The Founding Fathers of TACAMO: True Believers and the Rise of Navy Strategic Communications
Book by Lewis McIntyre
 
The birth of the US Navy’s “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission which provides essential airborne communications to the US nuclear deterrence forces.

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.

This is the story of the birth of TACAMO, in the words of those who built the community from scratch.

Table of Contents

Part One: The Beginning, 1968–1975 
An Island Paradise on the Edge of the War
The Seed is Planted 

Part Two: TACAMO in Transition, 1975–1980 
The First Retreads
A New Professionalism 

Part Three: The ECX Comes to Life, 1980–1983 
Starting the Program
A Rapid Acquisition 

Part Four: TACAMO Comes of Age, 1980–1985 
TACAMO Joins the Navy
From One Island Paradise to Another
Continuing One Hundred Percent
“True Believers” Take Command
Preparing for the E-6
The E-6A Arrives … But Not on Time! 

Part Five: The Wing Stands Up, 1990–2000 
The Inception
Strategic Communications Wing One