Where is the logic and why is the might, the huge and world-shaking might, of the United States of America so fractured and rendered powerless and little more than useless in emergency situations? Where was the body of investigative forces that should have gone immediately to work to find out about the Kennedy assassinations, the Twin Towers disaster, the 6th of January insurrection, and now the Florida apartment building collapse?
Instead, each situation of such huge magnitude is swirled into a charnel house of political factions, competing and disagreeing civil and governmental forces, and even uncooperative police and fire department organizations. Why has nobody first stated the obvious, as in this case, and then gone to work to do something about it? What’s the obvious? That apartment complex still has parts of it standing. The whole site should be surrounded by a perimeter and then everything inside that perimeter taken apart and down by huge construction cranes and other heavy equipment. Every last brick, facade, shingle, I-beam, and more. And it should be done in a matter of hours or a few days.
Instead of that, we have the usual; a bunch of sputtering forces doing a bit of this and that, while the supposed leaders there go on television every day to say that they are doing everything possible, while they mostly do nothing. Like we don’t have the people, the assets, the equipment, and the ability to really go at that mess?
Oh please! Shaven lemurs, come down from the trees, to pull fruit from the tops of the trees, and then race to the ground and fight over the results…while lying about what is really happening. That’s what we are and what we really do.
We live in a country of brilliant success, dominated by studied, stilted, selfish, and grasping members of a ‘lemur’ leadership. It’s bizarre and almost impossible to understand. The hateful anthropoid apes in Congress now provide the broken, busted, and awfully evil ‘news’ that the former fat fart of a leader used to provide on a daily basis. Such expression of stupidity and selfishness sells…and that’s just a fact.
If you don’t believe that then know that Dog the Bounty Hunter has a new series about to air…and American’s will flock to the show, while the very few survivors who might be under that rubble in Florida slowly expire. Do not ever, if you can possibly help it, get caught in the American cultural foundations of the musical chairs game of life here. Make sure you have a chair because when the music stops nobody’s going to give you one. And stay the hell out of, or get the hell out of, every high-rise apartment or condo you might be occupying in Florida.
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Well things from the Air look different then from the ground. To that i mean if you don’t have your boots on the ground you should Waite until all info is in. MDFR station 21is 20 blocks from the site arrival time was less then five minutes, on arrival they did a quick survey and requested the USAR team to respond (response time about 1.5 hours) this is a 76 person team it consist of the following.
_Task Force leader 2, Search team manager 2, with 4 canines, Two tech Specialist which include listing, visual, sonar, and fiber optics. Rescue team manager 2 Rescue squad OIC 4 Specialist per squad four each. Medical Team manager Trauma surgeons ea. they come out of JMH where we train militarily surgeons. Medical team managers 4 ea. Technical team manager 2 Structures Specialist 2 they are structural engineers Hazardous materials specialist 2 Heavy equipment specialist 2 operators Technical info spec. 2 Communications spec. 2 and Last Logistics 2
Equipment: C-141 can no longer carry our load we now use the C-5 or a C-17 and yes we are load mater certified. So this is a small sample of what was requested on arrival of the first unit. We have two fully staffed teams in Miami whit 4-5 positions deep, we train on buildings that are brought down for new development. the persons that were removed from the balconies were the first rescued with a boy. We had workers all over the pile from the bottom and top. The structure had to be evaluated for safety but that didn’t stop our teams from working.
The only issue was the the press, and tow many teams brought into the area.
Our teams work 12 hours shifts for two week periods, before relived by another unit. that’s the only issue we carry our own shelters, water, food, fuel and even bath rooms and showers.
Just to give a little view of what a team is made off. 32 year veteran of the Metro Dade Fire rescue Department. Worked on the FEAM Urban Search and Rescue response System. Worked for OFDA, USAID worked the Pentagon response, New York response, worked logistics for the Embassy bombings at the ops center in DC, have traveled all over the world for USAID to recover personnel.
Sorry to carry on but you have to know the back ground and why things are done. We are the ones doing the work and the one’s who say what go’s on at the site.
