When I was in the Navy, intel peeps were called "spooks" because we were hardly seen. Are they still called that, or is the term divisive?

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Sandy owes America’s military community a book !

You know the drill, but I would hope that Sandy could escape the bureaucratic strictures on her many escapades!

1LT Sandy Annala Rally Point pleased that Sandy was not caused to ‘disappear’!

Have you heard of the "ice box" in Bad Aibling?

PO2 Robert M. - I don't know about the Navy - but many people have been called spooks - including intel collection officers - but also covert operations officers, infiltrators, exfiltrators, long range reconnaissance patrols, special forces, snipers, low visibility aircraft operators, civilians with too many buttons on their embassy or other agency radios, and quite frequently anyone with a set of orders and/or assignment that was either not obvious / obviously not what they claimed / or on a need to know basis where very few people need to know, or anyone who operated mostly outside routine chain of command with or without obvious chain of command support. Then there were those who wandered the countryside, jungles, valleys, and mountains distributing some medical equipment, supplies, and training (and very quietly low profile radio communications equipment) accompanied by a couple of "Ex-Seals" carrying Mk22 Mod0 "Hush Puppy" - who were thought to be black marketeers - but on arrest or detention were released on call by command to Tom Polgar or Graham Martin. More broadly, anyone operating abroad - particularly when risking their lives or long jail time - in the interests of the U S Government without obvious military or diplomatic cover were spooks. The trick was not be recognized as a spook by anyone other than a "friendly" spook. The alternative may be quiet detention, disappearance, or death. Warmest Regards, Sandy :)

How could it be divisive? It just meant anyone who operated primarily in the shadows. The CIA, for example, were "spooks." So were SF and Mercs attached to them. Whether manning a comm intercept and/or crypto station or the ones boarding unmarked planes and being dropped into Cambodia during Nam, they had a job to do just like the rest of us. We didn't ask. But no one bad-mouthed them for who/what they were.

We all had/have our job to do. And like calling a radio operator "sparky," an 03 a "grunt," Jar-Heads, Squids, Dog-Faces, Airdales, or Puddle-Pirates, euphemisms will be used to describe them. They aren't divisive unless someone makes/lets them be.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Here is a question - and answer tailored for you! Do you hav a RP account under an assumed name? You spooks are all the same, covert!

I never had a problem being called a spook.

Most branches of service had them.Except the CG.In the day in the USAF it Was Air Force Security Service.Name changed over the years.Highly secret.Could not even tell your spouse.

I think Sandy Nailed it. To be honest I think its your community that puts big deal on "spook" most, Navy folks know that its just Comm guys doing their thing in the cold rooms. "Spook" is a term used for to many, so as for Navy yes CT world has changed a lot and term "spook" for that world needs to go away. Your not covert spies, sorry your not. Yes you do work for NSW today and all the three letter OGA's, but that does not make you covert SOF operter guys, just high tech ciphers.