9/11 Coast Guard Training Exercises

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

So it turns out that the Coast Guard was doing a training exercise next to the 14th street bridge, Pentagon, and national mall on 9/11 at the same time the 9/11 memorial service was going on at the Pentagon.

I am furious that this happened. It's insensitive, revictimizes people, and it was negligently planned. The Commandant of the Coast Guard or whoever is responsible for signing off on this should resign or be fired by COB.

[kchoya]

Wow. Not overreacting at all are we?

[williambraskyiii]

Sept 11, 2009 9:55:05 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Wow. Not overreacting at all are we?

are you fkn serious? It was a training exercise that is normal course of business for the coast guard...the panic was actually caused by CNN trying to "break" a non-story. Law enforcement authorities were all notified in advance. There was no suspicious vessel and no shots fired. what's the problem again?

[Boz]

I don't know if I'd consider it a "problem," but it's pretty bad timing, you have to admit.

They really shouldn't of planned anything for this morning, at least not in that area. I'm sure they could have just as easily trained somewhere else nearby (I could be wrong on that, as I am not really conversant with USCG training exercises). I wouldn't say someone should be fired for it, but it wasn't really good thinking.

Then again, for me, I think today should be a national day of remembrance. If that were the case, things like this wouldn't happen.

[kchoya]

Sept 11, 2009 10:06:11 GMT -5 Boz said:

I don't know if I'd consider it a "problem," but it's pretty bad timing, you have to admit.

They really shouldn't of planned anything for this morning, at least not in that area. I'm sure they could have just as easily trained somewhere else nearby (I could be wrong on that, as I am not really conversant with USCG training exercises). I wouldn't say someone should be fired for it, but it wasn't really good thinking.

Then again, for me, I think today should be a national day of remembrance. If that were the case, things like this wouldn't happen.

I don't think it's bad timing at all. If there's no suspicious vessel and not shots fired, it's just some coast guard boats out on the river with radio chatter. How is that a problem? In fact, since there appears to have been a protective zone around the pentagon for the ceremonies, I assume there were out vessels out there to enforce that zone.

Can we stop jumping to conclusions and asking for someone to be fired every time we assume something bad happened?

[TC]

Chuck Todd : "Weird to hear others blame the government for their own bad reporting."

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Perhaps I over-reacted from watching CNN coverage that blew things out of proportion. I do think it was poorly timed and there should have been more sensitivity to the victim's families in planning such an exercise. I agree they need to train so they can be vigilant and protect us all - but you need to either announce the exercise, keep it off the scanners, or schedule it for another day.

[Elvado]

Sept 11, 2009 9:58:02 GMT -5 williambraskyiii said:

Sept 11, 2009 9:55:05 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Wow. Not overreacting at all are we?

are you fkn serious? It was a training exercise that is normal course of business for the coast guard...the panic was actually caused by CNN trying to "break" a non-story. Law enforcement authorities were all notified in advance. There was no suspicious vessel and no shots fired. what's the problem again?

The only problem is that any member of the american public might actually consider CNN a legitimate news source.

[kchoya]

Sept 11, 2009 10:56:08 GMT -5 StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) said:

Perhaps I over-reacted from watching CNN coverage that blew things out of proportion. I do think it was poorly timed and there should have been more sensitivity to the victim's families in planning such an exercise. I agree they need to train so they can be vigilant and protect us all - but you need to either announce the exercise, keep it off the scanners, or schedule it for another day.

How is this insensitive to the victim's families? If CNN hadn't done what it did, there'd be no story.

[theexorcist]

Sept 11, 2009 12:11:04 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Sept 11, 2009 10:56:08 GMT -5 StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) said:

Perhaps I over-reacted from watching CNN coverage that blew things out of proportion. I do think it was poorly timed and there should have been more sensitivity to the victim's families in planning such an exercise. I agree they need to train so they can be vigilant and protect us all - but you need to either announce the exercise, keep it off the scanners, or schedule it for another day.

How is this insensitive to the victim's families? If CNN hadn't done what it did, there'd be no story.

The Post reported the same item.

Alternately, had someone called in to a local news station to report, we'd be at the same problem.

Coast Guard Public Affairs dropped the ball - they're usually pretty good about notifying Washingtonians about exercises. This one, especially on 9/11, needed some more coordination.

[EasyEd]

Sept 11, 2009 9:40:17 GMT -5 StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) said:

So it turns out that the Coast Guard was doing a training exercise next to the 14th street bridge, Pentagon, and national mall on 9/11 at the same time the 9/11 memorial service was going on at the Pentagon.

I am furious that this happened. It's insensitive, revictimizes people, and it was negligently planned. The Commandant of the Coast Guard or whoever is responsible for signing off on this should resign or be fired by COB.

If this had occurred during the last administration, wouldn't you have been calling out someone higher than the Commandant of the Coast Guard?

And I realize you backed off iyour call for someone's head in a later post.

Liberal that I am, I'd like to point out that Reuters is the first one to publish this report and Fox News carried it just as much as CNN as I tuned into both.

[theexorcist]

Sept 11, 2009 9:40:17 GMT -5 StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) said:

So it turns out that the Coast Guard was doing a training exercise next to the 14th street bridge, Pentagon, and national mall on 9/11 at the same time the 9/11 memorial service was going on at the Pentagon.

I am furious that this happened. It's insensitive, revictimizes people, and it was negligently planned. The Commandant of the Coast Guard or whoever is responsible for signing off on this should resign or be fired by COB.

Zapping the Commanadant is way too high a scalp here. As said, exercises are a legitimate part of the Coast Guard's work, and there's nothing wrong with having an event on 9/11 (one might assume that everyone might be a little bit more focused). There's still a responsibility to let people know about what's going on, but this is not an Air Force One photo shoot.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Sept 11, 2009 13:13:04 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Sept 11, 2009 9:40:17 GMT -5 StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) said:

So it turns out that the Coast Guard was doing a training exercise next to the 14th street bridge, Pentagon, and national mall on 9/11 at the same time the 9/11 memorial service was going on at the Pentagon.

I am furious that this happened. It's insensitive, revictimizes people, and it was negligently planned. The Commandant of the Coast Guard or whoever is responsible for signing off on this should resign or be fired by COB.

Zapping the Commanadant is way too high a scalp here. As said, exercises are a legitimate part of the Coast Guard's work, and there's nothing wrong with having an event on 9/11 (one might assume that everyone might be a little bit more focused). There's still a responsibility to let people know about what's going on, but this is not an Air Force One photo shoot.

Yeah, I was listening to WTOP an hour or so ago. This never reached the Commandant's desk apparently. I think that a decision like this on a day like this should have at least been flagged for the approval of someone higher up the chain of command. The fact that it was not shows a lack of foresight on someone's part.

I wouldn't have called for anyone over the Commandant's head - it was a Coast Guard problem and its pretty clear a lot of other people in the government had no idea what was going on.