Posted on 01/16/2010 6:06:39 AM PST by kristinn
ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON — Helicopters sit ready to go from this US aircraft carrier off Haiti, but there's a problem: after a day of frantic aid runs there is simply nothing left to deliver.
Aboard the warship some 3,500 US military personnel have been coordinating the flights of 19 US helicopters carrying aid since early morning.
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In less than 12 hours, helicopters from the USS Carl Vinson made some 20 trips to scout the ravaged landscape and deliver items that were originally intended for the ship's crew.
Among the supplies dropped off were thousands of bottles of water and energy drinks, 8,000 sheets and hundreds of camp beds.
Dozens of hospital beds have been arranged on board the ship to accomadate those injured in the quake, including a US citizen evacuated from the US embassy in Port-au-Prince.
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The relief work also faces logistical and coordination challenges, according to Rear Admiral Ted Branch, the most senior military official aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
"We have lift, we have communications, we have some command and control, but we don't have much relief supplies to offer," said Branch, who commands the battle group led by the nuclear-powered Carl Vinson.
"We have no supplies at the airport that we have access to. There are other supplies there that are under the control of other agencies, other organizations and we haven't yet coordinated together to make those supplies available for anyone to deliver," he added.
SNIP
The commander noted that some supplies remain at the airport, and could easily be delivered by US helicopters.
"The problem is, some people are perhaps not ready to release their stuff to the most efficient transportation makers and want to deliver supplies themselves."
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
What is SEIU doing up in Mass.? They should take ACORN and head on down to Haiti.
I’ve been doing a slow burn as our military is once more put in the role of social worker
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So have I. It pisses me off immensely.
What is this US merchant fleet of which you speak? There is no such thing as far as I know. There are USN fleet vessels that are cargo carriers. There are some private owned US flagged vessels, though not many. Then there are thousands of vessels that are cargo carriers but not US flagged. The only ones that the government can command to go anywhere are the USN, which is what is in place.
I think you got something here. Evacuating the city sounds like a good option. Concentrate the supplies and the good people in a safe location. Shoot the looters who stay in the city.
"The United Nations said it was in charge of distributing aid and security, even as several thousand U.S. soldiers prepare to deploy to the Caribbean nation this weekend. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will visit Haiti today, said UN police and peacekeepers “need help.” The country handed control of its only international airport to the U.S. yesterday."
Good luck Hillary. You reap what you sow. I also read this AM that the WHO is setting up its relief headquarters in...(wait for it)...Santo Domingo. How wonderfully courageous.
Really?
Do merchant ships carry helicopters?
Do they train for disaster relief?
Are they equipped for, and trained in delivering supplies when there is no dock/dockworkers/cranes/eqpt to unload them?
And as for paying them for doing things, I think the little that they get paid is hardly sufficient recompense for the work that they do!
Most disgusting video ever, but it shows how bad it really is down there. WARNING, if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTV371jIyl0
I thought the same thing last night. Obama can’t get squat done except send in two plane loads of “assessors” and this country needs someone to come in and cut the cr*p.
To me, this just proves that Obama doesn’t care about black people. He’s more about going on TV and talking and not about doing.
President Woodrow Wilson immediately dispatched USS Washington from its station in Cuba. It arrived the same day and the marines had the situation under control by nightfall. Back then they didn't have to contend with a UN bureaucracy or an indecisive multiculturalist fruitloop as commander in chief.
Amateurs talk of Strategy.
Professionals talk of Logistics.
It's still Amateur Hour in the WH.
“President Obama should have taken control of the situation when it became clear the aid was getting stuck at the airport. Instead he’s afraid of being a take charge leader.”
That’s what happens when you elect a neophyte as President. Someone who has not managed anything, not even a lemonade stand, has no business becoming the President of the United States. You have to be able to make decisions, not dither, when lives are at stake.
Say what you will about John McCain, but he would have have been making decisions a lot faster than President Obama.
By the they did all that the aid would be mute, besides which they would have to build ships. There is no US merchant fleet to speak of.
We have prepositioned ships worldwide with either war material or "port-opening" packages in case a war breaks out here and there. We also have government owned-civilian contracted vessels that are sitting stateside rusting in Reduced Operating Status without any current cargo or mission. Most of the cargo work in the war on terror currently is being carried out by commercial carriers, as they get first dibs on the cargo lifts.
