Letter from an airline pilot

Having worked for an airline, one that was not very well managed, I can tell you that there are many hard working people staffing the airlines, dealing with millions of passengers who need to fly each day.

Here's a letter from a Pilot that shows how they take extra care when it really matters.

Letter from an airline pilot:

He writes: My lead flight attendant came to me and said, "We have an H.R. On this flight." (H.R. Stands for human remains.) "Are they military?" I asked.

'Yes', she said.

'Is there an escort?' I asked.

'Yes, I already assigned him a seat'.

'Would you please tell him to come to the flight deck. You can board him early," I said..

A short while later, a young army sergeant entered the flight deck. He was the image of the perfectly dressed soldier. He introduced himself and I asked him about his soldier. The escorts of these fallen soldiers talk about them as if they are still alive and still with us.

'My soldier is on his way back to Virginia,' he said. He proceeded to answer my questions, but offered no words.

I asked him if there was anything I could do for him and he said no. I told him that he had the toughest job in the military and that I appreciated the work that he does for the families of our fallen soldiers. The first officer and I got up out of our seats to shake his hand. He left the flight deck to find his seat.

We completed our pre-flight checks, pushed back and performed an uneventful departure. About 30 minutes into our flight I received a call from the lead flight attendant in the cabin. 'I just found out the family of the soldier we are carrying, is on board', she said. She then proceeded to tell me that the father, mother, wife and 2-year old daughter were escorting their son, husband, and father home. The family was upset because they were unable to see the container that the soldier was in before we left. We were on our way to a major hub at which the family was going to wait four hours for the connecting flight home to Virginia .

The father of the soldier told the flight attendant that knowing his son was below him in the cargo compartment and being unable to see him was too much for him and the family to bear. He had asked the flight attendant if there was anything that could be done to allow them to see him upon our arrival. The family wanted to be outside by the cargo door to watch the soldier being taken off the airplane. I could hear the desperation in the flight attendants voice when she asked me if there was anything I could do. 'I'm on it', I said. I told her that I would get back to her.

Airborne communication with my company normally occurs in the form of e-mail like messages. I decided to bypass this system and contact my flight dispatcher directly on a
Secondary radio. There is a radio operator in the operations control center who connects you to the telephone of the dispatcher. I was in direct contact with the dispatcher. I explained the situation I had on board with the family and what it was the family wanted. He said he understood and that he would get back to me.

Two hours went by and I had not heard from the dispatcher. We were going to get busy soon and I needed to know what to tell the family. I sent a text message asking for an update. I saved the return message from the dispatcher and the following is the text:

'Captain, sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. There is policy on this now and I had to check on a few things. Upon your arrival a dedicated escort team will meet the aircraft.
The team will escort the family to the ramp and plane side. A van will be used to load the remains with a secondary van for the family. The family will be taken to their departure area and escorted into the terminal where the remains can be seen on the ramp. It is a private area for the family only. When the connecting aircraft arrives, the family will be escorted onto the ramp and plane side to watch the remains being loaded for the final leg home. Captain, most of us here in flight control are veterans.. Please pass our condolences on to the family. Thanks.'

I sent a message back telling flight control thanks for a good job. I printed out the message and gave it to the lead flight attendant to pass on to the father. The lead flight attendant was very thankful and told me, 'You have no idea how much this will mean to them.'

Things started getting busy for the descent, approach and landing. After landing, we cleared the runway and taxied to the ramp area. The ramp is huge with 15 gates on either side of the alleyway. It is always a busy area with aircraft maneuvering every which way to enter and exit. When we entered the ramp and checked in with the ramp controller, we were told
that all traffic was being held for us.

'There is a team in place to meet the aircraft', we were told. It looked like it was all coming together, then I realized that once we turned the seat belt sign off, everyone would stand up at once and delay the family from getting off the airplane. As we approached our gate, I asked the co-pilot to tell the ramp controller we were going to stop short of the gate to
make an announcement to the passengers. He did that and the ramp controller said, 'Take your time.'

I stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake. I pushed the public address button and said, 'Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking I have stopped short of our gate to make a special announcement. We have a passenger on board who deserves our honor and respect. His Name is Private XXXXXX, a soldier who recently lost his life. Private XXXXXX is under your feet in the cargo hold. Escorting him today is Army Sergeant XXXXXXX. Also, on board are his father, mother, wife, and daughter. Your entire flight crew is asking for all passengers to remain in their seats to allow the family to exit the aircraft first. Thank you.'
We continued the turn to the gate, came to a stop and started our shutdown procedures. A couple of minutes later I opened the cockpit door. I found the two forward flight attendants crying, something you just do not see. I was told that after we came to a stop, every passenger on the aircraft stayed in their seats, waiting for the family to exit the aircraft.

When the family got up and gathered their things, a passenger slowly started to clap his hands. Moments later more passengers joined in and soon the entire aircraft was
clapping. Words of 'God Bless You', I'm sorry, thank you, be proud, and other kind words were uttered to the family as they made their way down the aisle and out of the airplane.

They were escorted down to the ramp to finally be with their loved one.
Many of the passengers disembarking thanked me for the announcement I had made. They were just words, I told them, I could say them over and over again, but nothing I say will bring back that brave soldier.

I respectfully ask that all of you reflect on this event and the sacrifices that millions of our men and women have made to ensure our freedom and safety in these United States of AMERICA

Foot note:

I know everyone who has served their country who reads this will have tears in their eyes, including me.

 

 

LEADERSHIP makes a difference

The needed quality in our nation's success is and always will be LEADERSHIP.  No amount of money or political correctness can match the results of having the best Leader in place.

The United States has had many distinguished Leaders but presently, we are facing a Leadership deficit.  If America is to forge a future worthy of our past, we need to find and elect real leaders.

Presently, our President is the diametric opposite of what Leadership should be.  He promised " hope and change" and only delivered failure and a " Do as I say, not as I do" attitude.  His complete failure to lead has been documented and is the reason why our country is more divisively split now than ever before.

Mitt Romney is in need of a charisma upgrade but offers a more measured approach along with well documented management skill set.  He isn't Jefferson or Washington, but he is a much better manager than the lack-wit who has mucked up our country over the last 3 1/2 years.

NBC and Tom Brokaw will feature a documentary that gives us a lesson in what true leadership was back when the world faced the threat of World War II.  From 1938 - 1941, England stood alone against Nazi Germany.

Sir Winston Churchill was the key leader England needed.  He had failed previously but  learned key lessons from each experience and was able to rally his countrymen to stand against the onslaught of the Battle of Britain.

" Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.." 

Churchill's eloquent and tough-as-nails leadership held his country together.  No American Leader since President John F. Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis has faced such a serious challenge.  The majority of the nation's citizens in 1962 were concerned but didn't really understand how close the world came to annihilation until years later. 

9/11 was a serious crisis and the country rallied behind President Bush, but Kennedy had to stare down the Russians who were threatening Nuclear War. 

Americans got to see 9/11 as it happened and rallied behind our President but were able to count on a standing military who responded to the attacks.  In World War 2, our nation and England had been on a peacetime status with diminished military forces when World War 2 happened.

Watch the special and take a lesson from History - Leadership makes the difference.

Leadership Under Fire
By SOHRAB AHMARI - Wall Street Journal
Their Finest Hour
Saturday, Aug. 11 at 8 p.m. on NBC

The word "hero" is thrown around lightly and frequently during Olympic season. But as Tom Brokaw reminds us in "Their Finest Hour," physical endurance and courage alone do not make heroes.

This remarkable documentary, set to air during NBC's regular Olympic programming, chronicles the heroism of Britain in the first two years of World War II, when, as Mr. Brokaw says, "England stood alone, when England was all that was left between liberty and tyranny." "Their Finest Hour" does not disclose any new historical facts. But by making extensive use of newly unearthed, color archival footage, plus the testimonies of British veterans, nurses and survivors, Mr. Brokaw pays tribute to Britain's "poetry of defiance" in the face of Nazi terror.

