(CHOPPER BLADES WHIRRING)
MAN: (OVER RADIO) Bucket submerging down.
Two, one, almost done.
Doors are closed.
Okay, I'm good. It's cIear to come up.
Should be coming out now, you're off.
JONKEY: Although l always wanted to fly heIicopters,
I wasn't exactIy excited about joining the miIitary.
I aIways wanted to be an astronaut.
Those guys were my inspiration.
But now, 20 years Iater,
I wouIdn't give up this job if they gave me my own space shuttIe.
MAN: Empty, cIear fire.
Bucket's three-quarters.
HEICKLEN: I'm a contractorin my dayjob,
been doing it for 18 years.
l learned a lot of skills that were to come in handy Iater on.
Making good concrete is a reaI art, and it's fun, too.
But there's a big difference between a buiIding that wiII Iast a Iifetime
and one that coIIapses and buries peopIe aIive.
l've seen that.
-Let's get that concrete moved out. -MAN: Gotcha.
Hey, Mike, let's get a better slump on that.
Let's strengthen it up a little bit.
CRAlN: I grew up on the ocean,
pIayed around in boats aII my Iife.
I Iove the ocean, but the water here is very coId,
way too coId to swim.
Bottom Iine is, I actuaIIy never Iearned how to swim.
Considering what l do for a living, peopIe find that amusing.
ROSS: My grandfather was my inspiration.
He flew humanitarian missions in WorId War II,
across the Himalayas into China.
He crashed and was lost for 15 days in the mountains,
hiked out on foot.
To a grandkid, you couIdn't ask for a bigger hero.
MAN: (OVER SPEAKERS) I'd Iike to personaIIy thank everyone...
JONKEY: It was amazing to see how many peopIe
donated their time and money
to heIp buiId this memoriaI.
MAN: My speciaI thanks goes to the command...
JONKEY: We Iost some good friends in Afghanistan.
They aII Ieft young famiIies behind.
-It's tough. -(SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY)
MAN: Something that happened...
My name is Major Matt Jonkey.
I do a Iot of training now with young piIots graduating from flight schooI.
It takes a huge amount of work to be a good piIot,
and you need to be a Iot better than good, considering the missions we undertake.
(SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY)
(SlREN WAlLlNG)
MAN: All right, guys, let's go. l need...
Make it to the top.
What do we got? A family...
My name's Steven Heicklen.
l volunteered to become a fireman because I thought it wouId be exciting,
more exciting than watching concrete dry.
But when you arrive at your first fire, it's a defining moment.
-Get that hose team up to the second floor. -MAN: Get down here.
-(SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY) -I'm not afraid to teII you, I was scared.
MAN: Go to the right, Bobby.
-Very good. -(SHlP HORN HONKlNG)
Yes, please. Let go, forward!
MAN: Let go, forward.
-Slow ahead, starboard. -MAN: Slow ahead, starboard.
-Slow astern, port. -Slow astern, port.
Port 30.
Commander Peter Crain, Canadian Navy.
I'm the captain of the destroyer Athabaskan.
MAN: (OVER SPEAKERS) Header...
CRAlN: My first voyage as captain was just an overnighter,
a short run out to sea.
I took the ship for a spin to see if I couId actuaIIy command a warship.
The Navy Iet me do it, (CHUCKLES) 'cause I suppose they wanted to know, too.
Coast Guard vessel leaving the narrows right now, sir.
-ls that the one, right there? -Yes, sir.
(MAN SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY ON RADlO)
...Member two-one-nine, B-Iiner zero-four.
B-Iiner zero-four, have your transport.
ROSS: Okay, B-liner zero-four, Captain's out.
l'm Captain Lauren Ross.
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps.
My father was a fighter piIot.
My brother and my husband are both C-17 pilots.
Before my first flight, I got a Iot of advice.
AII right, crew, going around. FIaps on haIf.
MAN: (OVER RADlO) ... 70 degrees Ieft turn to the bypass...
Gear up.
JONKEY: Today we are Iooking for an injured hiker,
somewhere in the mountains above Lake Tahoe.
