ROTC pros and cons

[Demon 997]

LOL
That's funny. Even funnier is the fact that this is only an exaggeration of the truth. Yes, that's right; we fit dolphins with.. appliances.. which make them more capable.
My facility got hit hard during Hurrican Katrina, and it caused a big panic. My dolphins escaped, you see, and they were not very nice dolphins at all, so more than a few folks were worried about the danger they posed to people they might have met. We eventually rounded them up, though.
Anyway, my dolphins were sentries, trained to patrol assigned areas and attack intruders. Believe it or not, their job is to STAB unauthorized divers with tranquilizer spears and haul them back for questioning.
( NEVER go diving in a navy shipyard. You have been warned )
Yes, I'm serious. Like I said, they can be taught truly amazing things. Mine were the "kinder, gentler," version, too. One tail-smack from a dolphin can very easily kill a person, and that is easily exploited.

Okay, talking:
Yes, dolphins really do talk with an actual spoken language. ( I tellya, if they had thumbs they'd be dangerous ) This language can be recorded and decoded, and their words can be played back in sequence to allow us to talk to them. Really. I am NOT making this up, I promise. It makes training them infinitely easier, although figuring out their vocabulary is a very long and difficult process. The main problem, you see, is that each "tribe" of dolphins has it's own language. We can spend a couple of years learning to communicate with one batch, and then find that only 30 miles down the beach the dolphins speak complete gibberish to us. That kinda makes the system a bit impractical. Still pretty cool, though.
Most training is done completely NON-verbally, by the way. Verbal training is still very new and absolutely nonconventional. When it is used, though, the results are phenomenal. Dolphins who understand why they are doing the things they're doing are much more effective. Don't let their grins fool you, either; they're not so nice once you get to know them, and that includes the ones you see at Seaworld.

By the way, if animal training is something that sounds good to you, don't take Biolgy coursework, take Psychology. Psi majors are the ones who wind up working at Seaworld.

Okay, ROTC--- overall good. It alone can help you with your main goal of a career with CIA/FBI. Again, though, you should just ask those guys what they want before joining the military.

That is really cool. Also scary, but mainly cool. I didn't know about that dolphins have full on language. Wouldn't it be easier to teach new tribes of dolphins the language you guys know?

Anyway back to the thread. I don't know much about ROTC, but do your research. Make sure that this is what the CIA/FBI wants, try and find a career that will give you the right skills, figure out the risk and rewards for each career path. Get information from all kinds of sources, including anti-military ones. Biases can be useful if you recognize their there. Not saying don't do it, just make sure its right for you and what you want to do.

[RS14]

LOL
That's funny. Even funnier is the fact that this is only an exaggeration of the truth. Yes, that's right; we fit dolphins with.. appliances.. which make them more capable.
My facility got hit hard during Hurrican Katrina, and it caused a big panic. My dolphins escaped, you see, and they were not very nice dolphins at all, so more than a few folks were worried about the danger they posed to people they might have met. We eventually rounded them up, though.
Anyway, my dolphins were sentries, trained to patrol assigned areas and attack intruders. Believe it or not, their job is to STAB unauthorized divers with tranquilizer spears and haul them back for questioning.
( NEVER go diving in a navy shipyard. You have been warned )
Yes, I'm serious. Like I said, they can be taught truly amazing things. Mine were the "kinder, gentler," version, too. One tail-smack from a dolphin can very easily kill a person, and that is easily exploited.

Okay, talking:
Yes, dolphins really do talk with an actual spoken language. ( I tellya, if they had thumbs they'd be dangerous ) This language can be recorded and decoded, and their words can be played back in sequence to allow us to talk to them. Really. I am NOT making this up, I promise. It makes training them infinitely easier, although figuring out their vocabulary is a very long and difficult process. The main problem, you see, is that each "tribe" of dolphins has it's own language. We can spend a couple of years learning to communicate with one batch, and then find that only 30 miles down the beach the dolphins speak complete gibberish to us. That kinda makes the system a bit impractical. Still pretty cool, though.
Most training is done completely NON-verbally, by the way. Verbal training is still very new and absolutely nonconventional. When it is used, though, the results are phenomenal. Dolphins who understand why they are doing the things they're doing are much more effective. Don't let their grins fool you, either; they're not so nice once you get to know them, and that includes the ones you see at Seaworld.

By the way, if animal training is something that sounds good to you, don't take Biolgy coursework, take Psychology. Psi majors are the ones who wind up working at Seaworld.

