Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/08/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]John, I beg to contradict you, that was not a snide remark, far from it. I have friends and colleagues out there too, mostly evacuated from the GofM rigs by chopper. If I hadn't been in hospital last week I might even have been out doing some bore-hole logging on one of them. The news today showed the first military trucks taking people out of the superdome, I reckon about 20 people per truck at the most.. There are Marine bases within hours of the area, it would be better news if THEY were there with more appropriate equipment!! Those 6x6 trucks can only wade to a max. of about 4 to 5 feet, wheeled vehicles are at an enormous disadvantage anyway when there is debris under water. The smaller trucks they showed have even less wading capacity, the big APCs are fully amphibious and not limted to roads. I always find it absolutely sickening that the military forces around the world , which have the most advanced rescue and recovery equipment, are always the last to get to a disaster area. If my country (the UK) can get an ROV to rescue a few Russian submariners within 12 hours then how come other equipment can't be deployed in a disaster area just as fast. The Coast Guard / Lifeboat service / Helicopter Medics are always there days before - This is not a US problem this is global, This catastrophe is the worst thing I've seen since the Asian Tsunami, and the slowest total reaction time of the people who have the right equipment, a standard chopper can only carry about 10 people at the most, with fallen masts and wires all over the place they can't even land, and winching people up is so time consuming that fuel becomes a problem on every operation. APCs,ARVs (Armoured Recovery Vehicles), Landing Craft, Air Cushion Vehicles (Hovercraft) are the stuff to get people out. Military deployment is always fast - why can't they be just as fast here. Douglas John Black wrote: > > > >>Thank the deity of your choice for that. >>Why the F### can't the US Marines get their amphibious personnel >>carriers in there to get people out? >>They manage to get jnto other peoples countries fast enough without >>being asked. >>Douglas >> >> >> > >Why can't we just enjoy good news without the snide political remarks >Douglas... > >JB > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > >