Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Question for military people here...

Those are paragraph markings

Instead of paragraph 1, 2, 3, etc, they used the phonetic alphabet representations for A, B, C, etc.

This report is discussed here. Be sure to read the comments.

The report follows a standard template.
The top section from where it begins PTTCZYUW through BT are the standard routing codes for an AUTODIN message. This was a confidential (lowest level of classification) message sent via baudot code (5 bit paper tape) to several addressees.* The BT stands for Break in Text, and that marks the end of the header section of the message.

CASREPT stands for Casualty Report.
Para Alpha identifies the boat in question, PCF-94.

Para Bravo specifies the extent of the damage. According to a former Navy engineer in one of the comments mentioned above, C-4 means the boat is heavily damaged and unable to perform its mission.

It appears Para Charlie is saying the boat can return to service at noon (Zulu) on 18 Mar 69.

Para Delta lists the damage:
2 starboard and 1 port window blown out.
VRC-46 radio and all remote units in the pilot house are inoperative.
AC wiring is shorted out and the generator (built by Onan) is inoperative.
Steerage (steering control) after the helm is inoperative.
Starboard bilge pump is broken.
Propellors (screws) are curled and chipped (damaged badly).
Radar gear box is frozen, meaning you can't rotate the antenna.
Main engines experienced an RPM drop.

In other words, this was a pretty heavily damaged boat.

Para Echo indicates this is battle damage.

I don't know what the different numbered parts of para Golf mean.

It appears Para Hotel is the location where either the boat is currently located or where the damage took place.

The rest below the BT is just the message footer.

*When I left the Army and enlisted in the Air Force, I was a teletype operator for 4 years. I typed thousand of AUTODIN messages over the years.

According to the link that I provided, the Navy sent one of these reports for each damaged boat. Some of the commentors on that site believe the boat was misidentified, that it wasn't Kerry's boat but instead the one damaged by the mine. Kerry says he towed the damaged boat. If his boat was this damaged, it seems very unlikely that he would be towing anyone.

Notice, none of the listed damage mentioned bullet holes. Kerry claims they were under fire at the time and the other boats dispute it. You'd think that if they were under fire, there would be some bullet holes.

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