Here is a view of the Navy Ship Comfort from the Mexican Navy Ship Huasteco

[nadinbrzezinski]

I thought this was cool

[BlueCollar]

1. I agree...

Being former navy myself I always enjoyed the "humanitarian" missions we performed more than the "tactical" missions although I was prepared to do both.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Of course, they are far more enjoyable...

Hubby is also former navy, so those three are targets... a submariners...

[Captain Hilts]

4. Two kinds of ships...

Pride Runs Deep!

Keep the faith and the rescue logistics threads coming!

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I will...

we joke round these parts over those red crosses too... dark humor...

[hootinholler]

27. Indeed.

USS John Adams

-Hoot

[Captain Hilts]

Ah...a boomer boy! 41 for freedom!

I have friends that were on EDISON, VON STEUBEN and WOODY WOO.

[Froward69]

14. My nephew is also a submariner.

He would insist that Hospital ships are off limits.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Which boat? Or outta which port?

[Froward69]

18. Louisville SSN-724

Pearl Harbor... now he is in Norfolk VA. NO idea what he is up to these days he just re-uped.

[Captain Hilts]

19. ALEXANDRIA and ANNAPOLIS get all the headlines, so he must be doing

something important!

Capt. Hilts,
Groton/Norfolk girl

[Froward69]

21. Cool, Nice to meet you.

[Stinky The Clown]

35. Are you the Groton Fisherman??

I kid! I kid! :)

[Captain Hilts]

38. Nope, just a grubby Groton girl who knows her way around Thames St. Groton and Newport!

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Of course htey are, the reason we make jokes

is the many a times that my ambulance was shot at...

It was white and with red crosses....

It is our joke to deal with that reality.

One round came by my ear... whissh.

[jmowreader]

31. How can you tell?

Does a hospital ship have an active sonar transducer that plays the national anthem of Switzerland on it or something?

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Look at the photo

the white thing in the background... with red crosses... I know barely visible.

I might make all the jokes in the world, since I was like shot at in a white vehicle, with wheels in this case, and marked with red crosses... but that is how they can tell.

Of course I should add, those that shot at me were like drug dealers and never quite signed any silly convention...

[jmowreader]

42. Okay, let's try this again

How can you tell the difference between a hospital ship and an enemy combatant when you're 150 feet under the surface?

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. There are reasons why you will not get an actual answer to that from a submariner

but I gave it to you... in there...

Under International Law if you happen to have a hospital ship in the vicinity, you are supposed to make sure that target is neutral... which means you need to actually visually confirm it.

Oh and watch a WW II movie on sub warfare for an idea on how that looks like.

For reference 1949 Geneva Convention, subtitle on Sea Warfare, going back to the first statue in 1911

[Thothmes]

46. That is what periscopes are for on submarines.

[Captain Hilts]

6. I LOVE your signature line. I'm going to use that one!

[BlueCollar]

29. Naval Aviation and Navy training

provided me with the most valuable piece of advice that have guided me in my career...

1) Pay "attention to detail" came from the Navy...

2) The signature line is attributed to a British Airways Check Airman. I have a strong suspicion that this was a typically British reply to that other question..."What can we learn from this?"

:hi:

[Captain Hilts]

30. This is a zero defects thread!

Remember that one?

[BlueCollar]

34. "Defects do not exist in my Navy..."

Defects are a civilian and Air Force tradition...by the time you leave RTC San Diego you will be just as intolerant of defects and their causes as we are...

MM1 Albertson....

Yes...I remember...LOL

[Captain Hilts]

36. I remember that slogan being painted all over NAS Norfolk, etc. nt

[BlueCollar]

39. Aviation is not in itself inherently dangerous

but it is unforgiving of carelessness and negligence. But then the concept of diligence applies to anything we do that might have a consequence on the safety of people and materiel around us...

and that is why I had to go through a training program based upon "Attention to Detail"...

Thanks Skipper...

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. "Using the checklist is statistically safer than thinking..."

That brings me back to how many times I told that to my guys in training. I guess it is international.

I also used to tell them... "things are there because somebody died." Funny when years later hubby said, "safety regulations were written in blood."

[BlueCollar]

37. I'm in the airline business

It's my mantra...

