View Full Version : Haiti Reporting - Misused Terminology
I have a former student who was in Haiti on a university sponsored humanitarian service project and I was watching the Today show this morning reporting on the situation in Haiti from the Port au Prince airport. After watching, I sent the following to NBC News.
I am watching the Today show this morning and listening to your reporters in Haiti erroneously referring to the USAF Special Operations Forces operating the Port Au Prince airport as "Air Force Special Forces." FYI - there is no such unit - they are Air Force Special Operations Forces (or AFSOF).
The only military unit whose official title is "Special Forces" are the US Army Special Forces (also referred to as SF or Green Berets) which are also a part of the overall DOD Special Operations Forces community.
IMO - such erroneous reporting of a well-known fact merely places into question the overall quality of the news being reported, and reflects poorly upon those doing the reporting and those doing the editing. You can do better than this.
Sincerely,
X. Richard XXXXX
MAJ (Ret), SF
Dallas, TX
And so it goes...;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
I hope your former student is OK.
Our church helps with the support of a small mission to Haiti and have heard back that they are OK but their building has a number of cracks and a section of wall down - they got off lucky.
They do report that the area around them is devastated. I'm sure there will be an extra call on Sunday for mission funds.
I hope your former student is OK.
I spoke with his family last night and he's OK - but there are still about half a dozen of their group (students and faculty) still missing and their hotel totally collapsed in the earthquake.
Sounds like a real mess down there right now - or even worse than the norm for which the area is known.
Richard
Bill Harsey
01-14-2010, 18:00
Richard,
Good catch. I heard the quote this morning on NBC.
Hoping the best with those missing.
This might seem like a wild idea, but rather than mobilize rescue efforts to Haiti, would it not serve our efforts better if had an exfil plan for the victims?
Setting up camps along the eastern mexico peninsula, south florida, costa rica. This would also inclease travel, access to other resources, raise revenue, family access, or better yet, family provided comfort. Then ship back after stabilization or common infrastructure as been made safe, i.e., water, water, etc.
A slightly different example of the dynamic mentioned in the OP. Source is here (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122574763&ft=1&f=1001).Air Force Coordinates Military Relief For Haiti
by Wade Goodwyn
January 14, 2010
The facility managing the U.S. military's rescue effort to Haiti is the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air force Base outside St. Louis.
At the airlift control center inside Air Mobility Command headquarters on Thursday, it looked like a scene out of the movie War Games or NASA's Mission Control in Houston. On one very large wall, a projection screen displayed a map of the world with little colored airplanes. At the moment, about a dozen purple ones pointed toward Haiti.
The room is filled with 100 controllers sitting in front of desks watching multiple flat screen TVs. Thursday they will track more than 950 military flights around the world, including a new theater of operations, the rescue of the Haitian people.
"Air mobility command is responsible for worldwide airlift, refueling and medical evacuation. And the 618th TACC plans, tasks and executes those mission," Capt. Justin Brockhoff says.
Brockhoff concedes the shattered infrastructure in Haiti is a challenge to the relief mission. But he says operating in suboptimal environments is not a problem for them.
"Keep in mind our operations aren't always in a robust infrastructure-type area like an airport. We have folks on the road every day. We land on dirt strips in Afghanistan, dirt strips in Africa. We're taking the show on the road," Brockhoff says.
Tents, medication, food and water will fly in and the badly injured will fly out with other personnel. It is an intricate ballet of very large aircraft and hundreds of airmen and soldiers. Col. Brian Reno is a contingency response element director. It is his job to set up the entry point; in this case, the damaged but usable Port-au-Prince airport.
"The biggest problem initially and what we're trying to work with is re-establishing communication and re-establishing the one big airfield in Haiti, i.e., air traffic control, who's managing the parking spots, who's managing the flood of cargo that's coming in," Reno says.
And although the Air Force has the communications and other equipment necessary to make the entry point work, it's not like the U.S. military can just come in and take control of the airport. Reno knows cooperation with Haitian officials is as important a job as the logistics.
"I just got off the phone with one of our crews that got out and there are many airplanes stacked up in holding waiting to land. They're unloading airplanes as fast as they can," Reno says. "The government of Japan is sending airplanes; the government of Israel is sending airplanes. So we've got an outpouring of support globally that's all focusing on one relatively small airfield."