Why don't you guys check about a mile to the west?
We have very few cIues as to his whereabouts.
We're supposed to rescue him, but, of course, we have to find him first.
(OVER RADlO) Come around to oursix.
AII right, keep Iooking.
There's another set of rocks right out there in front of you.
-Why don't you go Iook at that? -MAN: WiII do.
I'm gonna bring the taiI around to the right, bring it out the Ieft-hand door.
He's in the rocks right beIow us.
He's coming down. Good position. Going out.
Okay, he's five feet.
Ten... HaIfway.
Watch out for those rocks, okay?
MAN: Copy that.
JONKEY: He's on 15.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Okay, give him some slack.
MAN: Need some slack. Need some slack... Hold for slack.
Slack's coming out.
Looking good, guys.
Looking good. Good position.
-Okay, bringing him in. -Bring him up now.
Coming in.
All the way. Coming in from the back.
Strap's halfway.
-Five, four, three, two, one. Coming in. Hold. -Coming up.
(MAN SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY)
Does anyone have the target visual?
Officer of the watch, l have a target. Green two-zero, range 1 0,000 yards.
-MAN: Roger. -Excellent eyes, Mr... Forward.
-Confirm he's outside of territorial waters. -Aye, sir.
He's not responding to Surf Warning Delta, sir.
Midships. Port 1 5.
-We got him? -MAN: Aye, sir, visually also.
Excellent, good shooting, team.
CRAIN: At one point, they were going to take the guns off these ships
and just go with missiIes.
But nowadays, we chase pirates around quite a bit. Off Somalia, for example.
There's nothing as effective
as a big, Ioud smoking gun to make your point,
and a spIash that Iands nearby in the water.
MAN: Cease fire.
CRAlN: It Ieaves the bad guy with the right impression.
The firstAthabaskan fought in the Battle of the North Atlantic
during the Second World War.
She exchanged fire with a German ship and was sunk.
128 men died, incIuding her captain, John Stubbs, who went down with his ship.
If you command a warship in the North AtIantic,
there are ghosts down beIow.
The U-boats, battIeships, dreadnoughts,
Iay right there beneath your feet by the hundreds.
We have a tradition in the Navy
that the spirits of saiIors who've died in battle are with us still.
-MAN: FIight check, five-seven... -AII right..
...Travis approach, use Travis altimeter two-niner..
-Engage VProf, MCT. -Niner-three.
Left haIf-turn at 2,100 feet.
The flares protect us from heat-seeking missiIes,
aIways a possibiIity on combat missions.
It's aII about accuracy.
You miscaIcuIate by a few seconds
and your peopIe can Iand miIes off target.
The rescuers will now have to be rescued.
Yeah, the pressure's good!
HElCKLEN: Training is aII about Iearning technique.
Let's get it over to the left.
But more important is you Iearn to trust someone eIse with your Iife.
MAN: Somebody free it up.
Move to the left, advance left, advance left.
Fighting fire creates a bond.
It's a fraternity you simpIy don't Ieave.
When you hear that next siren, it's your buddies caIIing
and somebody needs heIp.
Okay, let's hold that spot right there.
JONKEY: Landing on water is essentiaI to some of our operations.
We can even load or unload small boats.
MAN: We're floating here.
Back down.
ROSS: A 100,000-pound road grader flying out the back door
compIeteIy changes the baIance of an aircraft.
EspeciaIIy if it gets stuck on the way out.
That couId be catastrophic.
Yeah, puII that up.
-MAN: All right, TCAS is up. -AII right, thanks.
ROSS: We use road graders to buiId runways to Iand on,
so we can Iand aImost anywhere we're needed.
And they do expect us to Iand aImost anywhere.
JONKEY: (OVER RADlO) Swimmer's out of the water.
MAN: Okay, swimmer's five feet above the water. And coming in.
JONKEY: Looking good. He's halfway up.
With reaI peopIe invoIved,
even a training rescue can be as IethaI as the reaI thing.
Okay, swimmer's coming back up.
Okay, he's in the helicopter.
The most dangerous maneuver we do is the dust Ianding.
We often have to land in fine sand when depIoyed to the desert.
It's basicaIIy a controIIed crash.
From about 10 feet to the ground, you can't see a thing.
I aIways teII peopIe,
every dust Ianding takes about three months off my Iife.
AII right, crew going around, flaps on haIf.
-MAN: Positive rate. -Gear up.
MAN: Gears up.
AII right, Iet's try this again.
MAN: AII right, Iet's naiI it this time. Third time's the charm.
AII right, coming around.
-MAN: Crosswinds. -I'm gonna power a coupIe of cIicks of trim.
Gear flaps, spoilers. We're clear to land.
We're trained to Iand on very short runways,
a third the Iength of what airliners need.
There is one cardinaI ruIe, never land where there is no room to take off.
Crew going around, flaps on half.
-MAN: Positive rate. -Gear up.
As you get more experience,
you Iearn to Iand on shorter runways.
And it definiteIy gets more chaIIenging.
I'm just... The power controI? I'm...
-I'm too Iong. -MAN: Yeah.
I need to puII back my power, but then I'm sinking, so...
-MAN: Lots of spooI time on the engine. -AII right.
-MAN: You got to anticipate that. -AII right.
It's a short runway, you gotta be on speed. Your speed's better this time. Good job.
MAN 1 : So Jimmy made out. MAN 2: That's right.
MAN 1 : Watch out there.
MAN 3: All right, boys, let's roll it up.
HElCKLEN: It's one thing to train on a fire,
but I wouId say that nothing prepares you like the real situation
-(SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY) -for peopIe in serious distress. Nothing.
MAN: (OVER RADlO) Copy that.
(CHATTERlNG OVER RADlO)
We're good.
CRAlN: We can be at sea formonths at a time.
The crew gets restIess, bored and homesick,
because it's aII practice and training.
You can onIy pretend for so Iong.
But aII that can change in a heartbeat.
JONKEY: We train hard, so we're prepared for anything.
AII of our crews want to heIp, but it's a dilemma.
If you've been in the middIe of a disaster with reaI suffering,
you're not Iooking forward to the next one.
Good morning, B-liner zero-four.
ROSS: Some people hate the uncertainty of this kind of work.
You don't have a clue where you're going next.
But I Iove not knowing where l'll be needed tomorrow.
ANDERSON COOPER: We're foIIowing the breaking news out of Haiti.
The Iargest, most powerfuI earthquake in the region's history
-has crippIed the country, measuring 7.0. -(PEOPLE SCREAMlNG)
Its epicenter was just a few miIes outside the capitaI, Port-au-Prince.
There are reports of toppIed buiIdings there,
we've seen pictures of some dead bodies in the streets,
there are reports of trapped victims screaming for heIp.
One aid worker told the AP he fears there may be thousands of peopIe dead.
Clearly, this is an unfolding tragedy.
It seems to be a massive scaIe at this point...
Wherever you are watching this broadcast throughout the world,
I hope you can hug a Ioved one cIose and thank God
that you are not in Port-au-Prince tonight.
But the Haitian peopIe who are here want you to hear their stories.
They want you to know what is happening here
and what wiII be continuing to happen here through the days and the weeks ahead.
(SlRENS WAlLlNG)
CRAlN: We hadjust returned
from a Iong, tough, North AtIantic depIoyment.
Athabaskan and the frigate Halifax were now tasked to go to Haiti.
Léogâne, which is just to the west of the Port-au-Prince
inside the claw of Haiti.
CRAlN: Time was ofthe essence,
and whenever you're in a hurry, you can aImost aIways count on bad weather.
l guess going around is not really... ls really a non-starter.
This'll take a couple more days.
-Speed required right now still at 25 knots. -To go through it?
Yes, sir.
Well, assume power to both mains, full speed.
Roger that.
Resume power to both main engines, full speed ahead.
We don't know much at the time, but what we do know...
JONKEY: One moment, you're planning a weekend off with the famiIy,
and the next, you're going to be gone for weeks or even months.
It's tough on everyone, especiaIIy our famiIies.
ROSS: The landing... MAN: lt's doing real good, ma'am.
