Last winter when we had the big snow, our little valley was broken up by avalanches. We could go East to town, but not west. Things were fairly open to us, we had everything we needed and the stores were still open. Some of the villages reached by the narrow nearby backroads were totally inaccessible, however. Most folks weren’t in danger, they were tucked away in nice ski resorts with cozy wood burning stoves. The biggest thing they had to content with was boredom as they weren’t allowed to go anywhere. Noise or movement can trigger additional avalanches so they were stuck in their hotels or homes.
The military base where J. works is responsible for (among other things) providing helicopter search and rescue services. So yesterday morning, after reading about how the US military has been sitting on their hands instead of mobilizing to the Delta, I asked him what the hell that was about. “If I had a unit in my command, I’d put them on the plane and fly them down there!” I insisted. “I wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for permission to provide help. I’d just move and worry about the consequences later. After all, isn’t it my JOB?” Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s easy for me to say. I get that. Still.
J. was (as always) more circumspect about this. In addition to telling me about how Homeland Security has hampered the authority of agencies to act in circumstances like this, he suggested that because it’s the military, they follow the rules, it’s what they do. And he reminded me of what happened during the avalanches, albeit on a much smaller scale, in our winter home.
He said they were in a spin on the base because they wanted to fly in to the valley immediately to evacuate emergency cases, asses the situation, etc. Our weather at that point was flawless, dry, sunny, no wind, ideal flight conditions. Plus, their little helicopters are ideal for narrower valleys because they are less likely to set off more avalanches. But they couldn’t file a flight plan, the upper management wouldn’t let them fly. They had to wait two days until the big showy choppers were flown in from another part of the country. They invited the press and then went to evacuate the group of vacationing school kids from the ski resort. Again, these folks were in no immediate danger. They had supplies and generators and they were, according to all reports before and after, fine. Still, the guys on the ground wanted to do something and were actively blocked by folks who wanted to turn the thing in to a PR stunt.
I read a blurb in the news the other day about how National Guard units are just kind of sitting, waiting for FEMA to tell them what to do. They’ll pick up the phone and say to the FEMA contact, “you know, we could…” and FEMA says, “Um, yeah, that seems cool, we’ll get back to you when we can give you permission to do that.”
The people stuck in the ski resorts and little mountain inns in the big winter snow of 2005 weren’t in danger. The only thing damaged by the delay was morale. The parents – who, granted, were fraught with worry, could talk to their kids on cell phones and hear from them directly that they were fine. The staff at the base were cranky too because they wanted to help but were stalled by people who wanted to be heroes and steal their thunder for their own agenda. (Side story that I won’t go in to: The Austrian military is looking at severe cuts, including closure of J’s base.) I would like to think that the guys in charge on J’s base, had those people been in real danger, would have told the higher ups to fuck off, they were going to help because not only was it their job, but it’s the right thing to do.
I get that Katrina Rescue is not the same thing at all. Which is why it makes me feel all the more outraged that every available resource wasn’t mobilized pronto. This is what government is FOR. This is why we have a military. Where are the mavericks who have moblilized without orders because it’s the right thing to do? Why does the mayor of New Orleans have to beg and plead on national television for assistance?
I’m feeling guilty about a number of reactions I’ve had to this terrible disaster. (But not too ashamed to write them down where you can read them. A-hem)
I wonder if it’s wrong to hope that the hurricane brings down the Bush administration with as much fury as it brought down New Orleans.
I wonder if it’s wrong to point a finger at anti-environmentalists and say, “I told you so!” in a taunting voice.
I wonder if it’s wrong to yell loudly and with great profanity at anyone who thinks its okay to stockpile gasoline. I wonder if it’s wrong to say “Dude, are you still driving around by yourself in that hugeass car like it’s not an insult to everyone? Are you kidding me with that?” to everyone that’s driving a car that gets crappy mileage. I’m reasonable. If you need that big old truck for work, I will shut up. Mostly. But if you’re some SUV driving soccer mom or that guy in giant mega cab Dakota parked in the Redmond burbs, I won’t promise civil behavior. (Admittedly, I have issues.)
I also wonder if it’s okay to spend money on coffee and movies (like we did yesterday afternoon) while people in New Orleans sit in a sewage infested swamp with no money, no homes, no food, no water, nothing.
I wonder if it’s okay for me to keep doing my work in the morning when maybe I should answer the call I saw today for volunteers to take the place of some Katrina displaced journalists who are still reporting when what they really want to do is find their families.
I wonder if I should keep nagging you about giving money to the Red Cross because they seem to be the primary actors in getting relief out.
I wonder how I would be feeling and what I would be doing if it was me, if it was my home, if it was Seattle that was devastated by, say, a 9.0 quake and everything was rubble. Would I be out looting and/or finding things I need? Would I be helping my neighbors? I hope I would be but in the face of such terrible circumstances, who can say how I’d react?
I wonder what the right thing to do is and if I am doing it now. Again, I hope so.
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Adminstrivia:
- A huge THANK YOU to Marilyn at California Fever who’s promoting my book on her site! Marilyn and I found each other in the blogosphere when she was living as an expat in the opposite of Austria – the Virgin Islands. I’d look at her pics of the tropics from inside the snowglobe and think, man, that’s living, but we sometimes expats gals know better than to think it’s that simple.