Haitian Relief
The view from onboard the USNS Comfort. Read the whole thing, please, but pay special attention to this graf:
We understand that a lot of the media is bad mouthing the Navy. They always seem to take the half empty glass frame of mind. They ask how is it that China has people on the ground operating and the Comfort still isn’t there. Well, the US military could easily put a surgical team on a C-17 to come to Haiti and perform simple surgeries like the Chinese did. In fact the Army 82nd Airborne field hospital is operational. The media doesn’t say that the Chinese and Russians and Cubans are all holding their serious patients THEY CAN’T HANDLE for the Comfort to arrive. The Comfort will have the capability to take in 1100 Haitians at any time. That takes a staff of 1300 blue suit Navy professionals with all the medical supplies… and food and water for all those people.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I might be wrong but s I understand it the harbor is not clear for ships of the size of the Comfort to dock. Also it takes time to Stock, Provision and Crew a ship of this size. It does not sit at the dock just ready to go. I understand the Captain was making every effort to get underway in half the time normally required. These ships are not greyhounds either and have a typical cruising speed of about 12 to 15 knots or about 14 to 18 mph. Logistics is a complicated business and best left to professionals like we have in our Military, the Press need not apply.
My youngest son is a Navy ER nurse, former hospital corpsman. When visiting him in San Diego, he pointed out to me the Comfort’s sister ship, the USS Mercy. It’s a converted oil tanker and huge! I forget how many operating rooms it has but it’s an impressive ship.
To field a single ship like the Comfort, the Navy has to strip personnel from medical facilities all over the States and perhaps overseas. They have to get the personnel in place, stock the perishable medical supplies, and equip the ship with the provisions it needs. Going from a cold ship in maintenance to sailing towards Haiti in 66 hours is a remarkable feat of logistics!
My son is on standby to deploy to Haiti. They already took a first wave of 12 people from his hospital (29 Palms) and may soon take another 20. There aren’t very many people left now and it’ll be very difficult as they deploy more people, especially when you factor in the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Still, everyone is doing what has to be done.
And remember, Stephen: No good deed by Israel goes… reported.
Or worse.