-Okay. -lt's ready to fly. lt's FMC.
Sounds great. All right, l'll see you upstairs.
You bet.
WOMAN: Five, six, and seven are prepped.
-MAN: Do you like it? -Yeah.
ROSS: Our planes can handle about 50 seriousIy injured patients.
We airlift the worst cases that can't be treated in the midst of a disaster.
170,000 pounds of cargo,
food, water, medicine, trucks, heIicopters.
Missions were rerouted from the four corners of the world.
PIanes came from the MiddIe East, Europe, Asia, and all over the US,
and my own unit from California.
...form F, you upIoaded. I saw it. The fuel cart is downstairs
and the ER, is it signed...
-MAN: Yeah. -Okay.
ROSS: There was hardly a single person in the Air Force
who wasn't affected by the Haiti operation.
(MAN SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY ON RADlO)
B-Iiner zero-four, have you in position and hoIding.
-Do you think we have enough lV kits? -Yeah, plenty of lV kits.
JONKEY: I trained foryears with my IocaI search/rescue team.
They never caIIed us up and I was getting frustrated.
So, l joined with Team Angel and we flew down on our own.
We were going to heIp, no matter what.
CRAIN: Now that we had a real mission, the difference in the crew was extraordinary.
Storm or not, seasick or not,
every singIe person on those ships wanted to do whatever they couId.
JONKEY: lt's a long way to Haiti for a heIicopter, 3,000 miIes.
But it was a desperate situation.
MAN: Okay, we would like an aItitude of about 16,000,
and we expect communication at 1509 ZuIu.
MAN: Here now, the President.
BARACK OBAMA: I wanted tojust make a brief statement
on the latest situation in Haiti.
At the airport, the heIp continues to flow not just from the United States,
but from BraziI, Mexico, Canada, France, among others.
The entire world stands with the government and the peopIe of Haiti,
for in Haiti's devastation, we aII see the common humanity that we share.
MAN: We have negative cargo upIoad,
but we don't know how bad till we actuaIIy get on the ground.
Okay.
JONKEY: After an earthquake, commerciaI air traffic shuts down,
and typicaIIy, the non-government paramedics,
doctors and so on, have to figure out their own transportation.
I got a friend to fly myseIf and some doctors to Miami,
and then we hitched a ride from there.
MALE NEWS READER: As internationaI aid agencies mobiIize,
the rescue effort is continuing.
Much of the city's been reduced to rubbIe, but the airport is stiII operationaI.
That's opened the way for internationaI aid to be brought in by air.
Ten miles to the north...
AII right, keep your eyes peeIed on the right side.
MAN: Roger. Winds, three-six-zero and five, cIear to Iand.
MAN: AII right, for this next one, Iet's try to find something a Iot cIoser.
(SPEAKlNG FRENCH)
ROSS: The first C-17 to land at Port-au-Prince
transported an eIite unit of search and rescue speciaIists,
incIuding dogs that found nine peopIe alive in the rubble.
HElCKLEN: There were civiIian voIunteers from aII around the worId,
flying into Haiti in anything they couId find.
(GRUNTS)
Obviously, the first thing you work on
is trying to find those who are buried but still alive.
Sometimes, it's a voice or noise under the rubbIe,
or a famiIy member that heard something.
MAN 1 : Get a hand in here. MAN 2: lt's this way.
HElCKLEN: The reaI tragedy ofHaiti is compounded tenfoId by one thing,
the concrete.
It's terribIe stuff,
fuII of sand, but none of the usual steel reinforcement.
BuiIdings in Haiti can bareIy stand up under their own weight,
Iet aIone throwing in an earthquake.
(SPEAKlNG FORElGN LANGUAGE)
HElCKLEN: The criticaIIy injured need immediate heIp.
When you can save a Iife, that's a fantastic high.
Well, XO...
CRAIN: The harbor at Port-au-Prince was in ruins, as expected.
l'm just curious as to when...
We sent our heIicopter out to survey the damage
and start deIivering water.
And what l want you to do...
And straighten out a bit.
JONKEY: CIean water was the first consideration
for those who survived the quake.
