# USS Abraham Lincoln report on Tsunami aid



## evangilder (Jan 25, 2005)

***WARNING*** 
This may piss you off

By Ed Stanton
Defense Watch
Soldiers for the Truth/SFTT.org

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.

As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers. He said something along the lines of „Nice china, really makes me feel special,‰ in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we were eating off paper plates was to save dishwashing water so that we would have more water to send ashore and save lives. That plus the fact that he had no business being there in the first place.

My attitude towards these unwanted no-loads grew steadily worse that day as I learned more from one of our junior officers who was assigned to escort a group of them. It turns out that they had come to Indonesia to „assess the damage‰ from the Dec. 26 tsunami. 

Well, they could have turned on any TV in the world and seen that the damage was total devastation. When they got to Sumatra with no plan, no logistics support and no five-star hotels to stay in, they threw themselves on the mercy of the U.S. Navy, which, unfortunately, took them in. I guess our senior brass was hoping for some good PR since this was about the time that the U.N. was calling the United States „stingy‰ with our relief donations. 

As a result of having to host these people, our severely over-tasked SH-60 Seahawk helos, which were carrying tons of food and water every day to the most inaccessible places in and around Banda Aceh, are now used in great part to ferry these „relief workers‰ from place to place every day and bring them back to their guest bedrooms on the Lincoln at night. Despite their avowed dedication to helping the victims, these relief workers will not spend the night in-country, and have made us their guardians by default. 

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, „We aren‚t paying, you can try to bill the U.N. if you want to.‰ 

In addition to the relief workers, we routinely get tasked with hauling around reporters and various low-level „VIPs,‰ which further wastes valuable helo lift that could be used to carry supplies. 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 we‚ll 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. 

As for the Indonesian officers, while their job is apparently to encourage our leaving as soon as possible, all they seem to do in the meantime is smoke cigarettes. They want our money and our help but they don‚t want their population to see that Americans are doing far more for them in two weeks than their own government has ever done or will ever do for them. 

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.

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 ˆ 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.

I‚m all for helping the less fortunate, but it is time to give this mission to somebody other than the U.S. Navy. Our ship was supposed to be home on Feb. 3 and now we have no idea how long we will be here. American taxpayers are spending millions per day to keep this ship at sea and getting no training value out of it. As a result, we will come home in a lower state of readiness than when we left due to the lack of flying while supporting the tsunami relief effort. 

I hope we get some good PR in the Muslim world out of it. After all, this is Americans saving the lives of Muslims. I have my doubts. 

Ed Stanton is the pen name of a career U.S. Navy officer currently serving with the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group.


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## Nonskimmer (Jan 25, 2005)

The warning was well placed, because that _did_ piss me off!  

I sympathize entirely with that man! While I've obviously never served on an aircraft carrier, I _have_ had to watch training standards and a high level of professionalism steadily give way to politics and bullshit, and it's utterly disheartening!
Our own navy has never been the best equipped in the world but believe it or not, we _were_ for a long time among the best trained out there, and we were _damn_ good at what we did! So I know full well what it's like to have to stand back and watch that steadily disappear down the toilet, while know nothing civilians bitch and whine that the military doesn't do enough in the way of humanitarian aid and disaster relief!

It's great to be able to lend a hand, but the job of a military is supposed to be to fight! There's no tiptoeing around that, that's what it's for! In order to do that job effectively, high training standards *must* be maintained! There can be absolutely no compromise, because once you've lost it, it's damn near impossible to get back!

Disasters are a tragic thing yes, and a vessel the size of the Lincoln can no doubt carry a lot of aid to the stricken Tsunami areas. But in this touchy-feely politically correct mess of a society we now live in, once you begin the pattern of using supercarriers as rapid response grocery trucks for every storm ravaged island, and using marines to build homes for the homeless, you're headed down a dangerous path!
Like the man said, specialist skills are highly perishable. They _absolutely *must*_ be kept sharpend if a military is to function as a military! That means leaving the civilians at home where they belong, and letting the boys (and girls) get on with the business!


And that's just the way it damn well works! No two ways about it!