Reno points out that planes waiting to land on an island can't pull over to the side of the road to wait their turn. The runway at Port-au-Prince is too small for the big C-5 transport planes. The Air Force is using C-17s and C-130s. Air transport is of course fast, but it's expensive and, more important, inefficient. Large ships are the long-term rescue and relief solution for Haiti, but the port has been much more badly damaged than the airport. The large cranes that unload the cargo from the ship's hold have toppled into the water. It sounds like a job for the U.S. Navy. MOO, American civilians are ill-served when journalists describe the work of the armed services by comparing activities to scenes from movies. Such reporting contributes to the "I saw it on TV/ read it on the Internet so it must be true'" mentality that is fetishizing public discourse off national security affairs.
This pattern is hardly new. Even so, I worry about its configuration as American mass popular culture becomes increasingly situated in the digital world. YMMV.
The Reaper
01-14-2010, 18:59
This might seem like a wild idea, but rather than mobilize rescue efforts to Haiti, would it not serve our efforts better if had an exfil plan for the victims?
Setting up camps along the eastern mexico peninsula, south florida, costa rica. This would also inclease travel, access to other resources, raise revenue, family access, or better yet, family provided comfort. Then ship back after stabilization or common infrastructure as been made safe, i.e., water, water, etc.
You would never get them to leave. Most would probably escape and request asylum, and be granted it.
TR
You would never get them to leave. Most would probably escape and request asylum, and be granted it.
TR
TR,
I was thinking the same thing. There were lots of displaced persons after Katrina - they never went back. Given the history, lots of people looking for a ticket out of there and anywhere they land will be better than going back. As usual, you are correct predicting the US will allow them to stay, under one program or another. There is lots of lobbying for such a program going on in South Florida right now.
v/r
phil
bravo22b
01-15-2010, 07:29
Source is here (http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/14/us.haiti.airport/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn)
Because of the difficulty in refueling planes, Nelson said the Air Force is trying to make sure that any planes flying into Port-au-Prince have adequate fuel to fly out.
The Air Force's 23rd Special Tactics Squadron is part of the Air Force equivalent of the Navy SEALS or the Army's Delta Force.
Nelson said the squadron flew into Haiti Wednesday night from its headquarters at Hurlburt Field, Florida. The squadron's main mission was to re-establish an air traffic control system at Haiti's biggest airport.
The air traffic control team with his unit walked off the plane with radios on their back and within minutes were talking to in-bound planes that were trying to land with humanitarian aid, Nelson said.
The airmen were equipped to provide security for the airport, but Nelson said he knew of "no issues of violence or crime at the airport" as of Thursday afternoon.
I'm open to correction if this is an apt comparison, but :confused:
That said, good job, and good luck to the AF guys doing the work - I'm pretty sure that the last time I flew in and out of Port au Prince ('95), we were running the airport then, too.
The Air Force's 23rd Special Tactics Squadron is part of the Air Force equivalent of the Navy SEALS or the Army's Delta Force.
Oh-kaaaayyyyyyyy.... :rolleyes:
These guys have a specific job to do and go through a lengthy specialized training program - but they don't = SEAL/Delta.
Richard
Combat Controllers, Pararescue, and Combat Weather make up Air Force Special Tactics units who attend Air Traffic Control school, BAC, SERE, Combat Control School, Scuba and HALO training.
They are organized, trained and equipped to rapidly establish and control the air-ground interface and provide airmenship skills in the objective area. Their functions include assault zone assessment and establishment (this is Zoomie speak for PZs/LZs/DZs); air traffic control; command and control communications; special operations terminal attack control; and removal of obstacles and unexploded ordnance with demolitions. Special Tactics forces missions are to establish and control the air-ground interface during special operations missions by conducting airfield or assault zone reconnaissance, assessment, and control, and providing immediate emergency trauma medical treatment and patient retrieval as well as combat search-and rescue when directed.
Special Tactics teams routinely employ in support of contingencies and humanitarian aid missions worldwide.
There are 8 STS units (6 AD/2 ANG) who come under the 'umbrella' of the 720th ST Group out of Hurlburt.