We meet a pilot who, at age 19, helped fend off the mighty German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain—the 1940 campaign by the Third Reich to break the Royal Air Force. "I never considered defeat," the pilot, now 93, tells Mr. Brokaw. "I don't think any of us ever did." A nurse recalls "the quiet courage of the men" and how that courage gave heart to the women.

Then came the Luftwaffe's merciless bombing of London and other cities. This was "a deliberate attempt by Hitler to terrorize London into defeat," the historian Andrew Roberts explains. All told the Nazi bombing of London left 40,000 dead, thousands more wounded and some two million homeless. But, Mr. Roberts says, Hitler "misunderstood the nature of the British people." St. Paul's Cathedral remained miraculously intact, and the newspaper headlines—"Is That the Best You Can Do, Adolf?"—testified to Britain's indomitable spirit.

The greatest symbol of that spirit was, of course, Prime Minister Winston Churchill—that "hard-drinking firebrand of vast experience and suspect judgment," as Mr. Brokaw puts it. (Though Mr. Brokaw doesn't pause to elaborate on that terse "suspect judgment" charge.) Churchill's mission was to ensure Britain would survive the Nazi onslaught long enough for the U.S. to enter the fray. "We are fighting by ourselves alone," he famously told his compatriots. "But we are not fighting for ourselves alone."

The wait was long and painful and the sleeping giant slow to awake. Militating against a U.S. entry into the war were isolationists led by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and his America First movement. "Let Europe fight its own battle," we hear one of Lindbergh's followers sneer. "They mean nothing to us." The rhetoric sounds eerily familiar to that deployed by contemporary proponents of isolationism of both the left-wing and right-wing varieties.

Today the athletes gathered in London and most of their spectators around the world take the special relationship between the U.S. and Britain for granted. The discomfiting question raised by Mr. Brokaw's documentary is: Will future generations of Britons and Americans appreciate the high price paid to forge it? There are no easy answers. Either way, this film might just be NBC's finest hour of Olympic programming

Happy 4th of July from Kandahar City, Afghanistan

It is the 4th of July here in Kandahar City, Afghanistan.

The day arrived earlier than stateside due to we are 8 1/2 hours ahead of the US.  Most back home are preparing for a night's rest along with some going out on the night before a day off.

Here in Afghanistan, it is just another day.

On military bases here, there will be a bit of celebration and some good food at the DFACs ( Dining Facilities).  At the same time, many will carry out their normal work of going in harm's way, working to guard the freedom of the people here.  All will go about the normal business of the work that occurs here in the war zone.

Likewise, the work here will go on for me also.  It is another work day and one that has become a bit of a habit for me.  This is the 3rd year in a row that I have been here for the 4th of July.  I have been working contract work for the past three years and that means being here for most of the year including the summer.

There will be no BBQs to attend or fireworks ( as the fireworks here are usually a bad thing).  The holiday passes quietly here and that is understandable.  It is what we have agreed to as part of the deal of working overseas, away from home and family.

Back home in the USA, things are not all "beer & skittles" either.  1.4 million people in the Mid-Atlantic area are still w/o power due to the thunderstorms that came through earlier this week, 14 million people are unemployed or underemployed ( leaving them w/o work or the type of work they usually would perform) and the majority of our citizens are unhappy with the direction our government has taken over the last 4 years.

Being away from home is tough at times like this, but so is being at home without work.  I have had to deal with that and it is a terrible place to be.  Like many others, I have spent a significant number of years working as a manager in HR and now face the new reality that what was of value to employers in the past is undervalued now.  The degree and experience I have is treated in the same manner as some look upon an older car.

Employers are hiring younger workers and paying them 1/2 of what someone like me should earn.  This is not just happening to HR professionals, but professionals from all different professions.  The recession has given businesses the ability to shed older workers, who carry larger wage & benefit costs and hire younger workers who seek less.

This trend will wind up hurting companies as they will spend more in traning and loss of customer satisfaction.  They are acting shortsighted and it is only making things worse economically.

