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Behind locked doors lies a cold, dark room awash in blue light. The Combat Direction Center (CDC) is a hub of incoming and outgoing tactical information that guides operations for the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group (JCSCSG). In the center of it all, managing the flow of information, sits the tactical action officer (TAO).
The TAO’s primary job aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) is the self-defense of the ship. These officers carry a high amount responsibility in their everyday watch standing.
“To provide self-defense of the ship, you have to have awareness of everything that is happening around the ship and the strike group,” said Cmdr. Kristopher Meyer, combat direction center officer, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “We piece that together with all of our radar systems across the strike group. We are constantly trying to make sense of what is out there. Our job as a strike group is to identify the unknown contacts and determine which of those can be threats and be prepared to respond to those threats day or night.”
Radars help the TAOs determine the different types of contacts and the information needed.
“We maintain the tactical picture, keeping track of air, surface and sub-surface contacts around the strike group,” said Lt. Cmdr. Sergio Martinez, from Alameda, California, one of the ship’s TAOs. “We are the primary relay for that information going to the different warfare commanders onboard and off the ship.”
A large part of being a TAO is communication. The job consists of information gathering and communicating that information to those who require it.
“We are constantly communicating to make sure everyone knows what is happening across the strike group,” said Meyer. “The TAO is one of those jobs that if the ship finds itself in trouble, the officer of the deck and the TAO both have to answer for what happened. It’s a lot of responsibility.”
Most TAOs are assigned to the ship due to their orders, however the opportunity to train and become a TAO is open to all officers.
“Any officer on the John C. Stennis who wants to qualify as a TAO can enter the syllabus after coordinating with myself,” said Meyer. “We even have the ships’ cryptologic warfare officer qualified as a TAO.”
Before taking on the responsibility of the job, each officer needs a basic understanding of the systems and the job before qualifying as a TAO.
“The one basic level of knowledge every TAO has is from a six-week course at the ship’s self-defense systems (SSDS) school in Dahlgren, Virginia,” said Meyer. “The course teaches officers about the overall system we use to defend the ship. It also runs them through some practical scenarios so when they come to the ship you have a basic knowledge of the systems and how and when to use them.”
The SSDS course is not the only qualification or training required to become a TAO. There are personnel qualification standards and other watch standing positions to accomplish before finally qualifying as a TAO.
“You start as a CDC watch officer, then you qualify as an air defense weapons coordinator, then finally, TAO,” said Martinez. “The SSDS course itself may be six weeks, but typically the time someone qualifies from CDC watch officer to TAO is six to 12 months.”
TAO is a critical watch station aboard the John C. Stennis, one that brings a sense of pride to those who are qualified.
“I think it’s amazing to watch the bigger picture of what we do, what we are capable of and see the impact that we have as we work our way through this deployment,” said Martinez.
The pride and knowledge acquired in CDC as a TAO will be carried to other strike groups and their deployments as each TAO passes on their knowledge to their counterparts.
“I’m really proud of not only the training and qualifying of the TAOs assigned to our ship, but also TAOs from the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Nimitz (CVN 68), and USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78),” said Meyer. “The legacy of excellence that the John C. Stennis carries will continue after our deployment ends because those trained officers will be putting forth their knowledge learned here into their upcoming deployments.”
The next time the TAO comes over the 1 main circuit, take a moment to listen and understand the tactical action being taken by those who are directly responsible for the safety of the ship.
The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points
For more news on John C. Stennis, visit www.stennis.navy.mil or follow along on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stennis74.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2019 02:48 |
| Story ID: | 314752 |
| Location: | INDIAN OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 1,090 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, This is the TAO…, by PO2 Skyler Okerman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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