AD - Hurlburt, Pope, McChord, Kadena, Mildenhall
ANG - KY, WA
dadof18x'er
01-15-2010, 08:27
I googled DR earthquake damage and found this article saying no damage there!!
http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1140425.php maybe Pat Robertson was right:eek:
sorry that link did not require a log in when posted it....go figure
Utah Bob
01-15-2010, 15:31
I watched network talking heads on the scene last night. (It's very important that they be there so we know what good reporters they are)
One mentioned that there are "45,000 Americans living here in Cuba".
Another said "..as we walk the street here in Afghanistan.."
And one said something so stupid I can't remember what it was. Must have blocked it out.:rolleyes:
You would never get them to leave. Most would probably escape and request asylum, and be granted it.
TR
Sad thing is, I was talking to a couple of ICE agents yesterday, they are being called up to go to Haiti and told me they would probably be in a tent at the airport, giving Visas to anyone that wanted to come to the USA
I googled DR earthquake damage and found this article saying no damage there!!
http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1140425.php maybe Pat Robertson was right:eek:
San Francisco's huge earthquakes didn't flatten Sacramento, right?
You would never get them to leave. Most would probably escape and request asylum, and be granted it.
TR
www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-haiti-earthquake-refugees-20100115,0,4548552.story
American Red Cross officials Thursday said more than 4,000 Haitian refugees could be coming to Central Florida soon.
The WFTV.com report shows the organization plans to bring the Haitian refugees, as well as more than 45,000 U.S. nationals living in Haiti, to Jacksonville and then divide them among other Florida cities, including Tampa, Miami and Orlando.
Orange County mayor Rich Crotty said the large number of evacuees coming to the area from Haiti could pose problems for Orlando.
"We're very stressed financially right now, and this is going to add to that stress," Crotty said. "So this is a balance we're going to have to work on strengthening."
Catholic Charities and other South Florida immigrant rights organizations also are planning an ambitious effort to airlift thousands of Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of Tuesday's horrific earthquake — a move mirroring Operation Pedro Pan in the 1960s.
"We will use the model we used 40 years ago with Pedro Pan to bring these orphans to the United States to give them a lifeline, a bright and hopeful future," Catholic Charities Legal Services executive director Randolph McGrorty said Thursday at a news conference in the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
"Given the enormity of what happened in Haiti, a priority is to bring these orphaned children to the United States," he said.
Archdiocese of Miami officials and other local organizations have already identified a temporary shelter in Broward County to house the children, McGrorty said.
He also said they had been in contact with the Obama administration to assist in bringing the children from Haiti with humanitarian visas.
Operation Pedro Pan was launched on Dec. 26, 1960, as part of a successful clandestine effort to spirit children out of Fidel Castro's new Cuba as communist indoctrination was spreading into Catholic and private schools.
By the time it ended 22 months later, the unique exodus of children—ages 5 to 17 — had brought 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban minors to America, with the secret help of the U.S. government, which funded the effort and supplied the visa waivers, and the Catholic church, which promised to care for the children.
The late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, a Miami priest, was considered the father of the effort.
As the children filtered into Miami and their numbers swelled, many went to live with relatives and family friends, but others were sent to Miami-Dade group homes and camps called Florida City, Kendall and Matecumbe. They were then relocated across the country to archdioceses in places like Nebraska, Washington and Indiana. There, they went to live in orphanages, foster homes and schools until their parents could find a way out of Cuba. Sometimes the separation was brief; sometimes it lasted years.
McClatchy News Service and Tribune Newspapers contributed to this report.
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I'm with Reaper, how in the world are you going to get them to leave, well, considering the article is talking about kids, how or when would you return them? How long will they stay? Where will you put them? Are they going to go to school?
Too many unknowns and only possible negatives for the tax payers of Orlando/central FL.
The comments from some of the readers are interesting perspectives.
Maybe I'm not looking at this quite right, but as a parent if my son and I got separated in some sort of disaster and he was subsequently airlifted to live in as an orphan in some random country I wasn't allowed into... I can't even express how awful that would be. Surely there is a more reasonable way of helping children that doesn't involve rounding them up and airlifting them away?!
Just my 2c...