Don Henley is on my IPAD with the song The Heart of the Matter and sings, " These times are so uncertain, there's yearning undefined and people filled with rage..." - very true and accurate even after the 20 years since he wrote the song.

America finds itself in perilous straits - The economy is sluggish and that is partly due to the 14 million people who are effectively unemployed.  They don't have the income they need and that means they are not purchasing goods and services.  That in turn holds the economy back.  We have a President who acts like an insolent teenager and thinks that it is cool to hang out with Hollywood types.  Instead of seeking maturity and competance, his supporters want to act like eternal high schoolers on a spending spree with their parent's credit card. The Middle class is struggling more than ever and all we get from the President is " Party on..." as he parties on the taxpayer's dime.

We deserve better leadership and the person sitting in the White House ain't it.....He needs to go back to Chicago.

The 4th of July is one of the days that makes me think more about the country I love and how difficult it was back in 1776.  The signers of the Declaration of Independence faced tough times.  It must have seemed as difficult as our times seem to us. My family has been in America since 1635 so many of my ancestors were there when the Revolutionary War freed our nation.

The key is that as Americans, we will continue to make our country and the world a better place by our actions.  Though we will disagree with each other and argue about what is needed, the outcome will still be an example to others about what can be accomplished if we set our minds to doing something.

That is essentially what I am doing here in Kandahar City - working to help the people of Afghanistan by leading them to create a better country for themselves and their children.  That is the lesson we learned back in 1776 and one we still honor and celebrate today.

Happy 4th of July to all our military serving abroad, our colleagues working to support them and all back home in the USA.

235 years ago - " We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" - Happy 4th of July

235 years ago today -

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

- He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
- He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
- He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
- He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
- He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
- He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
- He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
- He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
- He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
- He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
- He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

- He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
- He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
- He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
- He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
- He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Memorial Day - “It's not just Cape traffic & cookouts, it's really about the ultimate sacrifice that so many men and women have [made]”

The enclosed picture shows 20,000 flags planed on the Boston Common to represent the servicemen & women who have given their lives in defense of our country and our state of Massachsuetts since Worl War I. As the 13th generation of a family that came to Massachusetts in 1635, quite a few of my ancestors are among those 20,000. I have served and one of my children served in our fine US Navy. It was our distinct privilege to wear the uniform and continue a long tradition of selfless service to our country.

This weekend, make Memorial Day Weekend about more than cookouts and another day off. I'll be here in Afghanistan supporting our fine military. Please do your part to honor our fallen Warriors wherever you are.


Ceremony honors state's fallen ahead of Memorial Day

BOSTON -- Twenty thousand flags filled up Boston Common as the city honored fallen service members heading into the Memorial Day weekend.

“Each of them represent a heart silenced and a life lost in service to Massachusetts and the country from the beginning of World War One until last month,” Steven Kerrigan of the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund said.

One of those flags was for PFC John Hart.

“He always wanted to be a soldier,” his mother, Alma Hart, said.

The 20-year-old lost his life when he was ambushed in Iraq back in 2003.

“He stood up, did his duty and covered the wounded and when he ran out of bullets he was shot,” Hart said.

Years later, his mother had a Memorial Day weekend message.

“You should pause for a moment and think about the hopes and dreams these people had,” she said.

With mourning families, city and state leaders took a moment to remember the fallen.

“This visual behind us, 20,000 flags, is a powerful, silent tribute,” Governor Deval Patrick said.

“It's not just Cape traffic and cookouts, it's really about the ultimate sacrifice that so many men and women have paid for our commonwealth,” Kerrigan said.

The names of 143 Massachusetts servicemen and women killed in recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were also read during Thursday’s ceremony

Every so often.....

Or a LOT more often than you have been doing before.....prayer is the original version of Instant Messenging.....try it.....it works.

" Where’s the nearest carrier? ‘” - A question asked by all Presidents and one that we need to keep in mind going forward into an uncertain future....

