Do you trash your own home, please retrieve and take your rubbish with you.
We think you should have considered our reef first and foremost and abandoned your obsolete planes
US Marine Harrier jets forced to drop unarmed bombs on heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/national-news/us-marine-harrier-jets-forced-to-drop-unarmed-bombs-on-heritagelisted-great-barrier-reef/story-fncynjr2-1226682400617)

I'll bet they didn't bother reporting this story in the US after all it didn't happen there

I apologize. It makes not one lick of sense that we were forced drop them where we did and it is just stupid to say no harm done.

Um yes it was reported here although admittedly not in an anti-American rant implied in this OP. Guess you would've preferred that the jets and crew were lost rather than the temporary jettisoning of some ordinance. Yes,recovery operations are planned.

Guess it doesn't matter that these jets were training for Exercise Talisman Saber;a bi-annual US -Aussie joint exercise in defense of our common interests in your region of the world .

You have already demonstrated that you would prefer to live under the Chinese defense umbrella. But let me ask you . Had these been Chinese jets ;would you ever had learned about the incident from them ? You already know the answer so no need to respond.

um yes it was reported here although admittedly not in an anti-American rant implied in this OP. Guess you would've preferred that the jets and crew were lost rather than the temporary jettisoning of some ordinance. Yes,recovery operations are planned.

Guess it doesn't matter that these jets were training for Exercise Talisman Saber;a bi-annual US -Aussie joint exercise in defense of our common interests in your region of the world .

You have already demonstrated that you would prefer to live under the Chinese defense umbrella. But let me ask you . Had these been Chinese jets ;would you ever had learned about the incident from them ? You already know the answer so no need to respond.

Hey I don't wish the pilots ill, I just expect them to have more sense and understand the importance of the area they have been allowed into, maybe it is too much to ask an american to be culturally sensitive.

Tom I expect our survelliance to be sophosticated enough to know what is going on in our backyard, now once in a while they fail and an old wooden boat get a little close to the coast, but jets, that is a horse of a different colour.. We carry out military exercises with your forces, we have to find someone to exercise with and I'm sure you benefit as much as we, although we hope your injured servicemen recover. I think we have been doing amphivous landings, who we are going to invade I couldn't imagine, maybe you want us to invade China for you or perhaps you want our help to invade Australia...

This exercise is for defense. Since this year it is being held in your region ,it is safe to assume that the defense we are talking about is Australia and it's surrounding territory. Use your own judgment as to which nation Australia needs defense from. Hint ;does the joint Russian-Chinese naval exercise recently conducted not give you some pause ?

I believe the operative word is 'forced' and the obvious question is why wasn't the bombing range clear?

P. S. Your own military is saying no harm no foul, but by all means update on the findings.

'The Australian Defence Force said the bombs posed "minimal risk or threat to the public, the marine environment or civilian shipping transiting the reef area".'

I believe the operative word is 'forced' and the obvious question is why wasn't the bombing range clear?

P. S. Your own military is saying no harm no foul, but by all means update on the findings.

'The Australian Defence Force said the bombs posed "minimal risk or threat to the public, the marine environment or civilian shipping transiting the reef area".'

Yes the public usually stay clear of the reef during military exercises but my question for my government as much as your own is why are the exercises being carried out in the Barrier Reef, a deadly place for shipping, and hardly the place of choice for invasion so whose reef are we training to invade? Like we have 25,000 miles of coast to invade, but no, we have to do it within reach of the creature comforts and holiday resorts. I'm sure the fish on the reef will have been pleased to have bombs dropped on them and no doubt the recovery operation will inconvenience someone if only the shipping who might wish to use that particular channel. Those planes were STOL so landing with ordenance which wasn't harmfull posses a small risk oe does it? More military misinformation?

You see I don't see as much use for these exercises as some because I wonder whose benefit they are for, Australia hasn't carried out marine landings since WWII, our defence interests are in repelling borders

Our government is ruthless. Our media lies (hides/covers up) and many people only care about being entertained.

yes the public usually stay clear of the reef during military exercises but my question for my government as much as your own is why are the exercises being carried out in the Barrier Reef, a deadly place for shipping, and hardly the place of choice for invasion so whose reef are we training to invade? Like we have 25,000 miles of coast to invade, but no, we have to do it within reach of the creature comforts and holiday resorts. I'm sure the fish on the reef will have been pleased to have bombs dropped on them and no doubt the recovery operation will inconvenience someone if only the shipping who might wish to use that particular channel. Those planes were STOL so landing with ordenance which wasn't harmfull posses a small risk oe does it? more military misinformation?