Okay, ROTC--- overall good. It alone can help you with your main goal of a career with CIA/FBI. Again, though, you should just ask those guys what they want before joining the military.

Citation needed.

On dolphins using tranquilliser spears, that contradicts the US Navy, which asserts "The Navy does not now train, nor has it ever trained, its marine mammals to harm or injure humans in any fashion or to carry weapons to destroy ships." So if you are telling the truth, it's probably classified.

Likewise, if verbal communication is possible with dolphins, it does not appear to be reported in any non-classified sources.

[pendell]

LOL

Anyway, my dolphins were sentries, trained to patrol assigned areas and attack intruders. Believe it or not, their job is to STAB unauthorized divers with tranquilizer spears and haul them back for questioning.

With due respect, I am finding this hard to believe for two reasons:

1) IIRC, dolphins have a hard time distinguishing 'authorized' from 'unauthorized' divers. So you could use them in the manner of a guard dog, spotting unusual activity, but the actual decision to engage should remain a human one.

2) The reason tranquilizer darts aren't used in military applications is because it's deucedly hard to get the dosage right against any given human target; too little, and they don't go to sleep. Too much, and you kill them rather than send them to sleepyland. The risk is so great, and the payoff so small, that you're better off issuing lethal hardware in the first place.

I don't suppose you have any unclassified means to soothe my doubts? I can well imagine that what the Navy actually does isn't necessarily what shows up in a press release, but I'm having a hard time finding tranquilizer harpoons credible.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Asta Kask]

Likewise, if verbal communication is possible with dolphins, it does not appear to be reported in any non-classified sources.

You've never seen Flipper?

They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning,
No-one you see, is smarter than he,
And we know Flipper lives in a world full of wonder,
Lying there under, under the sea!
Everyone loves the king of the sea,
Ever so kind and gentle is he,
Tricks he will do when children appear,
And how they laugh when he's near!
They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning,
No-one you see, is smarter than he,
And we know Flipper lives in a world full of wonder,
Lying there under, under the sea!

[Demon 997]

With due respect, I am finding this hard to believe for two reasons:

1) IIRC, dolphins have a hard time distinguishing 'authorized' from 'unauthorized' divers. So you could use them in the manner of a guard dog, spotting unusual activity, but the actual decision to engage should remain a human one.

2) The reason tranquilizer darts aren't used in military applications is because it's deucedly hard to get the dosage right against any given human target; too little, and they don't go to sleep. Too much, and you kill them rather than send them to sleepyland. The risk is so great, and the payoff so small, that you're better off issuing lethal hardware in the first place.

I don't suppose you have any unclassified means to soothe my doubts? I can well imagine that what the Navy actually does isn't necessarily what shows up in a press release, but I'm having a hard time finding tranquilizer harpoons credible.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

I'd disagree with the first point. There are probably only a few people allowed to dive on a navy base, all of them being navy divers. You just introduce the dolphins to the divers (they'll probably be working together anyway). The dolphins know to attack anyone diving who isn't one of them.

[pendell]

I'd disagree with the first point. There are probably only a few people allowed to dive on a navy base, all of them being navy divers. You just introduce the dolphins to the divers (they'll probably be working together anyway). The dolphins know to attack anyone diving who isn't one of them.

I disagree based on this paragraph from the US Navy's FAQ

Does the Navy train its dolphins for offensive warfare, including attacks on ships and human swimmers or divers?

No. The Navy does not now train, nor has it ever trained, its marine mammals to harm or injure humans in any fashion or to carry weapons to destroy ships. A popular movie in 1973 ("The Day of the Dolphin") and a number of charges and claims by animal rights organizations have resulted in theories and sometimes actual beliefs that Navy dolphins are assigned attack missions. This is absolutely false. Since dolphins cannot discern the difference between enemy and friendly vessels, or enemy and friendly divers and swimmers, it would not be wise to give that kind of decision authority to an animal. The animals are trained to detect, locate, and mark all mines or all swimmers in an area of interest or concern, and are not trained to distinguish between what we would refer to as good or bad. That decision is always left to humans.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Kislath]

Well, it's those animal rights people who are the biggest problem, with keeping the enemy guessing the second part. You CAN find info on this by sifting through Hurricane Katrina + Dolphin media archives, and only then because they were a possible problem even without their harnesses. We also never torture anyone, capisce?