Posted on 09/07/2005 4:18:06 PM PDT by Michael Goldsberry
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Two Navy helicopter pilots were praised but then reminded of the importance of supply missions after delivering their cargo and then rescuing 110 hurricane victims in New Orleans instead of immediately returning to base, the military said today.
One of the pilots was temporarily assigned to a kennel, but that was not punishment, said Patrick Nichols, a civilian public affairs officer at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
"They were not reprimanded," Nichols said. "They were counseled."
Lt. Matt Udkow and Lt. David Shand returned to the base from their mission Aug. 30, a day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Nichols said.
Udkow and Shand were met by Cmdr. Michael Holdener, who lauded them for the rescues but reminded them their orders were to fly water and other supplies to three destinations in Mississippi — the Stennis Space Center, Pascagoula and Gulfport — and then return to Pensacola, said Lt. Jim Hoeft, another Navy spokesman.
"The Hollywood role of this thing is search and rescue," Nichols said. "Logistics was just as important. They realize that."
The two air crews picked up a Coast Guard radio call that helicopters were needed for rescues in New Orleans, Hoeft said. They were out of radio range to Pensacola, so they decided to fly their helicopters to New Orleans and join the rescue effort without permission.
It took only minutes for the H-3 helicopters to fly to New Orleans, where Udkow's crew plucked people off rooftops. Shand hovered over the roof of an apartment building where more than a dozen people had been stranded. When he returned to get more, two crew members entered the building and found two blind residents and led them to the helicopter.
Udkow later received permission to continue with the rescue missions when he landed to refuel in New Orleans.
Both helicopters returned to Pensacola, about 200 miles east of New Orleans, by dark, as required by flight rules. Nichols said they did not miss any additional supply runs because of the rescues.
The pilots and Holdener weren't available for interviews today, Nichols said. He said Udkow was flying and Shand was resting between missions.
"We all want to be the guys who rescue people," Holdener told The New York Times. "But they were told we have other missions we have to do night now, and that is not the priority."
The air over New Orleans was so thick with helicopters a few days later that crews were having a hard time finding people who needed rescuing, but that was not the case when Udkow and Shand flew their rescue missions.
"I would be looking at a family of two on one roof and maybe a family of six on another roof, and I would have to make a decision who to rescue," Udkow told the Times. "It wasn't easy."
Nichols said Udkow was in no way being punished by being put in charge of a temporary kennel in Pensacola for pets of military personnel who had been evacuated from hurricane-stricken areas.
"It's a collateral duty," Nichols said. "These guys don't just fly. They do other stuff."
(LOL!)
This incident came up earlier on FR.
My thoughts were they will get a vigorous a$$ chewing, then a pat on the back.
Much better. I think someone up the chain of command with a cooler head took a look at this and said "shut it down now."
Whoops! I somehow missed it on the search.
What an absolute bunch of Bravo Sierra. A pilot is assigned to watch a dog kennel when there are ongoing operations and we are expected to believe he is not being punished? The BS Meter just pegged against the far wall on that!
The publicity will help them. And hurt both the Navy and its mission.
Must be nice to be able to go out joy riding in a couple million dollar aircraft without permission and not get reprimanded.
In an officer, I think I prefer initiative, bravery, and 'conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty' to someone who just simply follows his orders.
Who's "them", and how so?
"And hurt both the Navy and its mission."
How so?
The people on those rooftops d*mn well paid taxes so the military could buy the aircraft. They did so in order to enable the military to protect their lives and liberties. It would be pretty sad then if a pilot capable to doing so was prevented from using these aircraft to save American taxpayers' lives.
Exactly - it is what makes our military *unique* on this planet - this is the only one that accentuates individuality, thinking, flexibility and problem solving instead of only order following.
"Them" is the crew, and public opinion has a way of affecting decisions about them.
I think this may encourage heroics by individuals who think they can judge priorities that they are in no position to evaluate.
The fact that these two gentlemen aren't on the receiving end of Courts Martial or Article 15 proceeding shows that they got off lightly. Most servicemembers guilty of dereliction of duty, which this clearly was even though they were helping people, would be in the kennel instead of watching one. It is usually easier to ask for forgiveness than permission (that is one of my mottos), but these LT's may have jeopardized other lives by NOT following orders given to them by their commanders, who undoubtedly have more information of their missions and objectives.
You do what you gotta do to live with yourself.
In Top Gun, Maverick totally got chewed out for being at bad altitude. He thought he might have caused his buddy's death, in fact. (He didn't, it turned out, but we didn't know that right away.)
You gotta stick to orders. Sure- push the envelope, but no loose cannons!
Nuremberg disagrees with you.
This is a happy story. Those men did good, orders or no... and they're catching slack over it, as they should.
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