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## evangilder (Jan 25, 2005)

Damn straight! I couldn't believe that when I read it. I also read a column by David Hackworth about combat pay that really pissed me off. I may post that one as well.


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## lesofprimus (Jan 25, 2005)

I think that anyone who has been in the military can relate to several parts of this story..... Kissing the publics ass for some good PR.....

I would have personally kicked that china complaint guys ass all the way across the Wardroom.....

I would like to see what would happen if we didnt leave Sumatra and/or Indonesia.... What are they gonna do, kick us out???? They gonna stop us from flying over their airspace????

This is a perfect example why that bullshiit "America Bashing" crap gets to some of us Americans.... Everyone hates us so much, but they cry and beg like paupers when the hammer comes down..... 

I have been on several relief missions across the globe, and I can tell u this... The world is a very ungracious place..... Sooner or later, the USA is gonna smarten up and start worrying about our own country.... Piss on Irraq, piss on Israel, piss on Sumatra...... Lets spend 100 million on OUR Homeless, or Healthcare.....


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## evangilder (Jan 25, 2005)

Amen brother! Every time I hear one of the UN dickheads complain that we don't give enough, or didn't initally makes me want to jump through the TV and choke the life out of them. Where the hell were their funds when Florida got hit with 4 FRICKIN HURRICANES?!?!?! 

The people of Indonesia are mostly Muslims. I have no problem helping them, to a point. But Saudi Arabia gave just a few hundred thousand. This from a country that has oil damn near pouring out of the ground. So much for helping you own, eh?


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## plan_D (Jan 26, 2005)

I haven't been in the military but since my dad has, and a lot of his fits have rubbed off on to me. It's typical of these days though that the military is used for stupid things, like for example Land Rover hired a RAF Chinook to deliver its first car (Not quite the same thing, but still!). 

You have to know though that the military is always going to be a politicians puppet, so what they say, you do. I'm glad some aid is being sent out there, and to use military vessels is sometimes the only option but letting the civilians on board, using it as a hotel, letting other nations military on board...what!?! It should just go over, drop the aid and go "There you go, do gooders, you distribute it. We're a military, not aid workers" The do-gooders GET ALL the credit but when you actually look at it, it's the military that do everything. From the footage, who's the ones flying in? That's certainly not a Save the Children Seahawk.

Typical lefties though, they say they help them all and they have a go at the military until they need the military to do their job. The Royal Navy has sent ships out there too, so I imagine it's the same for them. I bet it was some military lot that got that 757 off the runway when it hit a COW! 

Got to admit though, 18 million was stingy.


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## evangilder (Jan 26, 2005)

I have no problem assisting, but the problem is that these countries scream for help when they need it and then take a giant shit on America every other chance they get. The government of Indonesia giving a deadline for all foreign troops to leave was crap. No one knows how long this is going to take. But hey, if I had been preseident and they said that, my response would have been much different "Okay, we'll beat that deadline. Pack it up guys and head home. We'll put a stop payment on the check on the way out." Ungrateful bastards.

With the $18 million, maybe it was light, but if you add in the cost of deploying a full aircraft carrier overseas, the fuels, the other support ship costs and it starts to add up quick. Add the hospital ship that was sent with all the medical supplies and it gets steeper.


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## plan_D (Jan 26, 2005)

I know, I'm agreeing with you! The Royal Navy is getting the same shit while out there, we have sent ships out too.


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## evangilder (Jan 26, 2005)

It sucks for those guys. Bad enough that they have to see the devastation and the suffereing, but to have to deal with those UN asshats too. Ugh! Although I would pay good money to see Les open up a little whoop-ass on that friggin' whiner. He would probably only need to just break the seal on that can of whoop-ass too. 8)


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## plan_D (Jan 26, 2005)

I would pay to see that too. Les, your services have been called upon!


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## Nonskimmer (Jan 26, 2005)

"Les!-Les!-Les!-Les!-Les!-Les!"  

I'll say it again: A military should remain a *military*!
Not some jack of all trades, to be used for sly political purposes! Other than to kick ass, that is!

Besides, you're right about them being the _last_ ones to receive any credit for the positive work!


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