So my nephew left for Iraq last week. He is in the marines. Their plane was flying when smoke started coming out of the engines. They had to make an emergency landing in India. The Indian army surrounded their plane and pointed automatic weapons at the soldiers and wouldn't let them go anywhere. Finally they escorted them to a hotel, and won't let them leave the hotel. They are very unfriendly and it is big news in India, and nobody wants the troops their. They say as soon as the plane is repaired the troops will be escorted to the plane and they can leave. It isn't like those marines wanted to be there. Why not ease up on them? Aren't are govts. supposed to be all nice and chummy now? The respect our nation has around the world has really been eroded, by starting an unneccesary war, and all the dishonesty that has gone along with it, and continues to be unveiled daily. What a shame.
Many nations are very sensitive about that sort of thing, some news anchor once told a story about being on Air Force One wwhen it had unauthorizedly strewn into Swedish airspace, it was intercepted by a squad of fully armed fighter planes and escorted out immediately. The other thing with India - I bet they won't let them leave without filling out a bunch of forms first. Plus there will be all sorts of exit visa issues...
The Marines just needed a little technical support for their jet. It's a Help Desk issue, brought to you by Dell Computer. They might need to reboot and defrag. ETA for resolution is approximately six months.
i guess the only thing we aren't outsourcing to indian is broken air force transport planes...........
put the shoe on the other foot. if an indian military plane had to make an emergency landing on U.S. soil, i would assume (and hope) there would be the utmost of caution about the situation. anyways india has never been a big backer of the Iraq war - so of course unfriendly attitudes is to be expected.
Tell your nephew not to mention Gargamel. Dell should include a job application question of "Do you believe in withcraft". http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/india.beheading.reut/index.html "More than 200 people who were involved in the gruesome murder marched to the police station carrying the severed heads and shouting slogans against witchcraft all the way," T. Gogoi, a local police officer, said by phone.
You land a war plane on another nation without notice. Just thank them for providing accomodation and doing no harm.
I'm sure that the "back channel" communications between our governments is far friendlier than what we are seeing... something put on for domestic consumption. In my opinion. Keep D&D Civil.
For all the indian army knew, it was an espionage attempt, and you cant blame someone for covering their ass.
If only the American soldiers were as disciplined as Indian or Pakistani soldiers they wouldnt have all these internal problems and unnecessary bloodshed you see everyday in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what the military does not have in innovation and boldness, the US White House more than makes up for the deficit.
I'm thinking the pilot told a very good story . . . QUICKLY because stuff like that can end up really badly Rocket River
It wasn't a landing they wanted to make. And I can assure you when the plane started having problems they gave notice that they would be landing. It is not as if they wanted to land in India. I am happy it didn't happen over the ocean or something like that.
I'm presuming this isn't technically a warplane but a transport and they landed at a military airport. What I'm guessing probably happened was that the Indian troops might've been taken by surprise that US troops were on there and not just cargo didn't want them to start wandering on the base or trying to take pictures. It sounds very hostile but this might've been a misunderstanding and not something like the EP-3 situation with the PRC.
Well, as someone else said, if a "transport" plane filled with armed Inidan soldiers made an emergency landing on US soil, I doubt we'd be taking them to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.
For sure. I meant to say how lucky he was to be able to have a safe landing. That would have scared the hell out of me! A relative of mine in Afghanistan had a similar thing happen to him (what's up with these airctaft?? overuse?), and had to make an emergency landing in one of the gravel fields there. He didn't get taken to a hotel! Keep D&D Civil.
I also doubt we would surround them and point automatic weapons at them. WE would probably check for injuries and have them wait some place until their plane was ready. I don't know that we would restrict their movement totally.
