Navy still cleaning up in Phuket and Pattaya

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Phuket Update

 

I haven't heard much Tsunami news lately, and wasn't sure if the military was still involved in the recovery. They are, as I found out reading this story in the Phuket (Thailand) Gazette that explains that they are still using American seamen to clean Phuket up:

 

US seamen aid cleanup

 

The United States Ambassador to Thailand, Ralph Boyce, was in Phuket yesterday visiting sailors from the US Navy who were helping in the post-tsunami clean-up.

 

Some of the 1,200 sailors, in Kamala for three days to clear wrecked buildings and other debris, joined Ambassador Boyce in delivering to Thai students food, clothes, books and cards made by American schoolchildren.

 

Ambassador Boyce told a press conference aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the US Seventh Fleet, that while the Thai government had said it did not need direct financial aid, the US Navy was happy to provide practical help in restoring the environment.

 

I'm always glad to hear about military folks doing good things around the world. But I was a bit concerned for our young sailors when I noticed the Phuket Gazette had a Queer News section. I immediately looked into it to see if this was the sort of place we'd want our troops exposed to, and these are some the stories I found:

 

RAWAI: A Patong bargirl swallowed a Frenchman’s diamond ring after he refused to pay her and a friend for services rendered after an all-night menage-a-trois in Rawai.

 

Chalong Police received a complaint from a 62-year-old Frenchman identified as Mr Patrick, who fingered Tawan, a 28-year-old bar girl, as the jewelry-gulping culprit.

 

and

 

PATTAYA: Four innocent bystanders were injured by ricocheting bullets when a bagman for a Pattaya loan shark opened fire on his mobile phone.

 

Witnesses to the slaying of the mobile phone said the man, identified only as “Woot”, was seen at about 3 am yelling into his mobile phone on the ground floor of Niran Condo on Soi Arunothai.

 

He then hurled the phone down onto the sidewalk, pulled out a .38 pistol and fired six times it at the offending device.

 

I don't know if the Sailors will be required to spend any time in the sorts of neighborhoods where this stuff goes on. Hopefully they'll be careful, and no one will get hurt.

 

Posted by Greyhawk at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

 

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The dedication of our military men and women always brings a tear to my eye. This story helps to remind me of the dedication those who serve have.

Posted by Hub Cap at March 2, 2005 07:57 PM

 

GH,

Not defending, but rather, interpreting. I think "queer news" as they're using it, has to do with the way the Brits used to use the word "queer" or "daft". As in "weird" or "goofy".

 

Just a thought...

Posted by thebronze at March 3, 2005 01:05 AM

 

Greyhawk, you have but to ask... this IS my beat, you know...

 

If the sailors are on-land, they're in the bizarre neighborhood. Diamond rings aren't the only things gulped around Phuket and Pattaya...

 

I'm taking a book proposal to the publishers next week, to see if they want to publish my writing and (several hundred) drawings of the local denizens, drawn over my 19 consecutive years here in Thailand...

 

Stay with the Lebanon news! We live in EXCITING times!

Posted by Carridine at March 3, 2005 08:49 AM

 

From what my Marine son tells me, they LIVE to be in those types of neighborhoods. He offered to show me video of his time spent in Cobra Gold a few years ago. As a mother, I respectfully declined.

Posted by Marty at March 3, 2005 03:13 PM