Comments on: Partial Haiti Gear List

By: Zandor

Zandor — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:42:44 +0000

Any operation of this size and urgency has never and will never run like a Swiss watch. And anyone that thinks it should is deluded.

I haven’t heard about what Cuba is doing to assist. We are always hearing about all the Doctors in Cuba, one would think that they could spare a few of them for their communist brothers in Haiti.

The most important thing is to make sure that the Haitians stay in Haiti where they belong, and do not start flooding into the USA.

By: Don't Care

Don't Care — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:40:31 +0000

Depends on who you ask. :) When it comes to my brothers in the Marine Corps, I don’t care about being nice so much as only risking them when it serves the true national interest. Delivering food, shelter, and medical aid to morons that are also trying to kill you is not, in any way, in our national interest. Send the Peace Corps/Americorps or those other altruistic groups. Not the military. We have far more important work at the moment.

By: Oble

Oble — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:41:54 +0000

The Haiti occupation is what they are calling it now. Pretty disgusting when US interests and force protection are put ahead of humanitarian concerns. No doubt Halburton and the other carpetbaggers will be along soon.

By: kim

kim — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:31:42 +0000

does care, you’re on decaf from now on (still, it was funny.) ‘Don’t Care’ doesn’t sound like he’s a particularly good guy.

By: ohwilleke

ohwilleke — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:06:58 +0000

Thanks. I was aware of the Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations mission (ans presumably training), although I’m not sure how similar it would be. The differences between that mission and the civil relief mission is part of what got me thinking about the training issue.

By: Nico

Nico — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:39:13 +0000

Hell, if the US doesn’t contribute much to Haiti, what would the rest of the world say? With leftovers of the Monroe Doctrine still strong in the eyes of American leaders, and in the rest of the world, the US pretty much has no choice in sending aid to Haiti. It’s political suicide if we don’t take a leading role.

In other words, from a POLITICAL standpoint, and I know this sounds cold, but the US needs all the positive publicity it can get with Iraqistan going on, and Haiti is one hell of a goldmine.

By: nraddin

nraddin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:11:54 +0000

most likley the Marines are getting stuff ashore with the LCAC and Helo. Those gator frieghtors all have emergency supplies on board that they will transport. I would also be surprised if the Navy as not already sent a resupply ship to help the marines keep supplies moving. Those ships can unrep the marine/navy ships at sea and then the LSDs air and sea transport will move those supplies where it’s needed.

TMB is correct that air transport is key because it’s quick and supplies might be scattered all over the world, however the marines ability to get in with the LCACs and LAVs and the amounts of equipment and supplies they have on hand at quick notice is at least as important.

By: Riceball

Riceball — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:31:33 +0000

Sure the LCACs can only hold 60 tons but it’s 60 tons that they can deliver when an airport is either too damaged or too congested to operate and handle aircraft. As for the supplies themselves, they’d get them from the assault ships themselves which can be packed with things like food, water, medical supplies, generators, etc. Plus 2 LCACs per ship at 60 tons each means at least 120 tons delivered per assault ship. It’s also a matter of combined arms answer to logistics delivering by air and sea means a lot more supplies getting delivered than using just one or the other.

By: Icy Squirrel

Icy Squirrel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:45:22 +0000

You *really* need to brush up on your history. To start with, the reason for Haiti being such a — as you term it — “hell hole” is that the marines were in and out of the country. Supporting a coup against a democratically elected leader because he had the temerity to demand reparations from the French.

Sorry for letting facts get in the way of your jabs at “wholier than thou” NGOs.

By: TMB

TMB — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:28:02 +0000

1. The port needs to be repaired. It got trashed by the earthquake.
2. LCACs hold about 60 tons of supplies and they go to and from the assault ship which only has 2 of them. Where would those LCACs get all those supplies from in the first place?
3. C-17s can hold almost 100 tons of supplies, gets those supplies from just about anywhere, and the airport runs next to most of the areas major roads.

Hopefully this helps in your military logistics education. The rest of your post was just useless.