Injured in helicopter “hard landing”
(Ryosuke Uematsu/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, CREDIT MANDATORY
There were either six or seven folks injured when an Army Blackhawk helicopter made a “hard landing” on the deck of the USNA Red Cloud, depending on whether you listen to Reuters or CNN.
The U.S. Army H-60 helicopter was damaged during a “hard deck landing” aboard the USNS Red Cloud about 20 miles east of Okinawa, the U.S. Forces, Japan said.
The helicopter is currently on the deck of the USNS Red Cloud and the injured were transported to the U.S. Naval Hospital at Camp Foster, it said in a statement.
The articles don’t stipulate which service the injured were assigned to – they could have been Navy, Marine or Army given the story of an Army helicopter on a Navy ship.
The good news is that there were others aboard who weren’t injured.
The Japanese government is currently calling for a reduction of US presence on Okinawa because of accidents that they fear will injure their citizens. I guess that’s the price that you pay when you depend on a foreign government for protection so that you don’t have to pay for your own defense.
Ah the Rock.
Kadena AB 1984-1986.
Hopes for them guys a speedy recovery AND thankful there were no fatalities.
Leftist Okinawains are about as annoying to me as Puerto Ricans.
Somebody please remind the Japanese that they LOST the war…
Raaaacist! You’re hurting their feelings. Next thing you’ll say is that the Germans are 0 for 2
They might be considered 1 for 3, if you count the Franco-Prussian War.
But they’ve surprised the French all three times they invaded through the Argonne forest.
But its nice of the French to line their roads with trees so that the German soldiers can march in the shade.
Guys, the Japanese complaints on Okinawa about noise and safety are no different than those in Virginia Beach about NAS Oceana. Lived in that area for a few years once and heard the b!tching myself.
And, for what it’s worth: it is another nation; we’re there at their government’s invitation – just like we’re in Germany today.
You’re right. We got the invitation delivered to us on 7 Dec 1941.
Now, there’s a winner!
(Note to Moerk and Pentagon monitoring stations: Please turn up the volume before clicking the arrow.)
Back home in Indiana, in the little town near where I grew up, the siren was mounted on top of the water tower.
It was used as a tornado warning, used (by number of blasts) as a signal to the the VFD to let them know of a fire in town or in the country, was sounded at noon to let everybody know it was lunch time, and for a while (until some of the FOPs complained that it was waking them up) was used as a curfew call and time to roll up the streets.
Ah, small town life. Where has it disappeared to?
That “invitation” expired in May 1972 – when we ceased occupying Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands reverted to Japanese sovereignty. Since then, we’ve based forces in Okinawa because an ally – Japan – allows us to do that.
The same has been true in Germany since 1955.
We have no “divine right” to base US forces anywhere in the world other than on US territory without the permission of the government involved. The only exception to that occurs when we’re (a) at war and (b) forcibly occupy formerly hostile territory.
Sheesh. Are you guys actually trying to give the libidiots who keep claiming the USA is “evil” fresh talking points today?
I get a kick out of laughing at crybabies’ complaints about noise after they relocate near a Military Installation as well. I’d enjoy laughing in their faces while I punched their Tough Shit Cards!
Yeah, but those “crybabies” vote API. And they damn near got NAS Oceana shut down in one of the BRAC rounds as a result. They were at least partially responsible for getting a number of other installations closed.
My point is that the Japanese on Okinawa are doing exactly what a fair number of Americans living near US military installations do – complain about “the troops screwing up our community”. In both locations, they apparently don’t realize that those troops probably spend enough annually in local stores to keep a big chunk of the local populations employed.
Have told more than one of those crybabies, “If I was so stupid that I bought a home at the end of a runway without understanding that airplanes make noise, I certainly wouldn’t brag about it in public.”
Once lived in one of those neighborhoods. The whiners got so bad that they actually installed a complaint line for people to call to complain about the noise. I would call a few times each month to report that I heard some airplane noise and found it beautiful. Told them that every time I heard the noise I knew they were paying landing fees, and with any luck, the fuel tax. Good times. After recruiting a few friends to do the same, it didn’t take long until that stupid phone line disappeared.
