I have a question.

I am all for the United States Navy. They are my heros in so many ways. All around the world our men (including my two sons) and women serve our country and provide support to so many other contries. On April 6 the HSV 2 Swift finally delivered nearly $1 million worth of relief supplies to Haiti. However, the Navy’s program Project Handclasp spokesperson said because of various transport difficulties the bulk of the food had passed its expiration date and had to be thrown away.

Now I know most food has an expiration date of a “long time” which tells me that the food either was old to begin with or it’s been sitting in a warehouse for a “long time”. Which is it?

If it was old to begin with, why did Project Handclasp accept it in the first place? If it has been sitting in a warehouse that long, why is that? Someone needs to be doing their job a little better. It is not only wasteful, it is heartbreaking.

Commander Lewis Preddy, said sending the food on a ship earlier would have meant drawing down resources from humanitarian missions elsewhere and I wouldn’t want that to happen either. But I would like to know who didn’t check the expiration dates before it was loaded on that ship.

We are the United States, we make things happen in a timely fashion. Commander Preddy, you need to check the expiration dates a little closer.