We fIew in fresh water in 1 ,000-Iiter barreIs.
Without cIean water, these kids wouId get dysentery, choIera,
and potentiaIIy die by the thousands.
(CHlLDREN YELLlNG)
We delivered millions of liters of water with the heIicopter aIone.
And tons of food and medicine with our ships.
Perhaps most important of aII, we gave peopIe a sense of hope.
MALE NEWSREADER: Ifone buiIding shouId have survived this brutaI quake,
most wouId have put their money on the presidentiaI paIace,
a tragic symboI of the poIiticaI history of this country.
There's been no news yet from the president.
His status is unknown.
Wow.
From the sky, it's just utter devastation.
The palace. See the palace down there?
ANDERSON COOPER: We have had severaI aftershocks,
some of them quite strong.
Because they can't go back into their homes, because with these aftershocks
they're afraid that their aIready weakened homes are going to coIIapse upon them.
FEMALE NEWS READER: Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas,
lies in the west half
of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
lt straddles the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault,
which triggered the devastating 7.0 earthquake.
Locked by friction, the fauIt stayed put,
untiI intense pressure by the moving pIates caused the fauIt to sIip.
The aftershocks were strong and frequent.
Scientists measured the movement of the North American pIate westward,
and the Caribbean plate eastward on average at two centimeters per year.
The pIate movement for this deadIy quake measured an astounding two meters
in a singIe minute.
The epicenter of this earthquake was nine miles southwest
of the capitaI city, Port-au-Prince,
and at onIy 10 kiIometers deep,
mustered a seismic strength not seen in Haiti in over 200 years.
JONKEY: Makeshift camps went up aII over the pIace.
And there was a concerted effort to try to feed everyone.
The diIemma was how to get food to peopIe without causing riots.
Our mission was to fly prefab hospitals and medical teams into remote areas.
PeopIe think it aII happened in Port-au-Prince,
but the earthquake affected almost all of Haiti.
(SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY)
JONKEY: ln some villages we flew into, nobody had ever even seen a doctor...
MAN: And for you.
...Iet aIone a hospitaI.
Over here, buddy. Just spread that stuff out. l appreciate that.
-Grab that. -Good. Where's the rest of your stuff at?
He had just come back from work, and he got home about 4:30.
And the earthquake took place about 4:42.
He was on the second floor of his house
-and the entire house just collapsed with him. -Oh.
HElCKLEN: The toughest thing is when you have IittIe kids with crush injuries.
We could try...
An arm or a Ieg might have to come off.
There are no faciIities for fancy surgery
and infection sets in reaIIy fast in the tropics.
So the doctors are mainly focused on saving Iives.
Let's check the popliteal pulse and the dorsalis pedis.
-Tourniquet is on. -Weak and thready.
-Got a popliteal? -No.
What about the wound itself? Let's take a look at it.
What do you think?
Can you ask Mom how long she was injured for?
JONKEY: lt's extraordinary to watch these volunteers at work.
And the courage of the Haitians.
Even IittIe kids who are orphaned and might Iose an arm or Ieg.
As a parent, it's pretty overwheIming.
DOCTOR 1 : We gotta try and save it. DOCTOR 2: Yeah.
HElCKLEN: There is onIy so much you can do in a makeshift hospitaI.
Some people need serious follow-up care.
They need to be evacuated for surgery, rehabilitation and so on.
This pIane was provided by a friend of mine.
He is flying out four people to the States.
Two wouId otherwise die here,
and the two girls with missing Iegs need surgery and artificiaI Iimbs.
l'm so happy for you guys.
Mommy's going to get the seat with the baby here.
Okay.
-Where is Mommy? Okay, good. Perfect. -Mama.
MAN: AP and externaI equipment.
AP is on and in use.
ExternaI equipment, can you confirm it's off and removed?
MAN: Card's cIear.
-Parking brakes. -On. Pressure checks.
Remove checks, pIease.
(SPEAKlNG FRENCH)
ROSS: As part of the worldwide relief effort,
the US Air force delivered 19 miIIion pounds of cargo
and evacuated over 15,000 refugees.
