via Marines.mil
USS GERMANTOWN (LSD 42) and USS ASHLAND (LSD 48)This roster of men and materials shows why the US method of disaster relief, or more precisely the Pentagon way of disaster relief is a fraud. Its a department failure as well as a Marine/Navy failure.
• 3 Landing Craft Air Cushion – 60 ton load capable
• 2 Landing Craft Utility
• Flight deck w/ 4 helo spots
• 850 Marines
• Water production: 72,000 gallons/day
• 5 tactical water purification kits – 1,500 gallons/hour each
Medical contingent
• 2 doctors
• 2 dentists
• 22 corpsmen
• 16 beds in wards with 4 isolation beds
• 1 X-ray machine
• 1 general surgeon
• 1 nurse anesthetist
• 1 OR nurse
• 1 surgical tech
• 1 ICU corpsman
Transportation/engineering
• 5 rigid hull inflatable boats
• 14 amphibious vehicles (AAVs)
• 8 dump trucks
• 30 multipurpose Humvees
• 20 7-ton, 10-foot bed trucks
• 4 7-ton longbed trucks
• 6 600-gallon fuel tanks
• 12 10Klb forklifts with buckets (TRAM)
• 2 5Klb forklift
• 1 tow truck
• 12 inflatable boats (CRRC)
• 3 bull dozers
• 6 M105 Pull Behind Trailers for Humvee
• 21 generators (8 MEP806s, 5 MEP805, 6 MEP803s)
Water and MREs
• 40,000 MREs
• 9 water tank trailers, 440-gallon water storage capacity, 2,200-gallon water distribution capability
• 2 water tanks - 600-gallon water storage capacity, 1,200-gallon water distribution capability
Why do I say that?
Simple. The Marines rushed MV-22s and C-130s to the disaster. The Navy rushed an aircraft carrier and associated battle group to the area. The Air Force sent its planes....but its all for naught and is relatively meaningless.
Help can't really come till you put men ashore with the proper heavy equipment to finally get a relief effort flowing.
Perhaps the early effort was to keep the population calm. Perhaps it was to prop up the Philippine government.
It really doesn't matter. When the US Navy amphibious ships arrive with their contingent of Marines is when the REAL relief effort begins.
Everything else is just a show.
