[Rebelbase]

God bless them all and ease their minds at the horrors they will see.

[Peach]

This is heartbreaking. The scope of the loss is unfathonable. And yet I'm on a thread right now with some crazy faux freepers who think we shouldn't be helping. God help us from such insane ideas as that.

[Darkwolf377]

"They came from all directions, crawling under the craft, knocking on the pilot's door, pushing to get into the cabin," said Petty Officer First Class Brennan Zwack. "But when they saw we had no more food inside, they backed away, saying `Thank you, thank you.'"

Even when hungry and desperate, these people have more class than the bitching UN jerks and their well-fed butts have had at any time in their history.

[kingu]

You can bet right now that there are no ships in the area sitting around in port and that Diego Garcia is one of the hardcore hubs of activity right now.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Our guys shouldnt even put the skids on the ground, just hover and drop for now.

[monkeywrench]

Thank God for our helicopters. What would the un do if they weren't there? Bless our guys and gals.

[XRdsRev]

Despite all the naysayers.

The United States will always be there when it is needed.

The world is coming to help and the United States is helping lead the way.

[TomGuy]

Insider report:

Unheraled Relief Efforts by US Navy, Airforce

Posted by kingu On 01/01/2005 3:06:28 PM CST · 29 replies · 405+ views Personal e-mails from various posts | January 01, 2005 | Self Reuters finally broke the story about USS Abraham Lincoln and it's task force bringing aid to the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia, and briefly mentions some of the aid being given to Sri Lanka, but there is more to the story... Resupply ships, such as AORs, are detaching themselves from the aircraft carrier task force and from Diego Garcia and are fanning out to more isolated islands and using their three launches and two helicopters to bring aid to those in need. The plan is to make two deliveries to each community they come across. The first, sadly enough,...

[firewalk]

"But when they saw we had no more food inside, they backed away, saying `Thank you, thank you.'"

bttt

[TomGuy]

U.S. military launched its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors across the disaster zone

While UN's Kofi was vacationing and didn't bother to interrupt his skiing trip. But this coming week, he intends to hold meetings......

Thank the US Military for their efforts, without having wait for a permission slip from the UN.

[Ginifer]

"Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raised Japan's offer to $500 million from $30 million, topping President Bush (news - web sites)'s pledge Friday of $350 million."

The good old AP can't leave a good news story alone without putting in a little dig. MSM is trying to make this into a Pi##ing contest, instead of the humanitarian effort where all nations come together to help.

[citizencon]

Thought we were the "stingy" country, yet our military is the first on the scene. It's easy for any country to say
it's going to donate enormous-sounding amounts of dollars on paper and in a trumpheted UN-esque way, but it's the immediate and concrete humanitarian aid and response that matter.

[The KG9 Kid]

Last night at a New Year's Eve party, my well-oiled tongue wouldn't refrain from engaging in discussion a medical student from John Hopkins University now working for the World Health Organization -- She said that our initial pledge of aid to the shattered countries of the Tsunami disaster simply wasn't enough, echoing the UN's 'stingy' comment from Jan Egeland.

I replied that our contribution was the largest of all contributing nations, and that we even increased the pledge tenfold from $35 million to $350 million.

She agreed, but reminded me that "per capita, we're not the biggest contributors when compared to the Europeans". I replied that might be relevant if America didn't have more Irish than Ireland and more Germans than Germany. We've got more Scots than Scotland, and the list goes on and on. Besides, if the several dozen citizens of the wealthy little kingdom state of Liechtenstein each sacrificed a gold bracelet to the relief efforts, was she saying that would make Liechtenstein the world's most generous nation although it wouldn't make much difference in the grand scale of the relief effort?

Okay, she reluctantly agreed with that point too, and then I asked her whose aid would actually get to the victims first; America's, the United Nations', or the EU's?

Fast forward to video of US Marine CH-53 Sea Stallions, Sea Knights, and Seahawk choppers delivering at from offshore US Navy Maritime Naval Prepositioning ships. Who's got amphibious forces that can deliver the goods at a moment's notice anywhere in the world and essentially set up a small city anywhere we want? The United States, or Finland? Where's Kofi Annan's naval rapid reaction force, and can he captain them from the ski slopes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?

I mentioned that at this very moment, we're assisting in several nations. We'll have for them generators, water purification, graves detail, agricultural development, emergency care services, innoculation from disease, and other rebuilding and lifesaving measures. All of this from a military that was so recently accused of being 'stretched too thin'.

You'll know when the EU/UN arrives on the scene when the column of ponytailed hippie ladies that look like Jane Goodall arrive on fancy passenger jets bearing backpacks of tofu sandwiches and carrying sacks of 'cruelty-free' rice.

... And by the way, isn't it interesting how although there are just nearly as many people dead on the shorelines of the tsunami-afflicted nations as there are bodies we've counted in Saddam's mass graves, the world instead bemoans the body count from a thoroughly unavoidable natural disaster and refuses to acknowledge the victims of an entirely preventable inhumanity caused by a mad dictator that much of the world was against us overthrowing?

At this point, my wife yanked me offstage like a dying Vaudeville comic getting the hook, much to everyone's relief.

The moral of this story is to never make any statement that can be even slightly construed to be America-bashing in the vicinity of where The KG9 Kid has been drinkin'.

[Prospero]

An interesting opportunity in the War on Terror:

Miracle at Banda Aceh

"Now, if you had told me a week ago that an American Marine expeditionary force would be in Banda Aceh on New Years Day, my first reaction would have been that the President had decided upon a bold and unexpected strike in the War on Terror, jumping ahead on the timeline of that effort's multi-generational strategy. I might have thought it was a bold and necessary move, and I would have believed you if you had said they had located and captured Osama Bin Laden there. As it was, in our shock, probing in from the parameter toward the epicenter of the Banda Aceh Earthquake, only a few have considered whether the hand of the Almighty reached out and sliced off a decade from what still promises to be a protracted conflict with Islamo-Fascism. "

[blu]

Pronunciation help please:

Is USS Bonhomme Richard pronounced with a French accent? "Reeeshard" instead of Richard? Or do they just call it "The good dude, Dick"?

[beaelysium]

Description:   Helicopters from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 2 (HS-2) Golden Falcons and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) 47 (HSL-47) Saberhawks depart from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) en route to Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Indian Ocean (Jan. 1, 2005) -- Helicopters from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 2 (HS-2) “Golden Falcons” and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) 47 (HSL-47) “Saberhawks” depart from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) en route to Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. The helicopters are transporting supplies, bringing in disaster relief teams and supporting humanitarian airlifts to tsunami-stricken coastal regions. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently operating in the Indian Ocean off the waters of Indonesia and Thailand. U.S. Navy photo (RELEASED)   http://www.navy.mil

[river rat]

Where are the "Islamic Nations", in this relief effort?????

Why must it be predominately Buddhists, Christians and Jews to the rescue?

Surely the oil rich "Islamic Nations" can afford to help..
Surely their Muslim brothers and sisters are worthy of help...

WHY does the press and U.N. critize America as stingy and give the wealthy "rag heads" a pass?

Perhaps "Islamic Charity" is an oxymoron -- when they're so busy attempting to kill non-Muslims.


Semper Fi

[Labyrinthos]

Can't help but notice that they weren't mobbingFrench Helicopters.

[af_vet_1981]

I guess this means they are not buring American flags in Indonesia this week ...

"Everyone is champing at the bit to go out and help," said Vorce. "Today wasn't about a paycheck."

The best military in the world ...

[shield]

bttt