Thursday, March 21, 2019

Military dropping hay from helicopters for cows stranded by floodwater

From WQAD (Quad Cities) Moline Illinois:
NEBRASKA -- The Nebraska National Guard is using military helicopters to drop hay bales for cattle stranded by floodwaters.

"Nebraska Army National Guard Soldiers used a CH-47 Chinook helicopter with Company B, 2-135th General Support Aviation Battalion, to secure multiple bales of hay, March 20, 2019, and airdrop them to cattle," a post from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service says.
The video shows hay bales falling from hovering helicopters onto prairie fields inundated with floodwater. Cattle can be seen walking through water.

The flooding "has caused catastrophic damage to the state’s infrastructure, agriculture and personal property," the post says.

Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa have both experienced major issues in regards to flooding. In Iowa, an interstate was covered in some spots with floodwater, and a passenger train route was shut down and rerouted....MORE
The Swiss have offered their Bovine Special Forces, experts in air-mobile vertical insertion and extraction techniques should the U.S. need them:

https://epsilon.aeon.co/images/5b60d025-44d1-4623-bfe8-0e28abac753b/header_Cow-flying.jpg

Note identifying bell (and more disconcertingly, lack of diaper)