[paraclete]

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

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

[joypulv]

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.

[tomder55]

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.

[paraclete]

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...

[tomder55]

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 ?

[speechlesstx]

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".'

[paraclete]

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

[N0help4u]

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

[speechlesstx]

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

[paraclete]

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

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

[smearcase]

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.

[speechlesstx]

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.

[paraclete]

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?

[speechlesstx]

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.

[speechlesstx]

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.

[paraclete]

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

[tomder55]

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.

[paraclete]

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

[speechlesstx]

I guess they should have just crashed.

[tomder55]

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 .