I don't recall if they were in immediate succession but, in RFB/RSRDC, I got a number of special Recon Missions that did not involve photographing ships. I don't remember the exact number but, I do remember being sent to Tarawa and Palau. The objectives, which were not so obvious at first, involved photographing the coral reefs. It took me some time to figure it out (not too long though
) but, I rather enjoyed the different dimension it added to my missions. Interestingly, I reached all of these objectives at night which was probably fortuitous since I had to get pretty close to enemy occupied territory in order to take the photos. Not sure if this is what paul was referring to at the other forum but, it sure sounds similar.
BTW, generally speaking, I've received patrol missions too that are usually far away from the action. Not all the time but most of the time. Like bubblehead, I usually seem to have the time to go where the action is if I choose.