Wingnut
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Wow, that's what I assumed, no wonder they're telling people to hold off and not go down there.
Jon's Update Thread
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Good luck Jon! Stay safe!
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I got back last night, and have been going crazy tring to get my stuff unpacked and go though all my emails.
I'll try to catch up... my phone email didn't work right for the last week, and twice I had messages send and then not deliver for some reason.
On 9/11... I was off... I sat around base with my partner and slept,m then went over to LSU to help "unload" a truck (in shorts and a t-shirt, with 3 other guys, in similar non-unifor attire) we got there, and found out that they wanted someone with a big box truck or tractor trailer to help them by loading supplies to go to mississippi.
later on 9/11 - we had a big meeting, with a short prayer from a chaplin (we were operating out of the Jimmy Swigert ministries Bldg
). One of the more meomrable comments was said by the Incident Commander from the Dept. Pub. Health.... "Who 'alls from New York?" And there were probably 2 folks in the group of 200-300 folks.... He than said "4 years ago, we sent folks to help y'all.... and we are all very happy to have you here, helping us, 4 years later"
It was also announced that starting Monday 9/12, we would start to go "door to door" in the affected parishes.... with the help of the local Dept's for aging, to do well being checks on the sick and elderly, who hadn't seen any medical help for 2 weeks.
9/12...I was to be deployed with a non-driving guy from new york.... I'd been up until midnight, and was up at 0430 to be deployed.... I said NO WAY, and swapped with another crew... I ended up with a partner out of my base, and we went to find a truck... no luck... all the rigs were either ALS or out.... so we got jammed up and missed out of the "door to door" mission. We went back to bed. Later, we went inot New Orleans to pick up a truck that was left at City Hall by a crew assigned to N.O. for 1+ weeks, supporting the DOH there.... so we got lost trying to get off I-10. I was driving, my partner was navigating (and taking pictures). It was bizzare to be driving up and down on and off ramps the wrong way... including backing 100+ feet up off ramps, twice, when they were flooded at the bottom.
Then we got lost... directed by some nicve Army Reserve folks with maps to take Washington Street all the was into center city... 2 miles down washington Street... it flooded out, after we passed two Calif. USAR teams.
So back up washington to the I-10, back into town, again, and I finally found a back way into the superdome area. We pickled up the truck, made a big loop of downtown, took pictures, then went home.
I was happy I brought my armor, but kicked myself that I didn't put it on until after we made it downtown and I could take the time to dig it out... in hindsight, I should have had it on leaving camp... I was really uncomforatable after some wrong turns.
9/13.... Finally got a mission... I spent the evening with another guy from New York in the Louis Armstrong airport. I tried to use the internet terminal in the airport, but it wasnt working . I had dinner and breakfast on the tarmac, in a big tent. Really bizzare.
9/14... got back, stuck around the EOC for an hour to get our pictures taken, then spent 2.5 hours in the sun getting ready to get our pictures taken. I smelled very less than clean, and leaft there, went to camp, then went for a shower.
From 9/14 until I departed on 9/17.... I was assigned to the supply tent at the EOC.... pretty easy gig... sit and read, and sleep in the air conditioned tent. The A/C got overwhelmed during the day, but at night was pretty nice.
On 9/15.... I drove around, got my photos printed at wal-mart, and drove a supervisor around too....
Finally pulled out on 9/17 in the late AM.... and our shirts finally showed up (we were supposed to have them at the begining of the deployment).. they are highway orange and say "Disaster Team Katrina 2005" on the back, with the company logo on the front. The joke is, that at 200 yards, the back blurs into a bullseye... for all the folks running around with guns.... gee... don't the shirts make a great target.
We wore the shirts home.
We flew home first class, Delta this time - through Atlanta. When We were in atlanta, everyone thanked us. When we got to Philly, and asked a couple of folks to take our picture in front of the baggage claim area.... we got the "who the heck are you" stare, and the 5th person finally agreed to do it.... great to be back in the City of Brotherly Love
Jon
I'll try to catch up... my phone email didn't work right for the last week, and twice I had messages send and then not deliver for some reason.