What the world truly needs are prepositioned cargo ships that can down-load "Disaster relief/humanitarian" packages ("port opening" packages) of mechanical handling equipment, container handlers, bull dozers, back hoes, front end loaders, some military escort command & control vehicles, portable field kitchens, ambulances, hospital units, medicines, graves registration units, containers of emergency food and water rations, generators, etc. This is definitely doable. It's just who is going to pay for it all? It might as well be us, because we end up giving a blank check to the country in dire need anyway.
In the future, we can tweak (de-militarize) some of our military cargo load-outs aboard the prepositioned ships with "port-opening" packages so that it can be used for either a military mission or a humanitarian mission. A single ship of either the Watson-class or Bob Hope-class of LMSR can haul 390,000 square feet of cargo at 24 knots over 10,000 miles (further, if you cut back on the speed). The ship could team up with an aircraft carrier and work the problem with the addition of helocopter transport. That's a lot better than the current situation of having a single carrier being able to steam at 50+ knots and not much else to show for it...(The Firstest with the Leastest). Natural disasters are going to happen (especially if you buy into Global Warming). We should be better prepared to help ourselves as well as others...this stuff is all off-the-shelf technology.
Preposition one of these Disaster Rapid Response ships in Puerto Rico,for example, and as a Hurricane moves in, or Volcano blows, or earthquake occurs...move the ship around to allow for a quick transit to the nearest useable port and facilitate a rapid off-load to cover the entire Carribean and Gulf of Mexico. The Comms and control suite will be kept ready to roll aboard the ship and manned-up quickly as the disaster occurs (The disaster Command & Control staff/liason team can be put aboard by helo if underway). Allow redundancy for 2 or 3 possible drop-off points to cover a larger area or disaster of greater magnitude. Include in the Command & control staff personnel to liason with whatever hospital ship is to be sent to the area.
Imagine how a prepositioned Disaster Relief/ humanitarian-aid ship will make whatever administration is in power look to the rest of the world...Oh wait a minute...this makes too much sense...It'll Never Work...
World Vision had 130+ folks in country working there. They all survived, and all of the sponsor children are accounted for and okay. The morning after the quake they distributed medical supplies, food and water that they had in stock in Haiti to various medical units, etc.
After-action reports of past disasters show the importance of utilizing existing NGO groups in country.
I think the main problem in Haiti right now is the logistics at the airport is run by some Haitian group, and the overall distribution is run by some U.N. group. Let the U.S. military run the show if we are going to be there.
you’ve posted many threads about this and thanks but again as is what has been said to you before by others it is not our responsibility.
While we are doing a great job down there it is not our sole responsibility ,
Let the UN deal and lead with this.
we give them clothes, clean water, food etc to get them on their feet and we support them in their rebuilding effort that is if they rebuild themselves.
I’m not blaming Obama on this as the mroe he gets the blame
the more he is intending to bring hundreds of thousands of them here unless that is what you want but if you do then say good bye to ever winning the white house because if my states takes those up to 200,000 of them like obama wants then you have just changed the whole voting demographic of florida and thus never winning the white house.
You’ve done many threads and post , starting them etc on this and thanks , it obviously touched a deep nerve as it has with all of us but blaming obama is not right IMHO.
What exactly do you want him to do what he hasn’t done, do you want a million of them coming here to live as he has done evreything thus far what could be done
the country is not our responsibility so let us get behind the UN for this
“Let the U.S. military run the show if we are going to be there.”
OK! I’ll send in the Marines... oh wait that’s zero’s call...
CNN showing the food distribution. “The U.N. security left the area as they did not want to get caught out in the dark.” Later, a U.S. helicopter dropped boxes from about 10 feet. The reporter was amazed to see that in spite of no security, the supplies were passed around with no mobbing. He said usually in Haiti it turns into a violent mob.
Interesting. I wonder if in the past the distribution is not quite so critical - thinking of the Black Friday rushes for cheap HD TV’s. But, in SUCH a dire situation, perhaps most of the folks realize that this is not about getting a “freebee” - but is life-and-death for all involved and the mind-set is different.
Or perhaps the few thugs that seem to get the crowd whipped up into an angry mob missed this opportunity.
As Scott Brown has stated:
"It's NOT Ted Kennedy's Seat.
It's NOT the Democrat's Seat.
It's the People's Seat!"
After some yrs. of being overhauled, the Carl Vinson was on it’s was to San Diego for homeporting and just ordered to head to Haiti with the crew’s own supplies and disburse.
The Navy knows how to shift gears quick.
My cousin’s son is a crew member on board the Vinson.
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