Mercy’s Mission On Hold After Helo Hit By Gunfire
Military Times
Tuesday Jun 10, 2008 16:58:17 EDT
A Navy helicopter flying from the hospital ship Mercy returned to the ship with two bullet holes in its tail section Monday afternoon, prompting Navy officials to temporarily suspend the ship’s humanitarian operations off the Philippines coast.
The bullet holes — one entry and one exit hole from a single bullet — were found after an MH-60 returned to the Mercy following a mission in which it flew 50 miles inland and brought 11 passengers to the ship.
No injuries were reported. Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis said officials were unsure if passengers were on the helicopter when it was fired upon. It was also unclear what size bullet hit the aircraft, he said.
Mercy, which has been near the Philippines for about 10 days, is anchored off the coast of Cotabato, Philippines, conducting Pacific Partnership 2008. The four-month exercise is intended to strengthen American relations with nations in Southeast Asia and Oceania by bringing together military and civilian medical personnel from various nations, along with construction personnel.
Davis said the Mercy mission commander temporarily ceased all Pacific Partnership activities until “a proper assessment can be made.”
Mercy left its homeport of San Diego on May 1 and is scheduled to visit the Philippines, Vietnam, Micronesia and Papua New Guinea, according to a Navy news release.
Cotabato is home to an ongoing Muslim insurgency, according to media reports.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
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Repair the helo and set course for Vietnam by Thursday.
I’m really sick of our good will being shat upon.
The LHD-2 Essex group idled off the the Burma coast for three weeks after Nargis - wasting valuable man/machine hours. Only to be told to fuck off by a pack of common junta chimpanzees. Paranoid, stupid and bent on reducing a population. The same breed of asshole is trying to fuck up the Philippines.
The way to help the good people in these regions is to mass parachute small drop packages consisting of 2 Howa 1500 series .308 rifles, 6 boxes of ammo and 5 gallons of water.
(where they’re likely to access it)
June 10th, 2008 at 8:02 pm