yourviews
MILITARY
our Coast Guard combats pirates
with a clipboard. They have issued
OFFICER
“The res-
cue outfit
a security directive requiring com-
JULY 2009 $4.75 THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF MOAA | ONE POWERFUL VOICE®
WWW.MOAA.ORG
meant a lot
mercial vessels to add an antipiracy
annex to a security plan that by all
to those measures is completely ineffective.
of us who
In other words, the U.S. mariner is
flew in the
pretty much on his/her own dealing
Hanoi area
with pirates. As for your writer who
penned, “for all its notoriety, piracy
Tothe
in 1965.”
overall is unsuccessful” — please tell
— Lt. Col. T. Weissgar-
that to the crews of the 14 to 18 ships
Rescue
ber, USAF-Ret.
still under pirate control and … to
the commercial shipping companies
Combat search-and-rescue worldwide who are spending millions
teams ensure no service-
member is left behind 44
of dollars to combat this threat.
a comforting thought to —Cmdr. Vince Corry, USN-Ret.
DEFENSE BUDGET
Details include the Obama
us when we headed north. Marlton, N.J.
concurrent receipt plan
and more 29
And, we thought, if
MODERN-DAY PIRATES
we had to punch out Gina DiNicolo characterizes the So-
This age-old menace poses
a renewed threat 56
and were captured, we mali pirates as “modern-day Robin
would probably spend six Hoods.” I object to referring to the
Jul_cover.indd 7 6/11/09 12:24 PM
Rescue Lapse months in jail. Little did we know. scurrilous pirates in such a chari-
Although the history of CSAR That was [in] 1965. table manner — Robin Hood was a
[combat search and rescue] and our —Lt. Col. T. Weissgarber, USAF-Ret. much higher type than are these sea
Marine brethren’s involvement in San Antonio rats. My feeling is that they should be
today’s CSAR community is exem- shot or drowned as soon as they are
plary, [“To The Rescue,” July 2009] Exterminating “Sea Rats” caught in an act of piracy.
did not mention the role the U.S. Air Your article on piracy in the July —Lt. Col. C.R. Clapp, USAR-Ret.
Force plays. … issue [“Scourge of the Seas”] painted via e-mail
My father sent me the article a very rosy picture of what our Navy
and couldn’t understand why the and U.S. Coast Guard are really Worth a Thousand Words
U.S. Air Force wasn’t mentioned in doing to protect U.S. fl ag shipping A few weeks ago I left my father’s
today’s CSAR mission; frankly, as against pirates. Our Navy has taken July issue of Military Offi cer on the
a member of CSAR for 15 years, I the position that there is too much table next to his breakfast. He leafed
can’t either. sea area to cover to provide ad- through it, reading what caught his
—Lt. Col. Daniel Byers, USAFR equate protection. So they commit a interest. Later that evening … with-
via e-mail couple of ships to [Combined Task out a word he pushed the magazine
Force] 151 and consider their job across the table to me. I perused the
I salute the rescue guys. They do a done. However, last time I checked, page [in “Picture This,” featuring
great job. The rescue outfi t meant the mission of the U.S. Navy to pro- winners of MOAA’s fi fth annual pa-
a lot to those of us who fl ew in the tect U.S. vessels on the high seas triotic photo contest] to see what had
Hanoi area in 1965. was the primary reason our Navy caught his interest.
We knew, if we ejected up north was founded. My heart did a little fl ip-fl op, then
and there was a chance we’d be Enter the U.S. Coast Guard. I I asked, “Do we know this guy?”
picked up, many fi ghters would be have no idea why they are involved, With a smile he replied, “I hope so.”
diverted to the downed crew in an but their solution is to regulate the I am so grateful to your publica-
all-out effort to save them. That was problem to death. In other words, tion as well as Lt. Col. Earl J. Mc-
14 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2009
SSept_yourviews.indd
14ept_yourviews.indd 14 88/5/09 6:54 PM/5/09 6:54 PM
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