You see I don't see as much use for these exercises as some because I wonder whose benefit they are for, Australia hasn't carried out marine landings since WWII, our defence interests are in repelling borders

The bombing range wasn't clear, which would be your country's responsibility, the Jets made several attempts and had to ditch them because of a lack of fuel after those attempts. It had nothing to do with landing with ordnance, it was getting back safely. Instead of ragging on us you should be asking why your military made the area a training ground nearly 50 years ago and why the range wasn't clear for planned exercises.

And yes our media reported on it.

Emergency forced jets to drop 4 unarmed bombs on Great Barrier Reef: US official - World News (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/19/19566852-emergency-forced-jets-to-drop-4-unarmed-bombs-on-great-barrier-reef-us-official)

The bombing range wasn't clear, which would be your country's responsibility, the Jets made several attempts and had to ditch them because of a lack of fuel after those attempts. It had nothing to do with landing with ordnance, it was getting back safely. Instead of ragging on us you should be asking why your military made the area a training ground nearly 50 years ago and why the range wasn't clear for planned exercises.

And yes our media reported on it.

Emergency forced jets to drop 4 unarmed bombs on Great Barrier Reef: US official - World News (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/19/19566852-emergency-forced-jets-to-drop-4-unarmed-bombs-on-great-barrier-reef-us-official)

If the bombs were unarmed there was no need to drop them our report said there was little likelihood of explosion, so they must have been armed with something and as far as the range being clear is concerned I expect there is a command structure and coordination, the purpose of the exercise no doubt so who is to blame is not clear except that they were not our aircraft

Crashed fighter jets make a mess too. The UK's BP made a bit of a mess in Louisiana and it never will be cleaned up and it sure wasn't a joint military action.

if the bombs were unarmed there was no need to drop them our report said there was little likelyhood of explosion, so they must have been armed with something and as far as the range being clear is concerned I expect there is a command structure and coordination, the purpose of the exercise no doubt so who is to blame is not clear except that they were not our aircraft

It's the weight dude. After making several attempts they had to ditch the weight or run out of fuel and crash. Would you rather they crash the Jets into your reef? And unarmed only means they had not sent the signal to arm them. Had the area been clear as it was supposed to be none of this would have happened.

Seems to me speech if the area wasn't clear they shouldn't have been airborne, so the exercise found a hole in the command system what do you call it , SNAFU?

if the bombs were unarmed there was no need to drop them our report said there was little likelyhood of explosion, so they must have been armed with something and as far as the range being clear is concerned I expect there is a command structure and coordination, the purpose of the exercise no doubt so who is to blame is not clear except that they were not our aircraft

Dude, they are always unarmed until time to use them for their intended purpose. What part of it being a weight issue do you not understand? These are precision machines, weight and fuel are calculated closely. Too much weight for the amount of fuel left and you don't make it home so if they can't drop them as planned because of complications you have a choice, ditch the weight or crash the jet. It's not complicated.

seems to me speech if the area wasn't clear they shouldn't have been airborne, so the exercise found a hole in the command system what do you call it , SNAFU?

It's your range, why wasn't it clear? Were their some koalas in the way, and if there were you'd b*tch at us for bombing your wildlife so you won't be satisfied no matter what we do... in our JOINT exercises at YOUR training area.

They were your planes and your target and who knows what not being clear means. I expect it means a craft in a restricted area was too close to target, so iIalso expect that that craft was under operational command so as I said SNAFU no matter who owns the range, but it could just as easily have meant there was fog or mist or some sea turtles or a dugong or a whale

Whatever... they dropped ordinance that was not going to detonate ,and returned safely to their base. The bombs will be retrieved... no harm ;no foul ;no issue except for those who would use it to further an anti-American agenda.

whatever .... they dropped ordinance that was not going to detonate ,and returned safely to their base. The bombs will be retrieved ...no harm ;no foul ;no issue except for those who would use it to further an anti-American agenda.

You see no harm but I do see harm in carelessness because this is not your country. What if this ordinance was dropped in the everglades or the Florida Keys or in Burmuda?

You think my objection solely an anti-american agenda but I also object to Chinese ships in the Great Barrier Reef for whatever reason. A marine park is a marine park and to be respected irrespective of nationality and bombs don't belong in a marine park in Australia anymore than they belong in a national park in the USA

I guess they should have just crashed.

What if this ordinance was dropped in the everglades or the Florida Keys or in Burmuda?
My reaction would be the same... and this incident would've been much worse if the results would've been the same as Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 . Do you think air traffic should reroute around the Great Barrier Reef too ;or Is this a rant about the US military ? You are making it sound like the joint exercises were happening in the reef .

