Posted on 09/06/2005 8:57:38 PM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon
PENSACOLA, Fla.,Sept.6-Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on Aug. 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 hurricane victims to safety.
Instead, their superiors chided the pilots, Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, at a meeting the next morning for rescuing civilians when their assignment that day had been to deliver food and water to military installations along the Gulf Coast.
"I felt it was a great day because we resupplied the people we needed to and we rescued people, too," Lieutenant Udkow said. But the air operations commander at Pensacola Naval Air Station "reminded us that the logistical mission needed to be our area of focus."
The episode illustrates how the rescue effort in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina had to compete with the military's other, more mundane logistical needs.
Only in recent days, after the federal response to the disaster has come to be seen as inadequate, have large numbers of troops and dozens of helicopters, trucks and other equipment been poured into to the effort. Early on, the military rescue operations were smaller, often depending on the initiative of individuals like Lieutenants Shand and Udkow.
The two lieutenants were each piloting a Navy H-3 helicopter - a type often used in rescue operations as well as transport and other missions - on that Tuesday afternoon, delivering emergency food, water and other supplies to Stennis Space Center, a federal facility near the Mississippi coast. The storm had cut off electricity and water to the center, and the two helicopters were supposed to drop their loads and return to Pensacola, their home base, said Cmdr. Michael Holdener, Pensacola's air operations chief.
"Their orders were to go and deliver water and parts and to come back," Commander Holdener said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I don't either when you consider that the NYT's has an agenda of it's own..........
I refuse to register to the NYT's so I didn't read the whole article. Having said that does the article really say that they were reprimanded or is that just an eye catching headline?
They did follow orders. They delivered supplies, and they came back. And they also rescued people, without adversely affecting their mission. This is a no brainer. Good for them!
Dozens of military aircraft are now conducting search and rescue missions over the affected areas. But privately some members of the Pensacola unit say the base's two available transport helicopters should have been allowed to do more to help civilian victims in the days after the storm hit, when large numbers of military helicopters had not reached the affected areas.
In protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads, "So Others May Live."
Sounds to me like Lieutenant Udkow had a pretty strong row with his commander over his diversion to save lives and was accordingly assigned to puppy-poopy duty as punishment.
I'm all for following orders, as this is absolutely necessary for the military to function, but this was an extraordinary situation that demanded action, and Udkow made the right decision, orders be damned! It seems to me that most of the early trouble that occurred was the result of a complete lack of initiative on everyone's part. So, I think Udkow's commander probably should have looked the other way and let him off with a wink and a nod, rather than assining him to kennel duty. At any rate, the whole incident caused some real dissension within Kudkow's unit since his pards stopped wearing their "search and rescue" patches to make a strong statement to the chain of command. Morale has taken a hit here, and I doubt that any of the other chopper pilots at Pensacola will be showing any initiative to do anything outside of their "stovepipes" after this.
"And crying to the NYT's won't help anything either other than try and get themselves some kudos that they believe they deserve and reinforce the belief in liberals minds that the military has no control over it's soldiers. How many heroes in Iraq do their jobs everyday and don't go running to the media for a pat on the back?"
Back when I was in there were standing orders to refer all press inquiries to the Public Affairs Officer so this kind of thing didn't happen.
That Helo was one part of the big machine, and may have been slated for another parts run when it returned. The other issue here is that normally these helo crews are flying around all sorts of hazards; powerlines, towers, bridges etc...They normally receive a detailed briefing of all the hazards in the area of the SAR operation. These guys placed themselves and that helo at greater risk by switching to an unbriefed mission.
The military loses many helo's due to hitting wires even during well briefed missions. Maybe the skipper isn't totally FUBAR on this one....He is responsible for that crew and that multi-million dollar helicopter.
Not to be harsh - but the Nazi crap is WAY over the top (and I realize you weren't the first to bring it up).
Those pilots work for Commander Holdener. They had specific orders. They deviated from those orders. They have to live with the consequences.
Cmdr Holdener, however, sounds as if he did the right thing - reminding them of their mission, rapping their knuckles with a wet noodle, and getting on with the mission. Remember, a military effort depends on everyone to do their part, much like the famous story:
For the lack of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For the lack of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For the lack of a horse, the rider was lost.
For the lack of a rider, the battle was lost.
For the lack of a battle, the war was lost.
The pilots did an admirable deed, but they ignored their orders to do so. In a well-disciplined (and therefore effective) military, allowing that to go unremarked would be a tragedy.
So when successfully returning from a battle to take Hill Number 73, you stumble on dozens of hungry starving American GIs.
You are to leave them there to die and go straight to your home base?
Seems to me they acted in accordance with their mission and orders...
They are commissioned officers in the U.S. Military...They are supposed to be innovative, practice good initiative, and set examples to the men and women they are in charge of...Period...
So they accomplish their "primary" mission, and see an opportunity to innovate and assist victims of the disaster with their means to accomplish the primary...
I can't see a downside to their "on-the-scene" decision to help some folks out...
The "Crusty ole Chief" side of me, senses a bit of petty jealosy on the part of the C.O. of that squadron...
But thats ok, getting the relief supplies to a place where only a few can benefit from it, and leaving other people where they can't get to the "relief" makes perfect sense to me.../sarcasm
BZ to the two LT's...I'd fly with you guys anyday...
If the pilots complained to the NYT, they should be keelhauled.
If that were the case, they should have told them to come back asap for that reason. We need more initiative, not more red tape and armchair generals.
How many Congressional Medal of Honor recipients were "just following orders"?
I don't think the pilots who we're reprimanded said anything to the NYT...
I'll look again, but I didn't see an obvious source for this story...
I think this leans towards the Times actually going out of their way to find little snippets of incidences like this, blow it out of context and proportion...
And feed it to the masses of mush-minds that pay to read it...
We see it, and evaluate it for what it is...Garbage...
I was incorrect to assume it was the Commanding Officer of the squadron that berated the pilots...The Air Ops guy was probably a bit over the top in his statements...
I think everyone involved including the pilots, C.O. and the Air Operations guy in question, have already realized the damage this story the NYT wrote about this is doing...
I'm sure the Ops boss is up flying a few of these missions now, and not spending too much time flying that desk of his...He understands now...And thats a good thing...
Good point, sir.
By the way, just to clarify: I have not served. My tagline
honors my son.
Does that apply to the Commander-in-Chief? The President should have broken the rules and sent the Feds into NO immediately after the levees broke regardless of the objections of the Governor or Mayor.
Seems to me they acted in accordance with their mission and orders...
Thats the way it looks to me too.
Someone mentioned that they were out of communication with their command ( I didn't go to the slimes to read the whole thing) if this is the case , do you know the correct protacal?
It would seem to me that the ranking officer on the scene would be the one to make the call.
Just another "Much ado about nothing" via the NYT.
Why bother to comment?
They represent the Enemy.
"what if"
Well, that's life in a nutshell. You can sit around pondering "what if" or you can act. What if the rescued people were slain before another team could get to them? What if this, what if that. We could "what if" all day and at the end exactly nothing would be done.
Just use BugMeNot.com.
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