Katrina call-out

[james croft]

Thanks for the good advice. I am told we will have 6- ten man tents and some generators. I am pretty self sufficient as I have a whole lot of camping gear. I will be very comfortable as long as I don't break an axle on my trailer. I may be slightly overloaded but do not want to leave anything behind that may be important. Will be going by the Health Dept. in Wythville to get some shots. I anticipate diving will be the least of my duties as we are to be sworn in as State Troopers upon arrival. As long as nobody gets injured I will be satisfied. I expect we will be on boat patrol and trying to fill up the new jail they built. Am taking a digital camera. Will post some pics if I am able later on.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Take care James. We will be looking for reports back from you whenever you can get access.

 

[Randy43068]

From one officer to another. Please take all due dilligence and always be thinking about about officer safety.


Randy

I will be leaving tomorrow morning with our dive team heading towards the gulf. My department is sending our dive team and approx. 60 officers and 30 boats from Virginia. Sounds pretty challenging. Actually hope I won't get to dive as I am worried about contaminated water. We only have aga masks and drysuits.I will not dive in the soup I have been seeing on the television with such gear. We were told to be totally self reliant and not to count on any support when we get there. We are taking a compressor, generators, night vision gear, fuel bladders, etc. We were told much of our job will be patrolling for looters, body recovery and who knows what. On a more sobering note we were told to bring all the ammo we have and our M-4 rifles, body armor and kevlar helmets. We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Will let you know what it was like when I get back in 2-3 weeks. Gotta go buy some vienna sausages in hot sauce and some beanie weinies.

 

[captain]

You may be staying in my home town of Laplace on I-10 25 miles west of downtown New Orleans. We have police from all over the US housed in a school here.

 

[Randy43068]

I also have some friends (cops) who are on the way down there. A bulliten on CopShare requested some help so they're going down. Leaving from Lima Ohio tomorrow or Tuesday for a 10 day stint.

Good luck to all of you!!

 

[james croft]

It looks like we are not leaving after all. On Saturday we were told we were leaving Sunday 0600. On Sunday we were told to leave on Monday 0530. Then we were told that we were positively leaving Tuesday at 0530 as all the FEMA paperwork was done, etc. For the last three days we have had officers twiddling their thumbs, with vehicles loaded down with gear of every description. Our contacts in Louisiana were telling us to get down there as they could use a hand in a big way. On Monday afternoon our Office Of Emergency Operations told us to stand down as we were no longer needed. They explained that since the Corp of Engineers were getting the flooding under control they would not need the 30 boats we were bringing. It was like being in the military- Hurry up and wait. We are really frustrated at the foot dragging and red tape. Everyone was equipped and ready to move out Sunday morning. This has been an eye opener for me as the state of confusion at the local, state and federal level. I would imagine this same scene being played out across the country. I hope the next disaster or terrorist attack is managed in a more organized fashion. The only thing I found amusing about it was a couple of our hotshots ran out ahead of the rest of us to get their immunizations from their family doctors so they could leave sooner and not have to go to the State Heath Dept to get their shots. Any body else hearing of these call backs in the rest of the country?

 

[Gary D.]

The county to the north of us is or at least was sending a few. We are so short it would be tough to send more than one or two. We have 5 off on military leave already along with several positions we need to hire for.

I told the department that I'd like to take two other team members and go as divers but not a LEO's. The two I would like to take would dive in almost any conditions and it wouldn't bother them to go. The department said a flat out NO and my wife went off like a Saturn 5 headed for the moon.

Wife said your not diving in that crap. I had to remind her what I do around here and it's a lot thicker on this end. At least down there it's still mostly liquid.

Good luck everyone.

Gary D.

 

[Randy43068]

Well Gary,

You'd better tell your wife just who wears the pants in the family! Don't put up with that crap! <snickering>
(as if that every really works)

 

[Boater Dan]

It looks like we are not leaving after all.

James:

I defended FEMA for the first couple of days to a number of people who questioned me about the response. After all, it was the biggest natural disaster in recent times, if not in history. However, watching the video (and not listening to the reporters babble), there was a tremendous amount which I as a Emergency Responder, could not comprehend. I would repeatedly see the single story homes with water up to the roof line. Each of those homes should have been checked for surviors in the attics. If the people inside the structures could not make it out to the roof, then it seems as though it was assumed no one was in the structure.

I think it was CNN had some video yesterday of a woman who was being rescued by public citizens in a boat. She explained that her family had been removed from her house 3 days prior, but she was apparently too heavy for the helo lift. So they left her and no one apparently went back for her in 3 days. Then the citizens happened along with a boat. GPS is great for pinpointing her location and sending a rescue craft to pick her up.

It is my personal opinion (and not necessarily that of management) that the Director of FEMA should be flying from a flag pole in New Orleans.

Dan

 

[Gary D.]

Well Gary,

You'd better tell your wife just who wears the pants in the family! Don't put up with that crap! <snickering>
(as if that every really works)

She knows and if I want to get into them I need to be nice.

Gary D.