FEMALE NEWS READER: Aid is certainIy coming from aII over the gIobe.
Countries and organizations are donating enormous amounts of money.
(PEOPLE SPEAKlNG FORElGN LANGUAGES)
MALE NEWS READER: The USS Carl Vinson is on its way to Haiti, stopping...
(NEWS READERS SPEAKlNG lNDlSTlNCTLY)
CRAlN: The scaIe ofthe rescue effort was extraordinary.
Ships from around the world arriving by the hundreds.
It's kind of the opposite of war.
A humanitarian mobilization on a scaIe quite unbeIievabIe.
MALE NEWS READER: Over a half dozen US ships are on the way,
incIuding the Navy hospitaI ship,
the USNS Comfort.
MeanwhiIe, makeshift hospitaIs have been set up in the streets,
an urgent caII for medicaI suppIies remains.
FEMALE NEWS READER: ...organizations aIso sending aid for Haiti
through Santo Domingo in the Dominican RepubIic.
A spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme saying
that getting suppIies across the border from the Dominican RepubIic
into Port-au-Prince by ground transportation
is about a 12 to 18-hour prospect.
The airport, of course, was itseIf damaged in the earthquake.
It onIy has one runway,
it onIy has about a dozen parking spaces for pIanes.
Today, an FAA aIert warned that pIanes trying to get into Port-au-Prince
couId expect to wait to Iand for more than an hour.
And that there would be no fuel on the ground...
HElCKLEN: The most amazing thing is how resiIient and tough the Haitian peopIe are
in the face of this terribIe tragedy.
They picked up the pieces and got back to work,
rebuiIding as best they couId.
It couId take generations to overcome the effects of this quake.
-Can you hold it? -He's bringing out a piece of wood,
2x4, 1 6 inches.
CRAIN: These young sailors, it's amazing how quick they took to carpentry.
We would build a bunk in the afternoon
and the little kids would have a pIace to sIeep that night.
(SlNGlNG lN FORElGN LANGUAGE)
ActuaIIy, the biggest hit were the swings.
(CHlLDREN LAUGHlNG)
(SlNGlNG lN FORElGN LANGUAGE)
JONKEY: You spend all your life training for war,
and then a mission Iike Haiti comes aIong.
It changes your perspective.
But heIping out in pIaces Iike Haiti,
deIivering food and water,
and giving orphan chiIdren hope for the future,
that's not a bad Iegacy. Not bad at aII.
HElCKLEN: This pIane was bringing in medicine.
LuckiIy, no one was hurt.
We managed to saIvage about 900 pounds of badIy needed antibiotics.
The owner went back to the States, bought another pIane.
Now, he's back flying medicine. And maybe he's not a great piIot,
but to me, he's one of the reaI heroes.
So we're going... We're not going to that main area...
HElCKLEN: When you make a contribution, you might not think it does anything.
But to the individuaIs you heIped, it was huge.
It's totaIIy worth anything you can do.
FeIIas, I just want to say how much I appreciate aII the work
you guys have put in the Iast four months of this trip.
There's aIways the feeIing you couId have done more.
But moving much-needed suppIies and hospitaIs has a Iot of merit.
And in the end, it probabIy heIped the most peopIe in the Iong run.
Some people think that if you can't make everything perfect, it's not worth doing.
For me, the smiIes of those we heIped are etched into my mind.
We've made a connection there, and it's permanent.
B-liner one-six descend and maintain flight IeveI three-two-zero.
Evening, Control, B-liner one-six,
flight IeveI three-two-zero.
I'd Iike to think that if I was in a disaster,
hurt and aII aIone,
that someone wouId come to my rescue.
BRlAN WlLLlAMS: On our broadcast tonight,
the big one hits Japan.
A massive history-making earthquake, one of the Iargest ever measured,
and it triggered a massive tsunami aII the way...
MALE NEWSREADER: In the city ofSendai, the devastation is astonishing.
BRlAN WlLLlAMS: ...nucIear pIant in troubIe.
The aftershocks continue.
ROSS: Control, B-liner one-six, switching 126.7.