job 
> 
> Clay 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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