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Home Front: Economy
Navy Pilots Who Rescued Victims Are Reprimanded
2005-09-07
PENSACOLA, Fla., Sept. 6 - Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on Aug. 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 hurricane victims to safety.
Instead, their superiors chided the pilots, Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, at a meeting the next morning for rescuing civilians when their assignment that day had been to deliver food and water to military installations along the Gulf Coast.
This is one of those classic moments when you get patted on the back and have your wrist slapped at the same time.
"I felt it was a great day because we resupplied the people we needed to and we rescued people, too," Lieutenant Udkow said. But the air operations commander at Pensacola Naval Air Station "reminded us that the logistical mission needed to be our area of focus."
Lieutenants don't get to write their own orders
The episode illustrates how the rescue effort in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina had to compete with the military's other, more mundane logistical needs.
Logistics are part of the rescue effort, just not as exciting or glamorous
Only in recent days, after the federal response to the disaster has come to be seen as inadequate, have large numbers of troops and dozens of helicopters, trucks and other equipment been poured into to the effort.
Blah blah blah Bush is at fault blah blah
Early on, the military rescue operations were smaller, often depending on the initiative of individuals like Lieutenants Shand and Udkow.
The two lieutenants were each piloting a Navy H-3 helicopter - a type often used in rescue operations as well as transport and other missions - on that Tuesday afternoon, delivering emergency food, water and other supplies to Stennis Space Center, a federal facility near the Mississippi coast. The storm had cut off electricity and water to the center, and the two helicopters were supposed to drop their loads and return to Pensacola, their home base, said Cmdr. Michael Holdener, Pensacola's air operations chief. "Their orders were to go and deliver water and parts and to come back," Commander Holdener said.
But as the two helicopters were heading back home, the crews picked up a radio transmission from the Coast Guard saying helicopters were needed near the University of New Orleans to help with rescue efforts, the two pilots said. Out of range for direct radio communication with Pensacola, more than 100 miles to the east, the pilots said, they decided to respond and turned their helicopters around, diverting from their mission without getting permission from their home base.
Pssssst..crackle..sputter.."Say again base, I can't hear you, you're breaking up"..sputter..hisssss."Ok, let's go!"
Within minutes, they were over New Orleans. "We're not technically a search-and-rescue unit, but we're trained to do search and rescue," said Lieutenant Shand, a 17-year Navy veteran.
Hummmm, 17 year Navy lieutenant? That's a O-3, equal to AF Captain. Unless he was enlisted in a previous life, he's missed a few promotion cycles. Perhaps this isn't the first time he's ignored orders
Flying over Biloxi and Gulfport and other areas of Mississippi, they could see rescue personnel on the ground, Lieutenant Udkow said, but he noticed that there were few rescue units around the flooded city of New Orleans, on the ground or in the air. "It was shocking," he said. Seeing people on the roofs of houses waving to him, Lieutenant Udkow headed in their direction. Hovering over power lines, his crew dropped a basket to pick up two residents at a time. He took them to Lakefront Airport, where local emergency medical teams had established a makeshift medical center.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Shand landed his helicopter on the roof of an apartment building, where more than a dozen people were marooned. Women and children were loaded first aboard the helicopter and ferried to the airport, he said.
Returning to pick up the rest, the crew learned that two blind residents had not been able to climb up through the attic to the roof and were still in the building. Two crew members entered the darkened building to find the men, and led them to the roof and into the helicopter, Lieutenant Shand said. Recalling the rescues in an interview, he became so emotional that he had to stop and compose himself. At one point, he said, he executed a tricky landing at a highway overpass, where more than 35 people were marooned.
Lieutenant Udkow said that he saw few other rescue helicopters in New Orleans that day. The toughest part, he said, was seeing so many people imploring him to pick them up and having to leave some. "I would be looking at a family of two on one roof and maybe a family of six on another roof, and I would have to make a decision who to rescue," he said. "It wasn't easy."
While refueling at a Coast Guard landing pad in early evening, Lieutenant Udkow said, he called Pensacola and received permission to continue rescues that evening. According to the pilots and other military officials, they rescued 110 people.
Good job, well done, etc. Now, about those orders...
The next morning, though, the two crews were called on the carpet to a meeting with Commander Holdener, who said he told them that while helping civilians was laudable, the lengthy rescue effort was an unacceptable diversion from their main mission of delivering supplies. With only two helicopters available at Pensacola to deliver supplies, the base did not have enough to allow pilots to go on prolonged search and rescue operations.
"We all want to be the guys who rescue people," Commander Holdener said. "But they were told we have other missions we have to do right now and that is not the priority."
While you're off being heros, other people's lives may be at risk without those supplies

