IN RESPONSE TIME TO ARRIVALS IN HAITI; LEADERSHIP POSITIONS; AND THE RESCUE EFFORT; JAN 20, 2010

The fastest responders are the 1 or 3 media reporter crews but the fastest group is from VA and CA; they are the experts in these types of disasters. However, the makeup of the military was sufficient and "as good as it can get." Most of our young troops are in Afghanistan and some on their 4th or 5th combat tours; that leaves only a few fresh young troops ready on a moment's call; so mobilizing 10,000 or 1,000 in 24 hours shows how difficult and how prepared these troops are. If there is a case where alarms were triggered all over the place, this is a really good case and a really good example of triggering a lot of alarms; nobody was feet dragging or rambling incoherently; so it was as good as it can get but the magnitude of the disaster is not yet fully understood until the manpower arrives and the possibility of hostilities is circumstantial. There is a time span to set up an operation and coordinate the expanding personnel needs; however, allowing several million people to roam freely in Haiti in a state of suspended animation is not advisable. The UN were the first on the scene and suffered medical overloads and casualties. If we rank the first responders, it should be the Haitian government. Consider if 2000 people arrived in Haiti; how would they move around, where are the helicopters, get fuel, and find their way back?