Lt. Colonel Greg Mordant, US Army, Individual Ready Reserve, IRR, was asked to do a new thing in a new place: protect Philippine Navy and fishing ships in the far reaches of the South China Sea. He would work with and support some US Navy ships and some Navy Seals.
He had demonstrated an early eVTOL hovercraft, equipped with a rifle, aboard the Arleigh Burke class USS Donald Cook destroyer, DDG-75, in the Persian Gulf near Bahrain, stopping an Iranian fast-boat in a threatened attack on the destroyer. He knew nothing of the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea or the Philippine Islands.
The Chinese Navy and or 'Coast Guard' had been very aggressive in harassing Philippine fishing boats as well as the Philippine Navy; his assignment was to help stop that harassment. He didn't know many officers in the US Navy; he would have to learn a lot more about this assignment. His hovercraft might be good tools to help bring that harassment to an end.