I think the government of the P.I., which was so happy to see the US Navy and USAF go after Pinatubo erupted, has realized that the loss of revenues from all those military peeps and duty stations paid for a lot of stuff. They don’t seem to be as happy as they once were and want us back.
There are lots of people who buy a house near / next a long-established airport and when they see the incoming and departing flights over their homes, and are subjected to the noise, they aren’t quite so happy any more and start bitching loudly. Then if the airport gets closed, their property taxes go up, and they bitch and moan even louder. I think that happened when Slick Willie decided to close NAS Glenview in the late 1990s.
Seriously, if you don’t want the noise or the sailors, then be happy when they leave and don’t complain that you suddenly discovered the money is gone, too.
It may be apocryphal, but I’ve heard a story that the commander of a CONUS Army base paid his men in $2 bills just to show the locals how much money they inject in the local economy.
AZ passed a law that requires realtors to explain prospective buyers that A- your house is near a military installation. It was there before you and will remain after you. B- Military installations create noise and dust. You will be exposed to both. C- If you buy this property, you do so with the knowledge of A and B, and your complaints will be ignored.
Easy to do, Bird coming down, ship going up…..wham!
Prayers out for all that were injured. May they recover completely and quickly.
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (which MacArthur made them create after WWII) prevents them from maintaining a standing military force. The Self Defense forces weren’t created till 1954. That’s why they depend on mutual defense treaties for their defense.
Originally established as the National Police Reserve, the name later changed to “Self-Defence Force” … therefore, they have no “army.”
I used to ask the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force members if they had bayonets. When they replied in the affirmative, I’d say “only ARMY forces carry bayonets.”
My prayers go out to the injured and their families. May they recover quickly and return to duty.
Looks like some peter pilot didn’t compensate for upswell.
Just get the big crane/davit out and dump it over the side. That way there will be one less Blackhawk that a Huey will have to slingload off to the boneyard at the end of its operational lifespan.
God Bless the injured and there families …
Someone should remind the Japs of what happened in the Bay of Tokyo on September 2, 1945 onboard the mighty battleship USS Missouri …
They don’t have a say in the matter!
They DID last longer than Germany and waited until we nuked ’em twice before they gave up. Yeah, Japan is THE ONLY Nation in world history to have been nuked in anger, not an enviable title, is it?
I know an old Japanese (let’s refrain from the pejorative term “Jap”, please) lady who, as a teenager during the war, had to practice bamboo-spear exercises and endured B-29 strikes. Anyway, whenever she hears other Japanese complaining about the atomic bomb, she says, “Well, WE started the war!”
Proud, the pejatorive comment is not directed at you — sorry!
I figured that as soon as I read it, it’s all good!
and they are still pissing and moaning about it, but…they seem to forget they started the whole fiasco with Pearl Harbor…..gully Vern, how quick they furgit!
MCPO: since May 1972 – actually they do. Since that date, we’ve been in Okinawa at the invitation of an ally, not as an occupying power.
Ah, fucht ’em anyway!
I get my guidance from Brooklyn born Bugs Bunny!
I remember wAtching that and other WWII era cartoons on broadcast TV in the morning when I was a kid (early 70’s) as well as after school. Alas, these days they’re banned for being *GASP!*, racially inthenthitive!
Popeye’s wisdom helps put things into perspective as well:
Anybody know the difference between a hard landing and a crash landing?
Yep.
A hard landing is when the airframe’s main body doesn’t make contact with the earth, as in a helicopter autorotation that only spreads the skids.
Crash landing is, well, the term defines itself.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the difference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_landing
Not a pilot, so I can’t assess how technically accurate that description is. But it does seem to me to pass the “common sense test”.
Or to make a long story short:
Hard Landing: Circled Red X and fly it and watch it.
Crash Landing: SOL, Hangar Queen or Boneyard are the choices. I’ll flip you for it.
So a crash landings means no more flight pay a job as range control officer.
I know that a “good” landing is any one that you can walk away from (or in my case, crawl).
Did I miss the logic here? If Japanese troops replace the US troops, there won’t ever be any accidents? They think American troops injure themselves and break very expensive equipment just for the fun of it?
And how does an incident 20 miles off shore endanger Okinawans?