No Relief for the Lincoln
Published January 26, 2005
Thought you folks should see what the folks out on the lines are saying. Let's hope we win the propaganda war anyway!
Now I see why all the groups want money donations, no clothing or food. Wonder how many "millionares" will be made from all the money pouring in there?
And people wonder why I'm The Ugly American!
Guest Column: No Relief in Sight for the Lincoln
By Ed Stanton
It has been three weeks since my ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln, arrived off the Sumatran coast to aid the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that ravaged their coastline. I'd like to say that this has been a rewarding experience for us, but it has not: Instead, it has been a frustrating and needlessly dangerous exercise made even more difficult by the Indonesian government and a traveling circus of so-called aid workers who have invaded our spaces.
What really irritated me was a scene I witnessed in the Lincoln's wardroom a few days ago. I went in for breakfast as I usually do, expecting to see the usual crowd of ship's company officers in khakis and air wing aviators in flight suits, drinking coffee and exchanging rumors about when our ongoing humanitarian mission in Sumatra is going to end.
What I saw instead was a mob of civilians sitting around like they owned the place. They wore various colored vests with logos on the back including Save The Children, World Health Organization and the dreaded baby blue vest of the United Nations. Mixed in with this crowd were a bunch of reporters, cameramen and Indonesian military officers in uniform. They all carried cameras, sunglasses and fanny packs like tourists on their way to Disneyland.
My warship had been transformed into a floating hotel for a bunch of trifling do-gooders overnight.
As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers. He said something along the lines of "Nice china, really makes me feel special," in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we were eating off paper plates was to save dishwashing water so that we would have more water to send ashore and save lives. That plus the fact that he had no business being there in the first place.
My attitude towards these unwanted no-loads grew steadily worse that day as I learned more from one of our junior officers who was assigned to escort a group of them. It turns out that they had come to Indonesia to "assess the damage" from the Dec. 26 tsunami.
- No Relief for the Lincoln
- Published: January 26, 2005
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- Section: Politics
- Writer: Andy Marsh
- Andy Marsh's BC Writer page
- Andy Marsh's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
I think the thing to understand about that part of the story is this: officers pay for their food. They are given subsistence allowance and they pay for meals out of that allowance. All the food served in the wardroom is paid for by the officers themselves. So, if the Indonesians don't pay and the UN doesn't pay, then those officers pay and I'm here to tell you, nobody in the military makes great money.
But you're right...maybe I should have put a return in there...just to keep you guessing.
I understand his sentiment -- the other idiot was out of line.
But the phrasing of that sentence!
One only wonders what will happen to Iraq sentiment one elections are over.
One only wonders what that has to do with ingrateful people on board the USS Lincoln?
Here's a view from a non-pseudononamous officer from the Lincoln.
Apart from what the goverment had done, the people in Aceh are grateful for having the US there to help them, as well as those from other countries in the world. Even Indonesian president, as far as I watched on CNN (taken from local TV channel in Indonesia) said on his speech that Indonesia is in need of help from others. The limitation for the relief effort is given considering the situation in Aceh which is still unsafe. Just last week some policemen who were looking for their missing relative after the tsunami were shot by the rebels. Actually, it has been the first time that Aceh is opened to foreigners, so some are still a little bit sceptical about them. But in general, I think people welcomed the US. I have seen pictures from Indonesian newspapers where the natives were hand in hand with US soldiers, a woman was crying on the shoulder of an American, and such sympathetic things. Oh, and Indonesia is a democratic country, although the majority of the people are Muslims. So don't worry..they have MTV there.
Joe - thanks for the link to another view point from on Board the Lincoln. Two completely different perspectives. It was good to read that their were some there that were happy to see us, but I still don't doubt that the things in the other letter happened as well.
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Funniest unintentional comedy I've seen in a while:
It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off ....
Thank goodness the next words were "his feet"!