Lest we forget

[hudsonsmith]

Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. It is believed that as many as 1.5 million people died in the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau, part of 11 million who died in the Holocaust.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

[NooNoo]

We won't forget, but I doubt the next generation will understand why we should never forget.

[iceman]

We won't forget, but I doubt the next generation will understand why we should never forget.

Excellent point. We already see that with certain royalty.

[TechZ]

I read an article on it yesterday, didnt know much about it before that, only knew the jist.

[KINGofBLEH]

My first viewing of Schindler's List was enough of a history lesson for me. What happened in the Nazi death camps was probably the closest thing we may ever see to pure evil.

[TechZ]

Pure evil doesnt necessarily have to come at one time and in just one place, look around in todays world, Saddam wasnt a peach.

[jaeger]

Rwanda, Cambodia, China, Darfur, Balkans. Genocides are still happening. "Lest we forget..." We remember all right, we remember quite well. When will we learn? The Holocaust should have taught us to recognize and prevent genocide. It should provoke the sort of rage in every right-minded person to motivate them to act. But for all our bluster, all our posturing, all our endless promises to never forget, it is still 1941, and it is still happening to someone else.

[Gabriel]

As I come to think about it - it will never change.
Us Humans have a self desructive nature, we are the only specie on the planet that constantly invent and improves ways to self destruct.
What happend 60 years ago is bound to happen again (not in the same manner but the result is the same) and again. Us, Humans, have to understand that we are all the same (blood, skin, nerves, flesh etc.). Every human being has the right to live and prosper.
What will cause us Humans to cease this horrible race? Don't know, but i bet some global catastropeh will unite us...

With honest prayer,
Gabriel

[confus-ed]

As I come to think about it - it will never change.
Us Humans have a self desructive nature .. Don't know, but i bet some global catastropeh will unite us...

I think it did ! ... the worlds general reaction to events after the Tsunami reaffirmed my hope for human nature at least, if it did little for my historical perspective on mankinds behaviour, I, anyway, live in hope of a better world

(However I think my 'realism chip' would like to express its disapproval of such thoughts ! )

[TripleRLtd]

Somewhat ironic considering who, when and where, but food for thought nonetheless:

"History seems to us an arena of instincts and fashions, of appetite, avarice, and craving for power, of blood lust, violence, destruction, and wars, of *****ious ministers, venal generals, bombarded cities, and we too easily forget that this is only one of its many aspects.
Above all we forget that we ourselves are a part of history, that we are the product of growth and are condemned to perish if we lose the capacity for further growth and change. We are ourselves history and share the responsibility for world history and our position in it. But we gravely lack awareness of this responsibility."

Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German novelist, poet. The Glass Bead Game, ch. 11 (1943).

[Tekboy]

I think it did ! ... the worlds general reaction to events after the Tsunami reaffirmed my hope for human nature at least, if it did little for my historical perspective on mankinds behaviour, I, anyway, live in hope of a better world

(However I think my 'realism chip' would like to express its disapproval of such thoughts ! )

Nice sentiment, -ed, but unfortunately, it is inaccurate.

"Worth a read.







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.

Well, they could have turned on any TV in the world and seen that the damage was total devastation. When they got to Sumatra with no plan, no logistics support and no five-star hotels to stay in, they threw themselves on the mercy of the U.S. Navy, which, unfortunately, took them in. I guess our senior brass was hoping for some good PR since this was about the time that the U.N. was calling the United States “stingy” with our relief donations.

As a result of having to host these people, our severely over-tasked SH-60 Seahawk helos, which were carrying tons of food and water every day to the most inaccessible places in and around Banda Aceh, are now used in great part to ferry these “relief workers” from place to place every day and bring them back to their guest bedrooms on the Lincoln at night. Despite their avowed dedication to helping the victims, these relief workers will not spend the night in-country, and have made us their guardians by default.

When our wardroom treasurer approached the leader of the relief group and asked him who was paying the mess bill for all the meals they ate, the fellow replied, “We aren’t paying, you can try to bill the U.N. if you want to.”

In addition to the relief workers, we routinely get tasked with hauling around reporters and various low-level “VIPs,” which further wastes valuable helo lift that could be used to carry supplies. We had to dedicate two helos and a C-2 cargo plane for America-hater Dan Rather and his entourage of door holders and briefcase carriers from CBS News. Another camera crew was from MTV. I doubt if we’ll get any good PR from them, since the cable channel is banned in Muslim countries. We also had to dedicate a helo and crew to fly around the vice mayor of Phoenix, Ariz., one day. Everyone wants in on the action.

As for the Indonesian officers, while their job is apparently to encourage our leaving as soon as possible, all they seem to do in the meantime is smoke cigarettes. They want our money and our help but they don’t want their population to see that Americans are doing far more for them in two weeks than their own government has ever done or will ever do for them.

To add a kick in the face to the USA and the Lincoln, the Indonesian government announced it would not allow us to use their airspace for routine training and flight proficiency operations while we are saving the lives of their people, some of whom are wearing Osama bin Ladin T-shirts as they grab at our food and water. The ship has to steam out into international waters to launch and recover jets, which makes our helos have to fly longer distances and burn more fuel.

What is even worse than trying to help people who totally reject everything we stand for is that our combat readiness has suffered for it.

An aircraft carrier is an instrument of national policy and the big stick she carries is her air wing. An air wing has a set of very demanding skills and they are highly perishable. We train hard every day at sea to conduct actual air strikes, air defense, maritime surveillance, close air support and many other missions – not to mention taking off and landing on a ship at sea.

Our safety regulations state that if a pilot does not get a night carrier landing every seven days, he has to be re-qualified to land on the ship. Today we have pilots who have now been over 25 days without a trap due to being unable to use Indonesian airspace to train. Normally it is when we are at sea that our readiness is at its very peak. Thanks to the Indonesian government, we have to waive our own safety rules just to get our pilots off the deck.

In other words, the longer we stay here helping these people, the more dangerous it gets for us to operate. We have already lost one helicopter, which crashed in Banda Aceh while taking sailors ashore to unload supplies from the C-130s. There were no relief workers on that one.

I’m all for helping the less fortunate, but it is time to give this mission to somebody other than the U.S. Navy. Our ship was supposed to be home on Feb. 3 and now we have no idea how long we will be here. American taxpayers are spending millions per day to keep this ship at sea and getting no training value out of it. As a result, we will come home in a lower state of readiness than when we left due to the lack of flying while supporting the tsunami relief effort.

I hope we get some good PR in the Muslim world out of it. After all, this is Americans saving the lives of Muslims. I have my doubts.
Ed Stanton is the pen name of a career U.S. Navy officer currently serving with the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group. Send Feedback responses to [email protected]