The need for a deployed force multiplier is critical in today's uncertain world. The nature of the trouble spots around the world calls for having the ability to respond quickly and with a fully capable response to any issue large or small. The ability to project force from the Sea is essential and the Carrier is the one platform we need. Littoral Ships are essential BUT the Carrier is the Big Dog.

Recently, the CEO of my company stated that when he gets on the plane, he trusts the pilot as he feels that is the way it SHOULD BE. If you plan on going somewhere, you have to TRUST the guy at the helm.

READ the words below - I TRUST the people in charge of the NAVY as they know best when it comes to the Large Ships we need -

FROM NAVY.MIL - http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/carriers/cv-why.asp

Why the Carriers?

The United States has become increasingly entwined in the business and security issues with the rest of the world. Our economy and security depends upon our protecting our overseas interests as well as encouraging peace and stability around the globe. Forward presence by U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle groups and amphibious ready groups helps us accomplish this. As former Secretary of Defense William Cohen stated: "If you don't have that forward deployed presence, you have less of a voice, less of an influence." The U.S. Navy is engaged. And engaged means being there.

As example, on 11 September 2001, USS Enterprise (CVN 65) had just been relieved from being on station in support of Operation Southern Watch. She was heading south in the Indian Ocean, beginning her trip back to homeport in Norfolk, Va., when, on television, they saw the live coverage of attack on the World Trade Center, then on the Pentagon. Enterprise, without an order from the chain of command, put the rudder over, executed a 180-degree course change and headed back to the waters off Southwest Asia. Enterprise then remained on station in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, launching air attacks against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and Taliban military installations in Afghanistan. For approximately the next three weeks, aircraft from Enterprise flew nearly 700 missions in Afghanistan, dropping hundreds of thousands of pounds of ordnance.

The carrier battle group, operating in international waters, does not need the permission of host countries for landing or overflight rights. Nor does it need to build or maintain bases in countries where our presence may cause political or other strains. Aircraft carriers are sovereign U.S. territory that steam anywhere in international waters — and most of the surface of the globe is water. This characteristic is not lost on our political decision-makers, who use Navy aircraft carriers as a powerful instrument of diplomacy, strengthening alliances or answering the fire bell of crisis. As former President Bill Clinton said during a visit to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, "When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident the first question that comes to everyone's lips is; where is the nearest carrier?"

The carrier battle group can not only operate independently but it presents a unique range of options to the President, Congress and Secretary of Defense. By using the oceans — more than 70% of the earth's surface is ocean — both as a means of access and as a base, forward-deployed Navy and Marine forces are readily available to provide the United States with a rheostat of national response capabilities. These capabilities range from simply showing the flag — just a presence — to insertion of power ashore. The unique contribution of aircraft carriers to our national security was best expressed by Gen. John Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said during a visit to USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, "I know how relieved I am each time when I turn to my operations officer and say, 'Hey, where's the nearest carrier?' and he can say to me 'It's right there on the spot.' For United States' interests, that means everything."

NOW, follow that up with a bunch of elite idjits at a dinner party in Man-hattan who don't have a frickin' clue as to how many Carriers we REALLY have.....OMG. The protected have no idea how difficult it is to make sure they can go about their small lives while others pay for it in blood, sweat & tears 24/7/365.

Kudos to Mr. Cohen of FORBES for a superior piece of writing that illuminates how clueless some can be and the reason why we DO NEED more Carriers on station....as a friend wrote before,

" All hard, All the time."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Where are the Carriers?
Oct. 25 2010 - 9:12 am By STEVE COHEN - FORBES.COM

“When word of a crisis breaks out in Washington, it’s no accident that

the first question that comes to everyone’s lips is:

‘Where’s the nearest carrier?‘”

President Bill Clinton

March 12, 1993 aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt

At a dinner party on Manhattan’s upper east side recently, I asked my table-mates how many aircraft carriers they thought America had in service. It wasn’t an idle question. It was triggered by comments from two of the guests. Both had just returned from Iran, and one was a senior European Union staffer involved with security issues. Their report was seriously distressing, and the conversation turned to the possibility of U.S. (or Israeli) intervention.

