North Korea: why bother with a test?

I would urge you all to keep your eyes on the news over the next week. My ship and its crew are probably going to be a hot topic this week, you'll see why if we do make headlines. It relates directly to the growing anxiety over vulnerability to North Korean nuclear attack.

The DPRK does have long enough range delivery systems, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have the means to maintain those systems over the long-term. It's really expensive to maintain a long range nuclear arsenal. One of the main reasons we started dismantling ours, after the Cold War. Which leads me to believe that whatever the DPRK is planning, whether it's political pressure/manhandling or an actual attack it'll probably happen relatively soon.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

WOOHOO! WE'RE IN THE NEWS!

The test today was a success, I know they've had 9 previous tests for this system. Some of them did, in fact, fail. But, with each failure comes new knowledge. The system is online now, and after what I saw today I'd say that it's a pretty solid counter-measure. I mean, nothing is perfect, but this is a lot better than not having anything.

Man, we've been out for almost a month now, waiting to do this shit. Tracking everything from cargo ships to civilian aircraft, we had a north korean ship trying to tail us for a few days. You have no idea how this feels as an accomplishment, considering that it means I can go home, now.

On one hand, I feel like I'm finally part of something big, and that's why I joined the Navy, but at the sametime, I can't help but think how all of this is really so unnecessary and how we (meaning mankind) could be speding our resources in a more productive manner. All of the E-5 and below on this ship could've gotten full-ride scholarships to almost any university they wanted, for the amount of money that the one SM-3 costs. It was all gone in a matter of seconds.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah, I'm on the Shiloh (CG-67).

I'd have to admit ignorance, I know the designators are SM-2 Bloc 3A for sub-atmospheric engagements and the SM-3 for ballistic intercept.

Are you refering to the targeting system, or the missile itself?

I'm a CT, not an FC or a GM, so most of my involvment with the missile test was with overhead detection systems, not the actual engagement.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.