Let me tell you ,Tom, my ire isn't alone, my countrymen are irate about this. With an election in the wind it could become that left field election issue. We weren't happy when Gillard did a deal for more contact in NT, we aren't happy about this and we aren't happy that Pine Gap is used to control drones in Pakistan. We have a saying here "not happy Jan" I'll let you work out what it means, but for Krudd it is bad news, very ill timed

Environmentalist have been protesting Talisman Sabre since 2007.

Like I said before, it was Australia that ran everyone off and turned it into a military training ground in the 60s and has used it as such ever since. If you don't want such incidents you should have picked another site. Stop shifting the blame, your hatred for America is showing again.

Speech, you take any criticism as hatred, fact is; we don't like what you do sometimes and the way you go about doing it and we are not above saying so. I know there is a certain movement in the world that says, don't say anything negative but things have to be said, embarrassing as they maybe. We provided a military training ground long ago when exercises were much more low key and yes, for an exercise as large as this another place should have been found. Since that time the environmental movement has grown strong and between them and the aboriginals with their sacred sites it is just in the too hard basket to find another site which would provide the scope needed.

The Great Barrier Reef is a politically sensitive area, the reef is under threat because of climate change and agricultural run off and therefore is a focus for environmental action and activism

A. What part of joint exercise do you not get?

B. What part of this is your training ground do you not get?

C. What part of don't blame us for your having a military training ground in a sensitive area don't you get?

You need to accept some responsibility here. It was a mutual exercise and your bombing range wasn't clear in spite of repeated attempts. They had no choice, dude, it was that or crash. Which would you prefer?

What I would like to know is why was ordinance been carried in a marine park and a world heritage area irrespective of their destination

What part of world heritage area don't you get?

What part of marine park don't you get?

How about we fly over Yellowstone and drop some ordinance on it?

Take some responsibility for insensitive and irresponsible actions, we are not in control of your planes, I get the joint part that means your forces and our forces are taking part

what I would like to know is why was ordinance been carried in a marine park and a world heritage area irrespective of their destination

what part of world heritage area don't you get?

what part of marine park don't you get?

How about we fly over Yellowstone and drop some ordinance on it?

Take some responsibility for insensitive and irresponsible actions, we are not in control of your planes, I get the joint part that means your forces and our forces are taking part

Dude, we took responsibility and will retrieve the ordnance, but don't b*tch at us for your putting this world heritage site in harm's way. Take some responsibility yourself, it is your country that located a military training ground in the Great Barrier Reef. If we had turned Yellowstone into a military training ground I would expect an incident, but we didn't do that like you did with Shoalwater Bay, which in itself is insensitive and irresponsible.

Shoalwater Bay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoalwater_Bay)

Speech let's try to keep to facts not provided by wikipedia. Shoalwater Bay is not actually on the reef even though it is part of the marine park because the marine park was declared long after the area was designated for military use. It is an area behind a peninsula, probably the reason it was chosen in the first place. Just as in your own administration our military seems to do it's own thing irrespective of what anyoneelse is doing but we come back to the fact a different dump site could have been chosen. As I understand it an STOL aircroft is not restricted as to where it can land so let's just settle for red faces all round. Please be more careful in future

speech let's try to keep to facts not provided by wikipedia. Shoalwater Bay is not actually on the reef even though it is part of the marine park because the marine park was declared long after the area was designated for military use. It is an area behind a peninsula, probably the reason it was chosen in the first place. Just as in your own administration our military seems to do it's own thing irrespective of what anyoneelse is doing but we come back to the fact a different dump site could have been chosen. As I understand it an STOL aircroft is not restricted as to where it can land so let's just settle for red faces all round. Please be more careful in future

As long as your face is red, too. It's not all on us.

More details. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jul/21/bombs-dropped-great-barrier-reef)


The US Navy says it may try to salvage four unarmed bombs dropped by fighter jets into Australia's Great Barrier Reef marine park last week when a training exercise went wrong.

The two AV-8B Harrier jets, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard, each jettisoned an inert practice bomb and an unarmed laser-guided explosive bomb into the World Heritage-listed marine park off the coast of Queensland on Tuesday, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement on Saturday.

The four bombs, weighing a total 1.8 metric tons (4,000 pounds), were dropped into more than 50 metres (164ft) of water, away from coral, to minimise possible damage to the reef, the statement said. None exploded.

The Great Barrier Reef marine park authority said in a statement that identifying options for the "rapid recovery" of the bombs so that they could pose no risk to the marine park was "a high priority". But the authority also said the ordnances posed a "low risk to the marine environment".