The answers to my question – how many carriers — ranged from 22 to 100. The EU expert weighed in with 40. All were shocked to learn that the United States has a total of just 11 aircraft carriers. And even that number is misleading: two are in dry-dock, one for a four-year refueling; six are various stages of refurbishment, training and certification and can, in theory, be ready to “surge” in 30 to 90 days. But only three are actually deployed.

I knew the number because I had recently been aboard the USS Harry Truman, a nuclear super-carrier with some 70 jets and a crew of 5500. Following my embark, I was determined to investigate the value of these behemoths as objectively as a concerned citizen (without a security clearance) could. I interviewed dozens of defense experts and reviewed thousands of pages of studies and testimony. I was also sensitive to the fact that I had experienced a tailhook landing and catapult launch, which are often referred to as “the most fun you can have with your clothes on.” I appreciate why, and tried not to let that interfere with my assessment.

My questions started with the basics: Are carriers cold war relics as critics charge? Or are they, as supporters profess, cost-effective platforms essential to achieving critical foreign policy and security objectives? Are they too vulnerable to new Chinese anti-ship missiles as Defense Secretary Gates implies? Or is that vulnerability the latest feint by inter-and-intra-service rivals? And is 11 the “right” number to meet current and potential obligations?

The answers I found were not encouraging. And my dinner partners’ surprise quickly turned to concern.

Most experts fear that our carrier capability is stretched way too thin. And they are very concerned about what will happen in 2013 when the 50 year-old nuclear super-carrier Enterprise is retired. Its replacement, the USS Gerald Ford, is not scheduled to be commissioned until late 2015, and won’t join the operational fleet until several years after that.

Moreover, the carriers and their crews are being worked harder and longer. At today’s heightened operational tempo, deployments are more frequent, longer, and leave less time for essential maintenance. As retired Navy captain Dick Costello put it, “We’re driving them hard and putting them away wet.”

Contrary to critics’ rhetoric, aircraft carriers have played an expanded role since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The carrier’s traditional roles of deterrence, sea control, and showing-the-flag have taken advantage of their hard-to-miss presence. Carriers have been front-and-center in numerous conflicts where weapons were never fired. But since the end of the cold war, carriers have taken on the greater demands of kinetic power projection: carrier-based aircraft have flown most of the critical early sorties in almost every “hot” encounter of the last 20 years. Troops are never sent into harm’s way without first securing the airspace and without on-going close air support. Initial air operations are almost always the predominant responsibility of Navy-Marine air, while on-going sustainability is shared with the Air Force.

When special operations forces and CIA operatives went into Afghanistan after 9/11 – some of them memorably on camels – it was carrier-based aircraft that provided the essential cover. In fact, Navy Air was responsible for fully 75% of all strike sorties. This required four carriers on station.

In 2003, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, five Navy carriers again provided essential air-superiority and ground support. More than half of all American sorties were conducted by carrier-based pilots, as Turkey and Saudi Arabia refused American requests to operate Air Force jets from land bases.

Retried Marine General Anthony Zinni explained another benefit of having carriers forward-deployed: the element of surprise. When, in 1999 President Bill Clinton ordered air strikes against Iraq, Zinni was able to draw on carriers undergoing “routine” operations in the area. The Iraqis had no advance notice of night-time strikes by carrier-based pilots and were unable to disperse valuable pieces of equipment. In subsequent strikes by land-based Air Force planes, the Iraqis had enough time to move their machinery.

Carriers are also playing a growing, non-traditional role: disaster relief and delivering humanitarian aid. Following the 2004 Asian tsunami, the USS Abraham Lincoln led relief efforts. Not only did the carrier’s flight deck provide the main staging area for distribution of desperately needed supplies, its medical facilities were literally life-saving for thousands. Moreover, as former Ambassador Douglas Paal noted, its quick response and presence provided Secretary of State Clinton with a formidable platform from which to engage the Indonesian government.

