[Paul_Denton]

"They don't stop their engines. They're on the ground for five minutes," Elmquist told reporters in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra."

What an idiot. That is STANDARD PRACTICE in the military. A supply vehicle is a target vehicle and so it helps to minimize the amout of time just sitting there.

[bwteim]

What's always amazing / or to be expected, rather / is that reporters don't even editorialize and inject some sanity into the story - namely, as you say - that this is SOP.