We dropped what we were doing and sped to Cairns to offer our support.

It's very tense work -- we have to be careful. Pirates are very well armed and we have to be prepared for attacks on us as well as on the commercial shipping in the area.

It did not appear he was wearing a seat belt.

We thought we had it controlled. Then Sunday, oh gosh, it was terrible. Those ceiling tiles started falling upstairs, and you could hear them when they hit the floor.

Then the marshal who was standing on the porch was shot from inside the residence.

I don't think any other mission could be this rewarding for us. We have large American flags painted on both sides of all of our Chinooks. When we land in these villages the people point to the flags and let us know how grateful they are that we have come to help.