Angel G. De La Fuente RVN 1971 Phu Bai 220 RAC Birddog unit.
How very appropriate that you name if Angel. I cannot thank you enough for
your description about how it all works and is done.
God Bless and thank you….
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow! Emotions running pretty high, were they? As usual, you have done a remarkable job with your words here. Few people have that ability and even fewer share it. Rest assured, here in Florida, our emotions are also running really high. There is considerable frustration over the political factions fighting it out over the emergency in Surfside, and there is considerable frustration over the slow progress in finding those people, dead or alive, still trapped in the rubble. We are all noting the ongoing concerns and disagreements over the portion of the building that still stands and whether it should be removed immediately or after the job of finding all the victims is finished. And there is considerable disagreement over how the building should be removed: demolition or piece by piece removal. Everyone is an expert and everyone has an opinion, especially those with no experience in the construction industry. And then we also have the experts in demolition and the experts in disaster recovery, both fields of which are woefully limited in expertise of this nature. As for the ability to move the rubble and/or the still standing remains of the building in hours or days, I do have some experience in the construction industry, but I am not sure that that is feasible. Is that a desired outcome of yours or do you have knowledge of the means for bringing that about? In our considerable frustration here in Florida, we would all certainly love to see that happen, and if the means is available, then ultimately some body of investigative force that you mentioned should certainly put that on their priority of lists.
Once again, James, you have done an outstanding job of putting to pen your thoughts. Your concern and frustration over what is happening in Surfside is well noted and well appreciated, as would be your prayers. I sat on this for over an hour, though, pondering whether I wanted to comment. I was taken aback by the amount of political comment you put in your writing and was floored by your comment to “stay the hell out of, or get the hell out of every high rise apartment or condo you might be occupying in Florida”. Golly gee, that’s a really broad descriptor there. What do you consider to be a high rise? Four stories? Ten stories? Where do we draw the line? And why do you draw the line in only Florida? I suspect your emotions got the better of you in that statement. You probably rattled a few cages with those of us in and/or from Florida.
Now, as to the political side of your well written tome, I shall repeat some advice I gave you a while back. I will not pick out the specific points that raised the hair on my neck, and I respect your right to have those opinions. However, you are a writer. A very good, published writer, with a well founded fan base. That fan base sits on both sides of the field. When you venture into the political arena, you are stepping out of your lane and into a lane that is fraught with extremisms and emotions. Your fan base is looking to you for your ability to tell stories, not to “challenge” them with differing political viewpoints. You run the very real risk of losing a portion of your fan base. It’s not dissimilar to people getting upset with actors and athletes giving us their political opinions. We don’t want them.
A single word in your writing here hit me like a ton of bricks. It rankles me and took away from my completing the remainder of the piece without bias. Actually had to read it a few times. You should stay in your lane, James. Your writing is better than that.
Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your concern.
Thank you for your wonderful compliments Gage. Once again, I must reiterate my position in writing and on here. I am not trying to build a base or keep the one that I have. I write what comes to
my mind. I didn’t put this on here. Chuck did. I put this on Facebook, where few here read me. I am sorry that I cannot stay in my lane, but if I stayed in my lane then you wouldn’t be reading any of
my stuff at all…because I wouldn’t be writing it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Interesting opinion
Are you suggesting that instead of attempting rescue that they should focus on demolishing the remaining structure?
I am indicating the slow action regarding the investigation. Sympathy proclamations of officials hardly help anything.
Maybe they prefer the waiting game?
They need to search for survivors before anything else.
Well put.
Thanks.
Thank you, Gregory
I’m surprised that you are surprised. Nothing moves fast within the government except pointing fingers and if anyone should know this it should be you. These problems should have been properly addressed as soon as the written report was printed up.
Amen.
From what I understand, the other tower has had way more maintenance and is in better shape. Of course it needs inspected properly. And it should be evacuated until completed. Since this happened lots of folks posting pictures of cracks in their own building. A perfect storm. Deteriorating steel reenforced concrete, salt air, rotten, pourous limestone underneath. You have to wonder how many more buildings show similar signs…..