Be warned! Potential spoiler material from last night’s show included!
Last night’s WW opener included a car-bombing of a movie theater in Turkey that resulted in the death of 14 American sailors on shore leave from the cruiser Raleigh. This at a time when, according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, American forces in the Middle East are at “ThreatCon Alpha” (or similar terminology).
My question is this: If American forces in the Middle East (or anywhere) are at their highest alert levels, isn’t shore leave cancelled? Granted, the US was preparing to bomb “Kumar” which as I recall is located near Pakistan, but my understanding is that American naval forces located near Turkey would/could support any mission there.
[mod note: I put this in GQ despite the question coming from a tv show b/c it seems to be more of a factual question. My apologies if you feel otherwise.]
For the record, ThreatCon Alpha is the lowest status. The Threat Conditions range from Alpha (normal ops) to Delta. ThreatCon Delta is used after an attack has happened, or was attempted and was foiled.
As for shore leave, I was an Air Force guy and don’t really know anything about the rules and/or procedures. Some Navy types should be along shortly…
pilot141, thanks for the clarification - the idea in that point of the show was that American forces in the Middle East were at their highest state of readiness, not lowest. Whether I misheard or the script was wrong, I’m not sure.
A high threat level in one country doesn’t necessarily make it dangerous for Americans in another country. When Vietnam was in full swing, sailors routinely took liberty not only in the Philippines, but in Vietnam itself at places like China Beach.
The Captain of a ship has absolute authority over his sailors and can authorize leave and liberty at his discretion unless he has direct orders from his superiors to the contrary.
