The US Navy’s “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission provides essential airborne communications to the US nuclear deterrence forces. Today it is a thriving community, respected by the Navy and the US strategic defense forces.
But it wasn’t always so. Despite the enormous importance of the mission, for the first decade of their existence, the TACAMO squadrons did not provide a viable career path for officers, instead being a “one and done” tour for the junior officers who found themselves unluckily so assigned. A second tour in the squadrons was considered to be professional suicide. But in 1975, inspired by a significant commanding officer, a handful of lieutenants put their faith in a community that did not yet exist, betting their careers on that second tour. From their faith and courage was born the TACAMO community.
When Lewis McIntyre showed up for his first squadron tour, VQ-3 and VQ-4 were four years old, and had yet to promote a LT to LCDR, the first two promotions two more years in the future. But against all conventional wisdom, about a dozen from VQ-3 and VQ-4 opted for a second squadron tour, betting their careers on a warfare specialty and career path that did not exist. Against all odds, out of their ranks of True Believers came 11 future COs and 3 commodores of a TACAMO Wing 20 years in the future.
Preorder the book at Amazon by clicking on the following link "Take Charge and Move Out - The Founding Fathers of TACAMO".
Preorder the book at Barnes and Noble by clicking on the following link "Take Charge and Move Out - The Founding Fathers of TACAMO".
The target release date is March 2022. Lew hopes to have a book signing at the USNA Midshipman Book Store, among other locations in the Capital Region.
Updated: October 25, 2021
Curator: Ed Moore