Air Drop!

This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune today:

Discussing the air-drops of supplies, vitally needed, to the populace of Haiti.

Air-drops previously ruled out as TOO dangerous to those on the ground.

"Troops flood in, Haitians out"

"The 82nd Airborne carried out it first air drop of food and water in Port-au-Prince. A C-17 cargo plane dropped 40 skids of water and packaged military meals to a SECURED DROP ZONE [my emphasis!] in the city . . . The skids contained 14,000 gallons of bottle water and 125,000 meals, wrapped in canvas and attached to parachutes for the drop"

Unfortunate as it is, these air-drops can be mortally physically dangerous to those on the ground. A pallet of supplies, weighing a pretty good amount and being parachuted to the ground, having a velocity, represents a danger to anyone foolish enough and naive enough to be under the pallet as it descends.

See my previous blog entry on this topic from long time ago now. Allied prisoners-of-war, Canadians imprisoned on the island of Formosa [Taiwan], in the aftermath of Japanese surrender, hit and killed by pallets air-dropped from B-29 bombers. Pallets of life giving supplies, heavy, an instrument of death rather than life!!

[A battalion of Canadians were captured by the Japanese while defending Hong Kong, 1941!]

In this case, the drop-zone was secured, guarded, the pallets coming to earth safely without danger to those on the ground! No need to exacerbate an already tense situation!

Al L.

Comfort.

This is coolbert:

By now, we are all aware of the unmitigated earthquake disaster that has occurred in Haiti. A catastrophe of the worst possible proportions. NOT ONLY damage on an enormous scale, but those persons [first-responders], institutions, facilities, infrastructure, and equipment that would normally be needed for disaster relief have also been killed, injured, destroyed or rendered unusable.

OUTSIDE help is coming, and is the only recourse available now. Massive outside help from a variety of nations and sources that will rely heavily upon the U.S. military for support.

ONLY yesterday, the naval hospital ship USNS Comfort has sailed from Baltimore and will be on station, ready to assist probably this coming week.

Please ready my recent series of blog entries regarding the hospital ship beginning here.

It surprises [?] that the U.S. Navy still has any hospital ships afloat. The Comfort is a one of a kind? The U.S. Navy represents the LAST naval force in the world that could afford to keep such a vessel up-and-going?

Able to provide medical support on the basis of a floating hospital. Can accommodate up to two hundred fifty [250] in-bed patients.

Patients will have to be flown by helicopter to the Comfort, the ship anchored off-shore and not daring to enter port? Afraid of being swamped by an enormous number of persons seeking refuge and medical aid.

Providing medical aid during humanitarian operations is not a new phenomenon for the Comfort.

"she provides mobile surgical hospital service for use by appropriate US Government agencies in disaster or humanitarian relief or limited humanitarian care incident to these missions or peacetime military operations."

"When not actively deployed, Comfort is kept in a state of reduced operations in Baltimore harbor. She has been used many times over the years and has been ready to ship out of Baltimore with 5 days' notice."

[the Comfort was up and under way in less than the five days!]

The Comfort has a pretty good record of providing aid during both military and humanitarian operations. THIS IS THE THIRD VISIT OF THE COMFORT TO HAITI IN RECENT YEARS!!

Operations to include:

* Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm
* Operation Sea Signal. [Haiti]
* Operation Uphold Democracy. [Haiti]
* Operation Noble Eagle.
* Operation Iraqi Freedom.
* Joint Task Force Katrina. [New Orleans]
* Operation Continuing Promise. [Caribbean and Latin America]
* NOW 2010 Haitian Earthquake.

The Comfort and the capabilities it can deploy are sorely needed and NOW. And will represent ONLY a drop in the bucket of the aid needed, now and long-term? Haiti is in dire straits and this situation is not going to be ameliorated soon, possibly NOT for a long time in the future!!

Good luck Comfort.

coolbert.