Zach Vargo

The USS Wasp and 3 other ships had to go through a Anti-Terrorism Force Protection Exercise this past week.  Because they are about to go on deployment soon, they have to be ready to fight off any possible terrorists attacks on the ship.  Because there were 34 Midshipmen on board the Wasp, we got to play the OPFOR (Opposing Forces).  As Midshipmen, playing as the OPFOR is a very rare occurance, so we were blessed with this terrific opportunity.

For the exercise, we got to start riots in front of checkpoints, create a spousal abuse situation as a diversion, smuggle a bomb in a bag, and even send a shooter onto a ship and raise all kinds of Hell. The point of these situations was to see how the sailors were going to react and hopefully, they would do what they trained to do.  Despite a wife being beaten by their husband, if it happens on foreign soil, its not the Navy’s resposibility to intervene, but rather to call the local police. The big event I took part in was starting a fight with another person  in order to create a diversion for the watch team so it would be easier for the “terrorist” to get through the bag inspection.  Unfortunately, our Oscar-Winning Performance did not work and the bomb was found. 

The USS Wasp was the only ship to have a perfect record during this drill.  Because I got to take part in the exercise, when I am an officer going through the training, I will be better prepared and will essentially know what to be looking for while.  Hopefully, the situations will only occur during simulation, but one may never know and must always be prepared.

So, today is my last day blogging for Yovia before I go on my summer training for the Navy and eventually head back to the Citadel to start my senior year.  I just want to say that this was by far the best job I’ve had and because of it, I will continue blogging when I head back to school.  I’m really going to miss Yovia and the friends I’ve made since working there.

This is the bad boy I am going to be on for a month. It’s the USS Wasp (LHD-1), an Amphibious Assault Ship (in case you were wondering).

Hearing on the news about North Korea launching these missiles is really bothering me. I honestly think we should be doing a little bit more than saying that the United States is ready to fight North Korea if necessary.  I sure hope so, we are the greatest military in the world and we should be ready to take on any country that threatens us.  There are much better alternatives than stating the obvious.

I’m sure President Obama is a very busy person, especially with Iran making its own claims and the economic situation.  However, he has people who know how to deal with it.  As a concerned citizen of this proud nation, I am offering my personal opinion, although they that they probably thought of this idea already, but shot it down for a better alternative that I have yet to learn of.

This is what we should do.  Our intelligence obviously knows that there is more activity that is suggestion more launches, so that is a start.  Since we know that they are launching it, we put Patriot missiles along the DMZ and place a couple of warships off the coast (I think they have done this already once before).  When North Korea launches their missile, we launch one of our own to shoot it down.  The advantages of this plan are: North Korea has one less nuclear ballistic missile; we are reinforcing that we think Kim Jong Il’s  actions are unacceptable; and we provide some live fire training for our military.

Am I just rambling senselessly or does anyone else feel the same way?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/29/says-north-korea-plan-long-range-missle-test/