Taken from the September 7 issue of the WSJ:
"Two Navy H-3 helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on August 30th expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after rescuing 110 hurricane victims. (You probably saw them on TV.)
The pilots had delivered loads of food and water to Stennis Space Center near the Mississippi coast, and while returning empty to Pensacola received urgent requests for helicopter assistance from the Coast Guard at New Orleans. Out of range for direct radio communications with Pensacola, more than 100 miles to the East, the pilots, trained in search and rescue, decided to respond, diverting from their orders to return without getting permission from their home base. Within minutes they were rescuing people from rooftops in the flooded areas. Few other rescue units were in the area that day.
While refueling at a Coast Guard pad, the pilots phoned Pensacola and received permission to continue rescue efforts that evening, then return to base.However, the next morning the two pilots, Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, and their crews were called to a meeting with Pensacola's Air Operations Chief, Michael Holdener, who chewed them out for diverting in the first place. Priority is support of military operations, not civilian rescue efforts.Lt. Udkow voiced his disagreement, and was removed from flight status and put in charge of a temporary kennel established to hold pets of evacuated service members."
Lieutenant Udkow's service record will forever contain a report of this "dereliction of duty", and his career is for all intents and purposes, over, unless someone very high up in the Chain of Command intervenes.
"Orders are orders, those t's to be crossed were put there for a reason, ladies, and un-dot one "i" and your ass is mine."
Then you do the right thing anyway and try to worm your way out of trouble later on, but officer country is another thing entirely. Bravo, Lieutenant, semper fi.
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