Lt. Ayers said they were test firing a HARM missile, he is referring to the AGM-88 HARM (High-Speed Anti-Radiation), air-to-surface anti-radiation missile. An anti-radiation missile is designed to home in on the electronic transmissions from a radar station, specifically the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the signal generator of a radar station. The missile's on-board guidance system was designed by Texas Instruments, it is capable of detecting radar signals, homing in on the source and destroying them with very little input from the aircrew.
Upon learning that an approaching F-14 has been struck by lightning and is on fire Commander Bishop orders the Officer of the Deck to "break out the smoke eaters". Smoke eaters is a nickname for enlisted sailors and non-commissioned officers who are firefighters and/or damage controlman. When a recruit joins the Navy they can choose one of several occupational paths, one of them being fireman, at paygrade E-1 they are known by the rank of Fireman Recruit, an E-2 is a Fireman Apprentice and an E-3 is a Fireman (as opposed to the more familiar rank of Seaman). Upon reaching the non-commissioned officer ranks, which starts with paygrade E-4 (Petty Officer Third Class), a sailor who has been a Fireman is eligible to choose Damage Controlman as their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS); this gives them even more responsibility than just fighting fires they are also responsible for damage control, ship stability and preparing defenses in the event of a biological, chemical or nuclear/radiological attack. Upon passing the qualification testing for this rating the sailor then becomes known as a Damage Controlman Third Class, E-5 is Damage Controlman Second Class and E-6 Damage Controlman First class. Upon reaching the senior NCO ranks, which starts with paygrade E-7 (Chief Petty Officer), sailors with this MOS are known as a Chief Damage Controlman, then at E-8 a Senior Chief Damage Controlman and E-9 as a Master Chief Damage Controlman.
The woman Harm goes to visit is Annie Pendry, her husband, Lt. Lucas Pendry, was an old friend of Rabb's and was killed when his F-14 crashed due to a faulty fly-by-wire system in Pilot Error (1995).
Part of the episode deals with the Howlers accidentally destroying a mosque during Desert Storm after one of their HARM missiles had a guidance system malfunction. While accidents like this did happen during the Gulf War they were rare, most of the claims of civilian bombings and death by Saddam Hussein were false, they were used as propaganda. One well documented example of this was on February 11, 1991, the Iraqi Army removed and dismantled the dome of a mosque in Al-Basrah, they were attempting to make it look as if the mosque had been damaged by NATO collation bombs. It was not a very well planned or thought-out subterfuge though, as there was no damage to the surrounding sections of the mosque like the minaret, courtyard building, or the dome foundation, which all would have been heavily damaged had they really be struck by a bomb or missile.