Does the Navy believe 11 carriers are enough to meet the challenges demanded of them by successive presidential administrations? As recently as June of 2000 – before the attacks of 9/11 or our interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq – the Navy told Congress that it needed 15 carrier battle groups. Unfortunately, with only 11 carriers, large areas of the globe are suffering from a “presence deficit.” According to Vice Admiral Barry McCullough, these include the Black sea, the Baltic region, Indian Ocean, and areas off the African coast. In addition, South America, the Caribbean, and the Balkans have not seen a carrier in several years.

The most formidable carrier critic is outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. “I’m not going to cut any aircraft carriers,” Gates told Fred Kaplan in his recent Foreign Affairs interview. “But the reality is, if Chinese highly accurate anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles can keep our aircraft carriers behind the second island chain in the Pacific, you’ve got to think differently about how you’re going to use aircraft carriers.”

Gates may not have cut the number of carrier groups outright, but he has significantly delayed the start date for building new carriers from every four years to every five. And there is some talk about not refueling the Abraham Lincoln when its reactor core must be replaced in 2014, halfway through the carrier’s 50-year lifespan.

Is this Chinese missile threat sufficient to diminish carrier capabilities? Not according to former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James L. Holloway III. “The Chinese lack some of the key hardware and software to constitute the ‘system of systems’ required to achieve the kill chain of detection, tracking, guidance and pinpoint accuracy needed.” Holloway also notes that a carrier can move 12 miles between the time a missile is launched and when it arrives at the target. And its flight deck and hull are heavily armored. “The Enterprise experienced a serious fire a number of years ago when nine major caliber bombs (750 – 1,000 pounds) exploded on its flight deck. It was back in operation after four hours.”

Perhaps most tellingly, no nation is pursuing aircraft carriers more assiduously than China. They have purchased three old carriers from the Soviet Union and a fourth from Australia. In addition, they have constituted an air wing that is practicing landings on a carrier-shaped strip, and are reported to be building a new carrier in secret.

The one thing critics and supporters agree upon is that carriers are very expensive. The USS Gerald Ford will cost about $11 billion by the time it enters the fleet. And that doesn’t include the cost of its air wing or its strike group of cruisers, subs, and support ships. (Just as a point of reference, the “cash for clunkers” program cost us $3 billion, and the overall stimulus and bank-bailout have totaled $1.5 trillion. That is 1500 billions.)

Our current spending on carriers and aircraft is a grave concern to former Navy Secretary John Lehman. He notes that we have only 10 airwings and no attrition aircraft. Moreover, he is critical of Secretary Gates’ position that while we may have no back-up aircraft for the carriers, we have plenty of Air Force planes. Lehman notes that, “In any potential conflict with an increasingly truculent and aggressive China, Air Force reserves are largely irrelevant. We have very few land bases in the Pacific.”

As I conducted my investigation, I kept hearing that the Navy has no congressional champion, as it did first with Georgia Congressman Carl Vinson and later with Virginia Senator John Warner. Moreover, the public seems not to know or care what the Navy does. In a recent Gallup poll, the Navy was ranked dead last among the braches of the military services in terms of both prestige and importance.

So, without a champion or broad public support, is there little wonder why our carrier resources continue to erode? I came away from my investigation convinced that the modern super-carrier is our most flexible and proven defense platform. But I was also very troubled by the realization that our initial incursions into Afghanistan and Iraq required four and five carrier battle groups respectively. And that we didn’t have enough ships to support those operations simultaneously.

What my dinner partners worried about was: what would happen if two-or-more conflicts erupt concurrently? We went around the table citing current concerns: Iran is attempting to build a nuclear weapon; North Korea recently sunk a South Korean warship; a Japanese tanker was attacked just last month in the Straits of Hormuz; Venezuela has threatened Colombia; and China is showing increased belligerence towards Taiwan. And all those were cited before appetizers were finished. We’ll just have to hope that no President, faced with a crisis, will ask, “Where are the carriers?” and hear that they’ve been retired in favor of the next politically popular clunkers program