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. As it should be, in life as a matter of fact, but when lives are in your hands...

[BlueCollar]

41. Every time I "buy off" on a maintenance action

that is the consideration. Unfortunately, sometimes flights get delayed or cancelled for "maintenance" which upsets a lot of people...Airline Ops guys and passengers...

But...

I sleep well at night. If a few people are inconvenienced, or the airline loses revenue...that's the price of Quality.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. I want you doing that quality

I don't care if I have to wait at the airport ten more minutes or have to change planes...yes happens.

[BlueCollar]

45. Unfortunately, sometimes that delay turns into a cancellation

what started out as a relatively innocuous issue turns into a SOF event...

Thanks for understanding.

:-)

[Captain Hilts]

3. I saw this on your link in the earlier thread and agree it's cool!

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I went hunting since I thought others might like to see that

I am personally keeping that one in my collection. It is a keeper.

[Octafish]

8. Remember Project HOPE?

Started service as USS Consolation.

One of the best ideas for making new best friends, ever.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. There are so many stories

and this is not just to be a good neighbor. The political calculus is that if this works well, it may change the dynamics with LatAm... Americans may not be aware of the history, but Latin Americans have not forgotten.

Not holding my breath of that happening in the US... but that is well lack of historical memory.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Clarification for others, both are hospital ships.

In your pic, the Comfort is white, not sure what that other vessel is.
.

USNS COMFORT to have Company off the Coast of Haiti

January 2010

The USNS COMFORT will not be the only hospital ship off the coast of Port-au-Prince. Colombia and Mexico are sending their hospital ships.

David Axe of War is Boring has a great post about the Colombian Navy’s Surgery Barge.

According to SOUTHCOM, the Mexican Navy Navy is sending the Huasteco Hospital Boat.



The Mexican Hospital Ship Huasteco is scheduled to arrive off the coast of Port-au-Prince today.

http://blog.usni.org/2010/01/19/usns-comfort-to-have-company-off-the-coast-of-haiti/

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. The other my hubby thinks is an Iwo Jima class

and the Huasteco is a multipurpose ship, habilitated as a hospital ship for this mission. Why it is not painted white with red crosses. They did not have time for that.

It is also a small ship, locally produced...

[Captain Hilts]

12. Doesn't look like an IWO JIMA to me. It looks like an older LHA or something. He might

know those types better than I do.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. To paraphrase, I think it is an Iwo... target.

[Captain Hilts]

16. Yes. I stand corrected.

What boats did he ride?

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. A lot...

He'd tell you the list better than me. nine PACs... the last one was the SSN 721

[NYC_SKP]

20. Might be the LST Carter Hall?

[Captain Hilts]

25. That's a familiar Norfolk visage, yes, that's a good guess. nt

[Captain Hilts]

15. This whole rescue mission reminds me of the end of The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming

when they're all about to start shooting and then the kid falls from the steeple, then suddenly you've got Glochester VFW types building a pyramid with Soviet sailors to save the kids.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wWWrYsIEI0s/SrGr77QWCEI/AAAAAAAAEVE/1hdg61pAboY/s400/the+russians+are+coming.jpg

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. yeah it has that feeling

it is a world effort... which I wish our press in general started to emphasize a little more.

That particular crew is gonna hate life though... they are now unloading her at sea with helos... they don't have a way to self unload. I guess her medical facilities will be used after they do that. Oh will take five days, according to the Mexican Navy. So the crew is busy.

[Captain Hilts]

26. The press has given good dap to the rescue crews. So I know that some footage was of an Israeli

crew pulling someone out, an LA crew, etc. It's a warm, fuzzy, feeling. I think the nets like that aspect of the story.

But, really, you're piled underneath rubble, and you've been there for 5 days and the folks that pull you out are from Israel or LA or wherever. How amazing is that?

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. I know it is all smiles all around

I never got to do the confined space shtick in an actual situation like this. I did five during oppsss that were close to this in theory. Not five days, but our longest was ten hours... it was smiles all around... and that is how these crews get the practice. Not just training, but actual rescues.

And since we had a functioning trauma system I know the patient actually made it and did not have to deal with all the secondary crap.

Lord I never slept so well in my life.... mostly from exhaustion. I admire these men and women, going on for days... (I know they get shifts but still)