Marine UAV’s “Tic, Tic, Tic”
October 16th, 2010 Posted in The SandGram v1.0
Marine UAV's Tic TIC TIC
What I know about UAV’S…
I don’t think this will win any contests, but watching some UAV footage on T.V. today reminded me of a somewhat funny story. While in Iraq, at a base that will remain nameless, I went to visit a buddy of mine who was the XO for a Marine UAV Squadron. I had a habit of parking on the flight-line by UAV runway in my SUV and coming in the back door by the command center.
As I walked in, I saw one of the Marines jumped up to shout through the hatch to the office next door “TIC, TIC, TIC” which got my pulse going because that meant “Troops in contact” and you would be watching a firefight from above. They had six big flat screen T.V.’s mounted on the wall showing various things like the track of the bird, maps, and other things. On the main screen I saw the UAV circling around one of those big ass bunkers/hangers that are located on all the bases that the French built for Saddam in the 90’s. The camera began to zoom in on the top of the bunker where there was an old AA gun pit. It had sandbags as walls that were about three feet high (from having climbed up to check one out) and spread out inside of this post were three young girls in the buff catching some sun. What they didn’t realize was this was on the approach path of the UAV which was only at maybe 1,500 feet overhead. They had their eyes closed, white cords going from their earbuds to an ipod and they were unaware of the buzzing of the plane overhead.
As they zeroed in on the three babes, you could see their different tattoos plain as day on places most wouldn’t see them unless they were dating. Their M-16’s were leaning against the wall with Army PT gear and other unmentionables close at hand. One of the Marines was clicking away on his computer and I heard the printer come out of hibernation as it produced some nice images. I realized that this was probably a good time to announce myself and said, “Hey Marines, thought I heard a TIC was going on but this isn’t what I thought it would be.”
The six young enlisted Marines were VERY surprised and one with a sheepish grin said “Sir, we call this one – Telephoto In-Cognito, hence TIC.” I of course reminded them this was probably wrong and they could get in trouble but asked for copies of the photos… (not really)
Turns out they would go to the Army’s chow hall just to try to pick them out of the line up of Army gals there. So, while this wasn’t official use of the UAV, I can attest to them being outstanding platforms for surveillance!!! Also, if you are over in the war, remember this, boys will be boys and Uncle Sugar is always watching.
Semper Fi,
Taco
Tags: Iraq, Marine UAV'S, TIC, TROOPS IN CONTACT, UAV
