866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
In 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in an address to the U.S. Congress: “There is a reason the world always looked to America. Your city on a hill cannot be hidden. Your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention” (William Bennett, “America the Generous,” CNN, Dec. 15, 2011).
The U.S. Department of Defense is one of the world’s largest providers of international aid and disaster relief.
For example, the United States Navy operates two massive hospital ships, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, which are tasked to support U.S. armed forces as well as to provide medical aid and humanitarian assistance. “Both serve as 70,000-metric-ton symbols of how much America cares as a nation and as a people” (“Hospital Ships,” navy.com).
In March 2020, they were assigned to assist in the covid-19 crisis, Comfort docking in New York City and Mercy in Los Angeles. “In addition to the hundreds of U.S. Navy and civil personnel already aboard the ships, more than 100 reservists are being called up to help with the unprecedented emergency virus treatment. ‘When we were asked to help find medical professionals to help support this mission, we received hundreds of volunteer requests from our Reserve medical community in less than 24 hours,’ said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Schommer, deputy commander of Navy Reserve Force. ‘That’s extremely humbling.’ Indeed, America’s volunteer warriors are inspiring us with their willingness to step forward at great risk to their own health. Like doctors, nurses, first responders, delivery workers and countless others, the brave men and women of our military are performing brilliantly amid the uncertainty of a rapidly evolving public health crisis” (“Military’s Coronavirus Response Should Make All American’s Proud,” The Stream, Mar. 27, 2020).
The ships are huge, the second largest in the U.S. Navy fleet after the supercarriers and the fifth largest ships in the world. Converted from oil supertankers, the two ships originally cost $560 million.
The ships are 894-feet long (the length of three football fields) and the height of a 10-story building.
Each ship is a 1,000-bed hospital that carries 700 medical personnel at full capacity. Each has 12 operating rooms, four intensive care wards, an emergency/triage room, full medical labs, pharmacies, and are equipped with the latest technology such as CAT scanners and digital X-ray. They offer radiological, optometry, and dental services. They have their own medical oxygen producing plants, blood banks with a 5,000 unit capacity, and water distilling plants (300,000 US gallons per day). A flight crew operates the ship’s helicopter pad which can handle the Navy’s largest helicopters. Kitchens can provide meals for 1,000 personnel.
They assist in natural disasters such as the Southeast Asia tsunami of 2004 and the Haiti earthquake of 2010. On a visit to Southeast Asia in 2010, the USNS Mercy treated 109,754 patients and performed 1,580 surgeries. In 2015, the USNS Comfort provided care for more than 120,000 patients (including 1,200 surgeries) in 11 countries in the Caribbean and South and Central America. These projects are funded by the U.S. government with assistance by volunteer medical personnel and supplies donated by private organizations.
U.S. Marines are stationed around the world for rapid military deployment, but they also use this capacity to provide quick humanitarian aid in time of disaster. No other nation has this capacity. The Marines even have a medal called the Humanitarian Service Medal.
“... no one in the history of the world can declare that they have made such great strides in providing aid and relief like the Americans. ... Say what you want about us, but without that aid provided by hundreds of thousands of American service people and hundreds of millions of taxpayers, millions upon millions of people who have been fed, vaccinated, operated on, given shelter, given homes, bathed, birthed, and listened to would now be dead. Many more would not experience the quality of life they now experience” (Jon Davis, “Some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military,” quora.com).
- Receive these reports by email
- www.wayoflife.org
______________________
Sharing Policy: Much of our material is available for free, such as the hundreds of articles at the Way of Life web site. Other items we sell to help fund our expensive literature and foreign church planting ministries. Way of Life's content falls into two categories: sharable and non-sharable. Things that we encourage you to share include the audio sermons, O Timothy magazine, FBIS articles, and the free eVideos and free eBooks. You are welcome to make copies of these at your own expense and share them with friends and family. You may also post parts of reports and/or entire reports to websites, blogs, etc as long as you give proper credit (citation). A link to the original report is very much appreciated as the reports are frequently updated and/or expanded. Things we do not want copied and distributed are "Store" items like the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, print editions of our books, electronic editions of the books that we sell, the videos that we sell, etc. The items have taken years to produce at enormous expense in time and money, and we use the income from sales to help fund the ministry. We trust that your Christian honesty will preserve the integrity of this policy. "For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward" (1 Timothy 5:18). Questions? support@wayoflife.org
Goal:Distributed by Way of Life Literature Inc., the Fundamental Baptist Information Service is an e-mail posting for Bible-believing Christians. Established in 1974, Way of Life Literature is a fundamental Baptist preaching and publishing ministry based in Bethel Baptist Church, London, Ontario, of which Wilbert Unger is the founding Pastor. Brother Cloud lives in South Asia where he has been a church planting missionary since 1979. Our primary goal with the FBIS is to provide material to assist preachers in the edification and protection of the churches.
Offering: Offerings are welcome if you care to make one. If you have been helped and/or blessed by our material offerings can be mailed or made online with with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or Paypal. For information see: www.wayoflife.org/about/makeanoffering.html.