The order to halt civilian relief efforts angered some helicopter crews. Lieutenant Udkow, who associates say was especially vocal about voicing his disagreement to superiors, was taken out of the squadron's flying rotation temporarily and assigned to oversee a temporary kennel established at Pensacola to hold pets of service members evacuated from the hurricane-damaged areas, two members of the unit said. Lieutenant Udkow denied that he had complained and said he did not view the kennel assignment as punishment.
"No, certainly not. I'm in the doghouse most of the time anyway"
Dozens of military aircraft are now conducting search and rescue missions over the affected areas. But privately some members of the Pensacola unit say the base's two available transport helicopters should have been allowed to do more to help civilian victims in the days after the storm hit, when large numbers of military helicopters had not reached the affected areas. In protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads, "So Others May Live."
Posted by:Steve

#9  If the couple of hours spent in rescuing those folks caused starvation at the primary site, I would have to say the primary site should have been evacuated, because it would have been in pretty bad shape. Since they weren't, it wasn't and while disregarding orders is not a good career-enhancing move, the Boss must be right up there with FEMA in the cluelessness department.
The SAR and Helo guys I have been stationed with over 26 years of active duty put a very high premium on saving lives and some have paid for that with their own lives. To ground somebody for putting his life and that of his crew at risk to save people that should have left while hovering in tight spots is really stupid.
Posted by: USN, ret.   2005-09-07 16:15  

#8  After thinking about it a bit more, this Commander Holdner deserves a stiff reprimand for refusing to follow HIS (CNC's) orders.

Sounds exactly like one of those "Rules above common sense" Officers that screw up everything.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-09-07 15:04  

#7  I seem to recall that Pres Bush (Commander In Chief) said "Red tape later, do whatever it takes"

Doesn't that make it a direct order from a (Very) Superior Officer?
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2005-09-07 14:56  

#6  Someone mentioned BJ and Trapper in another thread. I think we found 'em at Pensacola.
Posted by: GK   2005-09-07 11:32  

#5  mundane logistical needs

For want of a mundane nail...

Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-09-07 11:13  

#4  Sounded like they had already delivered the supplies, and were heading back before the impromptu rescues.

" . . . privately some members of the Pensacola unit say the base's two available transport helicopters should have been allowed to do more to help civilian victims in the days after the storm hit, when large numbers of military helicopters had not reached the affected areas. In protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads, "So Others May Live." "

That's pretty telling. The miliary is about chain of command, which has to be obeyed, but it's also about people who have to make choices in difficult situations. I don't think their choice was a bad one.

Wouldn't it be unlikely that "people would be starving without the supplies" in this case? They didn't really endanger anything having to do with supply delivery, unless they were supposed to make several more runs (that was unclear). And wasn'tit arguably were more dangerous to the survivors to leave them on their roofs?

My other question is that they were responding to the Coast Guard request for help, and aren't they required to do that?

Anyway, you probably have more pro-military people (especially the blind guys) in pro-Democrat Louisiana right now because of their efforts.

I say spank 'em and send 'em to their rooms for a little while for breaking the rules, then take 'em out for a drink.
Posted by: ex-lib   2005-09-07 11:11  

#3  He's in deep doo doo anyway, now, for bitching to the press. Have a nice career, LT.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2005-09-07 10:57  

#2  I know it's going to sound cold, but I agree with the reprimand. Yes, there's room for initiative, but if everyone did what they want, all those supplies would be rotting in Florida while people are starving in NO.
Posted by: Jackal   2005-09-07 10:51  

#1  But as the two helicopters were heading back home, the crews picked up a radio transmission from the Coast Guard saying helicopters were needed near the University of New Orleans to help with rescue efforts, the two pilots said. Out of range for direct radio communication with Pensacola, more than 100 miles to the east, the pilots said, they decided to respond and turned their helicopters around, diverting from their mission without getting permission from their home base.

I'm curious, what are the rules regarding intra-service assistance? If the Coast Guard (yes, part of the Armed Forces) radios for help, who should respond, and when?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-09-07 10:38  

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