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