US 7th Fleet spokesman Lieutenant David Levy said on Monday the Navy was reviewing the possibility of retrieving the ordnances in consultation with Australian authorities.

"If the park service and the government agencies of Australia determine that they want those recovered, then we will co-ordinate with them on that recovery process," Levy said in an email.

The jets, from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, had intended to drop the ordnances on the Townshend Island bombing range, but aborted the mission when controllers reported the area was not clear of hazards.

"It was not safe to drop the bombs. There were civilian boats right below them," fleet commander William Marks told Australian ABC radio on Monday.

The pilots conducted the emergency jettison because they were low on fuel and could not land with their bomb load, the Navy said.

"The Harriers... needed to get back to the ship, and so they conducted an emergency jettison," Marks said.

So, my question goes back my original premise, why wasn't the area clear? Your country knew what was going on, why didn't they clear the area of civilian boats?

As long as your face is red, too. It's not all on us.

More details. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jul/21/bombs-dropped-great-barrier-reef)



So, my question goes back my original premise, why wasn't the area clear? Your country knew what was going on, why didn't they clear the area of civilian boats?

I don't know what not clear means but it is a marine park and the reef is a recreational area as well as containing marine passages for international shipping the range is at the end of the peninsula. What your are saying is like why don't you keep the Florida Keys clear of civilian boats what is it with the US navy and coral reefs I see the navy is removing more of its junk carelessly deposited on another coral reef

I don't know what not clear means but it is a marine park and the reef is a recreational area as well as containing marine passages for international shipping the range is at the end of the peninsula. what your are saying is like why don't you keep the Florida Keys clear of civilian boats what is it with the US navy and coral reefs I see the navy is removing more of its junk carelessly deposited on another coral reef

As far as I know we haven't turned the Florida Keys into a bombing range. It's not complicated.

As far as I know we haven't turned the Florida Keys into a bombing range. It's not complicated.

Well perhaps if you did rather than coming half way round the world to practice dropping bombs we wouldn't be having this conversation. It seems no matter where you go you stir up controversy. You see I happen to see the issue as uncomplicated too, carry enough fuel and stay out of the reservation why couldn't you drop the bombs next to your ship before landing or was your warship in the world heritage area too

well perhaps if you did rather than coming half way round the world to practice dropping bombs we wouldn't be having this conversation. It seems no matter where you go you stir up controversy. you see I happen to see the issue as uncomplicated too, carry enough fuel and stay out of the reservation why couldn't you drop the bombs next to your ship before landing or was your warship in the world heritage area too

Not much on physics, logic and the concept of joint exercises, eh?

I expect maximum care good order and a proper command structure

And you honestly think they were just being careless? Uh, no.

We hear of too many friendly fire incidents to think otherwise

I give up, have fun with your bombs.

I don't think it was a mistake... may be a calculated mistake.

FYI (http://www.news.com.au/national-news/mine-warfare-ship-to-be-deployed-to-great-barrier-reef-to-hunt-bombs-dropped-by-us-marine-harriers/story-fncynjr2-1226683990806)...


Green groups have reacted angrily to the emergency although the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said it was not too concerned about the bombs.

Admiral Swift said there was risk associated with everything.

"There is also risk associated with not training a military force.''

The 100,000 tonne USS George Washington will operate in the Coral Sea until July 29 when she will spend five days in Brisbane where her 5500-strong crew will spend millions of dollars.

Read more: Mine warfare ship to be deployed to Great Barrier Reef to hunt bombs dropped by US Marine Harriers | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/national-news/mine-warfare-ship-to-be-deployed-to-great-barrier-reef-to-hunt-bombs-dropped-by-us-marine-harriers/story-fncynjr2-1226683990806#ixzz2Zt1thcRt)

FYI (http://www.news.com.au/national-news/mine-warfare-ship-to-be-deployed-to-great-barrier-reef-to-hunt-bombs-dropped-by-us-marine-harriers/story-fncynjr2-1226683990806)...

Yes you think millions of dollars answers everything but in reality we don't need your money or your visit. Please don't get your aircraft carrier stuck in the Brisbane River, I hear things are a little tight in there for large ships

First note is the park authority said no biggie about the bombs, and second is it was your news that made the money mention. Apparently they find it significant but once again you snivel at us. Geez dude, your anti-Americanism is pathological.

No my antibullshlt is pathological

no my antibullshlt is pathological

Like I said, it was YOUR news that made it an issue so snivel at them.

Yes you would just like it to go away, typical reaction to bad press

yes you would just like it to go away, typical reaction to bad press

I'm not the one in denial here and sniveling at the wrong people.