Tsunami: Report from Helicopter Pilot aboard USS Abraham Lincoln

Subject: Humanitarian Relief Efforts of the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 23:38:24 -1000

Sorry for the mass email, and I'm sorry I'm not very good about writing everyone individually more often, but I wanted to send something out in light of what's been going on. I'm also sure I've neglected to send this to a few people, but I don't have all my email addresses out here on the ship, so please forward this along to anyone you might think would be interested. As I'm sure many of you know based on what you've seen in the news, the USS ABARAHAM LINCOLN battle group, which has been underway since October, was recently diverted to Indonesia to provide whatever assistance it could to the victims of the tsunami disaster. My squadron, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron TWO (HS-2), "The Golden Falcons" is currently embarked on the LINCOLN and is actively involved in the relief efforts. Yes, all those shots you've seen of Navy helicopters on TV are of my squadron in action, along with the other helo squadron on the ship. Words can not adequately describe what it's like to be out here and a part of this amazing and massive relief effort. We were diverted here on the day after Christmas, but didn't arrive until 5 days after the disaster occured. When we arrived at the northern tip of Indonesia, almost all of the infrastructure here had been destroyed, and there was only one relatively small airport, Banda Aceh, that was still operational. A large amout of aid supplies, mostly food, water and medical supplies were sitting at the airport waiting to be distributed, but there was no way to get the supplies out to the survivors because all the roads were destroyed along the coast. Survivors from the west side of Indonesia had moved inland to villages and refugee camps after fleeing the destroyed coastline, but the only way to get food or water or to move sick people out to bigger cities on foot or by helicopter. That's where we immediately began to help. Our battle group has several medium lift helicopters, the aircrews to fly them, and the extremely dedicated, professional and skilled maintainers and support personnel aboard the ship that keep the helos flying. We immediately began to airlift food and water out to the survivors in the decimated villages and the entire battlegroup has done everything they can to support our efforts, and they have been amazing in their efforts, from the maintainers who work on the helos every night so they are ready to fly, right down to the people that work on the mess decks keeping us fed and ready to go to work. I can't describe to you adequately the devastation here, its unreal. Entire cities on the west coast simply do not exist anymore. I flew a sortie on the first day we got here to a village called Samatiga. We flew about a hundred miles down the coast from Banda Aceh loaded with approximately 2000 lbs of water and what was essentially the Indonesian verion of Top Ramen noodles. On the flight down the coast, the terrain looked unihabited... just clear jungle running up to a coast line. I was actually thinking to my self that Indonesia was a very pretty, but undeveloped country. It wasn't until I took a closer look that realized that all the sandy areas I was flying over were not undeveloped, but actually washed our remnants of villages... and the only way you could tell was by the faint outlines of what was left of foundations and roads that don't exist anymore. Its hard to think about what has been destroyed and how long, if ever, it will take to rebuild. So we've been here for four solid days and we are gearing up for another day of flight ops tomorrow, and essentially all we've done each day is fly supplies with all our helos, from sun up to sun down from Banda Aceh to the refugee camps. A lot of time on the return trips we will stop and pick up refugees that are trying to walk along the destroyed roads trying to reach help because they are sick or hurt. It's simply been an amazing experience. We fly these supplies into these little camps in the jungle or up in the foothills, fly around until we can find a suitable place to land, which sometime isn't even possible, and then drop our supplies into the waiting arms of people who most likely haven't had fresh water or food in days... I'm sure by now you've all seen the scenes on TV of these crowds mobbing the helos. They are always nice and responsive and they are just so happy and excited for the fresh water and food we are bringing. The smiles on their faces and their excited waves to us when we fly into a town are more reward then we probably deserve for doing our simple job. Its actually very odd to see such suffering and devastation all day, only to fly home to ship at night for a shower and a hot meal, you feel guilty for your own good fortune. So that's what we are up to, and everyday we get better at it. Personnel from the ship go into the airfield every day and help with working parties and coordination of the loading of the helos, and the process is getting smoother every day. So many people are working so hard to make this relief effort happen, we just get to be on TV in the helos dropping the supplies off, but we are not the only story or the only ones out here trying to make a difference. Everyday we move more supplies, more quickly and hopefully help more people. Its such a great thing we are doing, so never doubt that the US isn't doing enough to help. The entire strength and force of our entire battlegroup is being brought to bear on this mission of help for the victims of this disaster. Please feel free to write me back if you have any questions and I'll try my best to get back to you when I can. We are really busy out here... flying all day every day with the sole aim of helping these people whose lives have been destroyed. Keep them in the their prayers and we will be here helping as long as we are told to stay. Also, please don't forget what's going on in Iraq... the Navy is all over the news right now, but the Army and Marines, included my brother Zach are risking their lives in Iraq every day and they are the real heros... my squadron and I are just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment and training. Zach and his fellow Marines volunteered for a dangerous job and are fighting to make the world a better place and they deserve our thoughts and prayers.

