Irma. The biggest ever Atlantic hurricane......
Discussion
After catching a bit of the storm in Orlando and having a tree fall down outside our hotel room I can still only try and imagine what the stronger winds and storm surge must have been for those finding themselves in the stronger part of the storm, with homes, family and businesses.
I hope that everyone affected can get themselves up and running quickly.
I hope that everyone affected can get themselves up and running quickly.
We are now starting to get assets into the area.
We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
baldy1926 said:
We are now starting to get assets into the area.
We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
I can't believe we don't have a few Hercs kicking around anywhere to at least get these idiot tourists out the way of the reconstruction effort. It's embarrassing. Jeez we could even help out with a few non Brits and show the French how it's done. Not our finest hour.We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
The Moose said:
Ok - so just had a call from a buddy on Marco Island. House is still there. Missing all shingles from roof but the paper underneath is watertight and in tact. No major water damage internally - the odd leak from the roof I suspect. Some of the lanai screen has blown through, but the structure still stands. No flooding from 'the surge' (new film title??).
Will have to wait now to see what the score is with my business...
Great news that it's not as bad as your worst fears, The Moose.Will have to wait now to see what the score is with my business...
CAPP0 said:
The Moose said:
Ok - so just had a call from a buddy on Marco Island. House is still there. Missing all shingles from roof but the paper underneath is watertight and in tact. No major water damage internally - the odd leak from the roof I suspect. Some of the lanai screen has blown through, but the structure still stands. No flooding from 'the surge' (new film title??).
Will have to wait now to see what the score is with my business...
Great news that it's not as bad as your worst Will have to wait now to see what the score is with my business...
fears,
The Moose.
baldy1926 said:
We are now starting to get assets into the area.
We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
What's better than an RFA? It's a floating store of fuel and food and can manufacture drinking water.We had 1 rfa vessel in the area but it will be 10 days before hms ocean gets there.
Unfortunately with the navy/army/raf being as small as it is now we cant have stuff in places where we did 15/20 years ago.
Next year hms ocean will be scrapped with no replacement so we could not even deploy anything similar.
The response is about as good as we can do.
Its easy to downsize the armed forces for short term money gains but it costs a lot more to build it back up again.
A warship is not very well suited to disaster relief as they are crammed full of sailors and weapons. We will always have limited warships with any sort of load carrying capabilities.
If you need bodies on the ground and you have a runway then flying them in is way faster than a ship. Same if you need to get people out. Warships have very little capacity to take on civilians other than in an emergency.
fblm said:
I can't believe we don't have a few Hercs kicking around anywhere to at least get these idiot tourists out the way of the reconstruction effort. It's embarrassing. Jeez we could even help out with a few non Brits and show the French how it's done. Not our finest hour.
I disagree it shouldn't be the military getting tourists out it should be the tour operator/airline that took them there in the first place. The military should be, and it would appear is, focusing its efforts on restoring and maintaining order and getting supplies to the people left on the islands.It was irritating to see certain people trying to gain political capital from the disaster by claiming that the government reacted slowly. There was already a ship in the area and has been since the start of hurricane season waiting to help in such a situation. What were people expecting? A swarm of transport aircraft landing the moment the winds died down? Fools.
djc206 said:
I disagree it shouldn't be the military getting tourists out...
You're right of course. They should have got themselves out before or properly prepared but they appear to have done neither, I guess they expected their 'holiday rep' to do everything for them. Even now they could easily leave if they were prepared to put their hand in their own pocket. Every man and his dog knows a friend on a neighbouring island with a boat who could sure use the money right now. If you want to leave you can. If you want to go wait at the airport and complain that no one is doing it for you, you can do that too. But... these fools are evidently incapable of looking after themselves and are now in the way. Just move them somewhere inconvenient out of the way and watch them keep complaining.djc206 said:
What were people expecting? A swarm of transport aircraft landing the moment the winds died down? Fools.
Er, I kind of was, naively. Not a swarm 1 an island maybe and not for the tourists but for the poor sods who live there...they are all British Citizens!Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 12th September 01:33
Lucas CAV said:
The Mad Monk said:
TTmonkey said:
Hurricane Jose also looks like it will take a very similar track.
Why are so many people pronouncing Jose as Hoseh?Surely the letter J is pronounced, er, Jay?
Edited by The Mad Monk on Tuesday 12th September 08:29
The Mad Monk said:
Lucas CAV said:
The Mad Monk said:
TTmonkey said:
Hurricane Jose also looks like it will take a very similar track.
Why are so many people pronouncing Jose as Hoseh?Surely the letter J is pronounced, er, Jay?
Edited by The Mad Monk on Tuesday 12th September 08:29
eltawater said:
The Mad Monk said:
Lucas CAV said:
The Mad Monk said:
TTmonkey said:
Hurricane Jose also looks like it will take a very similar track.
Why are so many people pronouncing Jose as Hoseh?
amusingduck said:
eltawater said:
The Mad Monk said:
Lucas CAV said:
The Mad Monk said:
TTmonkey said:
Hurricane Jose also looks like it will take a very similar track.
Why are so many people pronouncing Jose as Hoseh?Why give a word a foreign pronunciation?
The Mad Monk said:
Well, we don't say Paree? We say Paris.
Why give a word a foreign pronunciation?
Names tend to transcend local language. Why give a word a foreign pronunciation?
Paris (with an S) is an English-spoken word based on spelling alone, and its part of our language now, even if it is wrong when said to a Frenchman
but Jose is a name similar to that you'd give a person. And if you met a person of Spanish descent, called Jose (Hoe-say) you're not going to start calling them Jose (rhyming with garden hose) are you? They wouldn't know what you were on about..
The letter forms we have are entirely arbitrary and different languages have entirely different alphabets, but some use just the same alphabet with their own pronounciations
The Mad Monk said:
amusingduck said:
eltawater said:
The Mad Monk said:
Lucas CAV said:
The Mad Monk said:
TTmonkey said:
Hurricane Jose also looks like it will take a very similar track.
Why are so many people pronouncing Jose as Hoseh?Why give a word a foreign pronunciation?
I think it'd be a bit of a forks pass if you pronounced everything in English though
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