Team Rubicon in Haiti

"We are capable of doing MORE with LESS. We are self-sustaining, self-reliant and self-deploying. We bring only what we need, deploying rapidly to where we are needed. We arrive on-site, identify problems, create solutions and GET THE JOB DONE." Hopefully for many of you, this post will be a little late to the game. I have been following the adventures of Team Rubicon on Blackfive, but in case you weren't aware, I wanted to get you up to speed. I hate to use Wiki as a source, but they do a pretty good job at nutshelling, so let me set the stage:

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake. Its epicentre was near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. As of Feb. 12, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

Anyway, like many of us, the destruction we saw on TV was unimagineable to Team Rubicon, but unlike most of us, they did more than just donate $10 via their telephones, they decided to go there to help.

We are men and women not satisfied with standing on the sidelines. We believe that inaction is not an option; that our skills are needed, and that Team Rubicon is a model for delivering them. We are 21st century “Medical Minutemen.”

Now the vast majority of Team Rubicon is former military, that's where the tie-in to military blogs comes in. Anyway, I wanted to share this video, because in my opinion it encapsulates the best of what being an American, and what being a veteran means. These guys didn't look to others to help, they just went out and did it. A "Carpe Diem" philosophy for the 21st Century. And for that, I salute them. [Graphic video warning. It's not real pretty, but it is real life.] I will have more on Team Rubicon in the near future. But, you can follow their story at the website linked here.