Reformatted for easier reading... And Bravo Zulu to Lt(j.g) Josh for his efforts!!! Family and Friends,

As I'm sure many of you know based on what you've seen in the news, the USS ABARAHAM LINCOLN battle group, which has been underway since October, was recently diverted to Indonesia to provide whatever assistance it could to the victims of the tsunami disaster. My squadron, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron TWO (HS-2), "The Golden Falcons" is currently embarked on the LINCOLN and is actively involved in the relief efforts. Yes, all those shots you've seen of Navy helicopters on TV are of my squadron in action, along with the other helo squadron on the ship.

Words can not adequately describe what it's like to be out here and a part of this amazing and massive relief effort.

We were diverted here on the day after Christmas, but didn't arrive until 5 days after the disaster occured. When we arrived at the northern tip of Indonesia, almost all of the infrastructure here had been destroyed, and there was only one relatively small airport, Banda Aceh, that was still operational. A large amout of aid supplies, mostly food, water and medical supplies were sitting at the airport waiting to be distributed, but there was no way to get the supplies out to the survivors because all the roads were destroyed along the coast. Survivors from the west side of Indonesia had moved inland to villages and refugee camps after fleeing the destroyed coastline, but the only way to get food or water or to move sick people out to bigger cities on foot or by helicopter. That's where we immediately began to help.

Our battle group has several medium lift helicopters, the aircrews to fly them, and the extremely dedicated, professional and skilled maintainers and support personnel aboard the ship that keep the helos flying. We immediately began to airlift food and water out to the survivors in the decimated villages and the entire battlegroup has done everything they can to support our efforts, and they have been amazing in their efforts, from the maintainers who work on the helos every night so they are ready to fly, right down to the people that work on the mess decks keeping us fed and ready to go to work.

I can't describe to you adequately the devastation here, its unreal. Entire cities on the west coast simply do not exist anymore. I flew a sortie on the first day we got here to a village called Samatiga. We flew about a hundred miles down the coast from Banda Aceh loaded with approximately 2000 lbs of water and what was essentially the Indonesian verion of Top Ramen noodles. On the flight down the coast, the terrain looked unihabited... just clear jungle running up to a coast line. I was actually thinking to my self that Indonesia was a very pretty, but undeveloped country. It wasn't until I took a closer look that realized that all the sandy areas I was flying over were not undeveloped, but actually washed our remnants of villages... and the only way you could tell was by the faint outlines of what was left of foundations and roads that don't exist anymore. Its hard to think about what has been destroyed and how long, if ever, it will take to rebuild.

So we've been here for four solid days and we are gearing up for another day of flight ops tomorrow, and essentially all we've done each day is fly supplies with all our helos, from sun up to sun down from Banda Aceh to the refugee camps. A lot of time on the return trips we will stop and pick up refugees that are trying to walk along the destroyed roads trying to reach help because they are sick or hurt.

It's simply been an amazing experience. We fly these supplies into these little camps in the jungle or up in the foothills, fly around until we can find a suitable place to land, which sometime isn't even possible, and then drop our supplies into the waiting arms of people who most likely haven't had fresh water or food in days... I'm sure by now you've all seen the scenes on TV of these crowds mobbing the helos. They are always nice and responsive and they are just so happy and excited for the fresh water and food we are bringing. The smiles on their faces and their excited waves to us when we fly into a town are more reward then we probably deserve for doing our simple job.

Its actually very odd to see such suffering and devastation all day, only to fly home to ship at night for a shower and a hot meal, you feel guilty for your own good fortune. So that's what we are up to, and everyday we get better at it. Personnel from the ship go into the airfield every day and help with working parties and coordination of the loading of the helos, and the process is getting smoother every day. So many people are working so hard to make this relief effort happen, we just get to be on TV in the helos dropping the supplies off, but we are not the only story or the only ones out here trying to make a difference. Everyday we move more supplies, more quickly and hopefully help more people. Its such a great thing we are doing, so never doubt that the US isn't doing enough to help. The entire strength and force of our entire battlegroup is being brought to bear on this mission of help for the victims of this disaster.

Please feel free to write me back if you have any questions and I'll try my best to get back to you when I can. We are really busy out here... flying all day every day with the sole aim of helping these people whose lives have been destroyed. Keep them in the their prayers and we will be here helping as long as we are told to stay. Also, please don't forget what's going on in Iraq... the Navy is all over the news right now, but the Army and Marines, included my brother Zach are risking their lives in Iraq every day and they are the real heros... my squadron and I are just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment and training. Zach and his fellow Marines volunteered for a dangerous job and are fighting to make the world a better place and they deserve our thoughts and prayers.

Josh

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