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| No Relief in Sight for the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln |
| 2005-01-21 |
| via the Diplomad It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I'd like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces. What really irritated me was a scene I witnessed in the Lincoln's wardroom a few days ago. I went in for breakfast as I usually do, expecting to see the usual crowd of ship's company officers in khakis and air wing aviators in flight suits, drinking coffee and exchanging rumors about when our ongoing humanitarian mission in Sumatra is going to end. What I saw instead was a mob of civilians sitting around like they owned the place. They wore various colored vests with logos on the back including Save The Children, World Health Organization and the dreaded baby blue vest of the United Nations. Mixed in with this crowd were a bunch of reporters, cameramen and Indonesian military officers in uniform. They all carried cameras, sunglasses and fanny packs like tourists on their way to Disneyland. My warship had been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders overnight. Read the whole thing. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #12 I think their flight pay may even be in hock too Lex. |
| Posted by: Don 2005-01-21 7:12:03 PM |
| #11 The cost of this effort is immense. Another story spiked by our idiotarian MSM. Note the opportunity cost, measured in terms of combat readiness: What is even worse than trying to help people who totally reject everything we stand for is that our combat readiness has suffered for it. An aircraft carrier is an instrument of national policy and the big stick she carries is her air wing. An air wing has a set of very demanding skills and they are highly perishable. We train hard every day at sea to conduct actual air strikes, air defense, maritime surveillance, close air support and many other missions â not to mention taking off and landing on a ship at sea. Our safety regulations state that if a pilot does not get a night carrier landing every seven days, he has to be re-qualified to land on the ship. Today we have pilots who have now been over 25 days without a trap due to being unable to use Indonesian airspace to train. Normally it is when we are at sea that our readiness is at its very peak. Thanks to the Indonesian government, we have to waive our own safety rules just to get our pilots off the deck. In other words, the longer we stay here helping these people, the more dangerous it gets for us to operate. We have already lost one helicopter, which crashed in Banda Aceh while taking sailors ashore to unload supplies from the C-130s. There were no relief workers on that one. |
| Posted by: lex 2005-01-21 6:10:34 PM |
| #10 I hope we get some good PR in the Muslim world out of it. After all, this is Americans saving the lives of Muslims Well, of course. After all, we saved thousands of muslim lives in Kuwait and Bosnia, and that earned us... oops, sorry |
| Posted by: lex 2005-01-21 6:05:33 PM |
| #9 He said something along the lines of âNice china, really makes me feel special,â Glad you feel that way...ASSHOLE! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-01-21 5:55:21 PM |
| #8 When our wardroom treasurer approached the leader of the relief group and asked him who was paying the mess bill for all the meals they ate, the fellow replied, âWe arenât paying, you can try to bill the U.N. if you want to.â We had to dedicate two helos and a C-2 cargo plane for America-hater Dan Rather and his entourage of door holders and briefcase carriers from CBS News. Another camera crew was from MTV. I doubt if weâll get any good PR from them, since the cable channel is banned in Muslim countries. We also had to dedicate a helo and crew to fly around the vice mayor of Phoenix, Ariz., one day. Everyone wants in on the action. You know this really pisses me off..... To add a kick in the face to the USA and the Lincoln, the Indonesian government announced it would not allow us to use their airspace for routine training and flight proficiency operations while we are saving the lives of their people, some of whom are wearing Osama bin Ladin T-shirts as they grab at our food and water. The ship has to steam out into international waters to launch and recover jets, which makes our helos have to fly longer distances and burn more fuel. I say fuck-em! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-01-21 5:44:02 PM |
| #7 Lol, tu! I suggest giving them the gunner's seat in a Snake and a rockin' 180 knot ride at 50 ft, doing barrel rolls through the tree-tops. Clears the head. Shit, it clears everything, lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-01-21 2:31:17 PM |
| #6 Thanks for the great link, ed. I'm glad this guy is using a pen name to preserve his own butt in this mess. That SOB bitching about eating off paper plates should be the first of those NGO parasites to get dumped on the beach. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-01-21 2:12:38 PM |
| #5 Well it almost sounds like a Kerry Presdency. |
| Posted by: Bill Nelson 2005-01-21 11:59:01 AM |
| #4 Knowing how steep companionways can be, I'm surprised no NGOers slipped on one on the way out. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-21 11:28:57 AM |
| #3 Next time these douchebags grab a Seahawk for a ride, how about the pilot gives them a demonstration of his evasive manuevers on the way in? "Watch this, guys! These things can LOOP!" |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-01-21 11:18:41 AM |
| #2 I can easily imagine this gentleman, biting his lip and wishing through some charity of heaven that he be given license to summon several burly tars to heave these persons overboard. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-01-21 11:13:56 AM |
| #1 I hope we get some good PR in the Muslim world out of it. After all, this is Americans saving the lives of Muslims. Even the faintest thought that such a thing might come about is absolutely ludicrous. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-21 11:09:19 AM |