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I'm sure we must have some Marines or ex-Marines in here. Can you please tell us what sort of options the Marines have, in terms of boats, helicopters, planes, LCACs, amphibious vehicles, flying saucers, pogo sticks, etc. for moving troops and supplies into an area like New Orleans? Where are they based? How long would it take to get there. It seems like I've heard that "no beach is out of reach" and seen movies of these guys setting up pontoon bridges in a matter of minutes, and driving amphibious vehicles in crazy conditions. What about air drops? Is there really no way to get food and water to people in New Orleans really quickly? I find that incredible. Can't they drop guys in Zodiacs out of helicopters and shit like that, or am I completely clueless?
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What a drag it is getting old. -- Stones
Not a marine but an ex-naval officer on an LPD(landing platform dock). A ship that is designed to transport marines from point a to point b.
My ship had enough room for 3,000 marines. In ideal conditions it took us 24 hours to offload the full contingent.
LCAC's can hold 2 jeeps and approximately 6-8 men. The biggest helicopter we could land on our flight deck could hold 15 marines. We had a 2 spot flight deck. So you are talking 200 flights to offload marines via helicopter.
My ships max speed was 20 knots. 480 knots in one day. There are not a lot of naval vessels home porter on the gulf coast. Most will have to come from VA. Even if thay had been pre-positioned they would not have been able to enter the gulf until the hurricane made landfall on Monday.
No beach is out of reach, but there is no beach in New Orleans. Where do you land amphibs and LCAC's? How does the driver know if the landing site he has chosen is structurally sound?
Helicopters from the air bases in FLA and TX are the best option but where do they go to pick up the supplies? Where do they drop them IN NO? How do they get distributed after they are dropped?
The landing fields within 100 miles of NO(as far as I know) have been destroyed and are not usable.
If you have been watching the video it takeson average 4-5 minutes to load 1 victim into a cherry picker and lift them to safety in a helicopter. The Coast Guard helicopters carry about 10 people so you have 40-50 minutes just to pick up 10 people. Once you have them, where do you take them? Where does the chopper go to be re-fueled and maintained?
Not trying to frustrate you but the answers are not black and white in this situation.
Thanks for the info. That's very helpful in trying to understand the situation.
What about bringing in pontoon landing platforms for the choppers? Pontoon bridges for trucks? What type of terrain can the amphi vehicles go over? Can LCACs only land on beaches, or can they go up rivers and float over debris?
Is there a method for dropping drinkable water? I know they can "flutter" drop food packets without parachutes like they did in Kosovo and Thailand.
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What a drag it is getting old. -- Stones
former Marine. 8 years in the Combat Engineers... there's nothing that can't be done. Last I heard Marines in Miss. were doing rescue operations in AAV's (amphib assault vehicles). Not sure why they haven't been called upon in LA (except maybe they're all deployed)
as far as re-building, you want the sea-bees
thank you. that's exactly what i thought.
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What a drag it is getting old. -- Stones
It's tough to move fast. The recent wars were planned for months and it only looks like they jumped on a ship yesterday and out the front today. Everyone wants to do something, but you just don't fill up a ship with food and drop it off. First orders have to be given, where do the meals come from, where is the wharehouse and how do they get to the ship. Who should have gotten those meals and what do they get in place. You get the picture. Then one of them gets killed and everyone in the command chain gets hung for not following procedure. Of which there isn't one for this type of disaster.
Which is the point I've been making all along. The Marines can deploy any where in the world in 48 hours. They don't just jump on a plane and go... they have processes and contingency plans which have been drilled and practiced ad-nauseum.
FEMA should have had plans for this exact senario, which has been predicted for 50 years. Disasters happen, Wars happen. You can't just make it up your response as you go along. There should have been plans in place leveraging every resource (including rapid deployment of the military) to reduce storm damage, get the basic necessities (Shelter, Water, Food, First Aid and Security) in place, and then begin re-building.
Blaming the people who stayed behind is beyond comprehension. If your plan is "Get the hell out of dodge" then there better be resources in place for getting everyone out regardless of their personal means.
I'll say it again. The hurricane is a natural disaster and could not be avoided. All the deaths and anarchy that have followed have been man-made. It disgusts me to think that there may be a greater loss of life due to our lack of planning (caring) than to a cat-4 hurricane.