On 9/11... I was off... I sat around base with my partner and slept,m then went over to LSU to help "unload" a truck (in shorts and a t-shirt, with 3 other guys, in similar non-unifor attire) we got there, and found out that they wanted someone with a big box truck or tractor trailer to help them by loading supplies to go to mississippi.
later on 9/11 - we had a big meeting, with a short prayer from a chaplin (we were operating out of the Jimmy Swigert ministries Bldg
). One of the more meomrable comments was said by the Incident Commander from the Dept. Pub. Health.... "Who 'alls from New York?" And there were probably 2 folks in the group of 200-300 folks.... He than said "4 years ago, we sent folks to help y'all.... and we are all very happy to have you here, helping us, 4 years later"It was also announced that starting Monday 9/12, we would start to go "door to door" in the affected parishes.... with the help of the local Dept's for aging, to do well being checks on the sick and elderly, who hadn't seen any medical help for 2 weeks.
9/12...I was to be deployed with a non-driving guy from new york.... I'd been up until midnight, and was up at 0430 to be deployed.... I said NO WAY, and swapped with another crew... I ended up with a partner out of my base, and we went to find a truck... no luck... all the rigs were either ALS or out.... so we got jammed up and missed out of the "door to door" mission. We went back to bed. Later, we went inot New Orleans to pick up a truck that was left at City Hall by a crew assigned to N.O. for 1+ weeks, supporting the DOH there.... so we got lost trying to get off I-10. I was driving, my partner was navigating (and taking pictures). It was bizzare to be driving up and down on and off ramps the wrong way... including backing 100+ feet up off ramps, twice, when they were flooded at the bottom.
Then we got lost... directed by some nicve Army Reserve folks with maps to take Washington Street all the was into center city... 2 miles down washington Street... it flooded out, after we passed two Calif. USAR teams.
So back up washington to the I-10, back into town, again, and I finally found a back way into the superdome area. We pickled up the truck, made a big loop of downtown, took pictures, then went home.
I was happy I brought my armor, but kicked myself that I didn't put it on until after we made it downtown and I could take the time to dig it out... in hindsight, I should have had it on leaving camp... I was really uncomforatable after some wrong turns.
9/13.... Finally got a mission... I spent the evening with another guy from New York in the Louis Armstrong airport. I tried to use the internet terminal in the airport, but it wasnt working
. I had dinner and breakfast on the tarmac, in a big tent. Really bizzare. 9/14... got back, stuck around the EOC for an hour to get our pictures taken, then spent 2.5 hours in the sun getting ready to get our pictures taken. I smelled very less than clean, and leaft there, went to camp, then went for a shower.
From 9/14 until I departed on 9/17.... I was assigned to the supply tent at the EOC.... pretty easy gig... sit and read, and sleep in the air conditioned tent. The A/C got overwhelmed during the day, but at night was pretty nice.
On 9/15.... I drove around, got my photos printed at wal-mart, and drove a supervisor around too....
Finally pulled out on 9/17 in the late AM.... and our shirts finally showed up (we were supposed to have them at the begining of the deployment).. they are highway orange and say "Disaster Team Katrina 2005" on the back, with the company logo on the front. The joke is, that at 200 yards, the back blurs into a bullseye... for all the folks running around with guns.... gee... don't the shirts make a great target.
We wore the shirts home.
We flew home first class, Delta this time - through Atlanta. When We were in atlanta, everyone thanked us. When we got to Philly, and asked a couple of folks to take our picture in front of the baggage claim area.... we got the "who the heck are you" stare, and the 5th person finally agreed to do it.... great to be back in the City of Brotherly Love
Jon
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We're glad to have you back!
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Two back home safely, one more to go.
MedicPrincess
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WELCOME BACK JON
Wingnut
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Welcom Home Jon! 
TTLWHKR
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Me too!
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It was pretty cool... unitl my tent became infested with fire ants. Then it stunk... then I got to sleep in the Air Conditioned Supply tent... much better... no fire ants...Originally posted by Wingnut@Sep 9 2005, 11:58 PM
Good to hear from you sweety, Sounds like a rough time, but I bet you're loving it.
Jon
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EMS, Fire, SAR, Red Cross, FEMA, other volunteers, people bringing in supplies, media, etc.
Just to give you an idea, the Red Cross is sending about 600 volunteers a day to the South-Central area to help out with relief and sheltering. Our Chapter has sent 81 volunteers to the area, the most from any chapter in our 8 state region. B) [/b][/quote]
I actually flew in from Dallas / Ft. Worth with a guy from Westchester New York.. a SWATY Medic, who is working "Secuirty" (Luno Style) for the Red Cross as a VOLUNTEER (Hey.. I'd volunteer if they let me bring an armory with me, too
).
SafetyPro2
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Welcome back, Jon. Sometime, we'll have to get together over a beer or 6 and swap stories.
Good to have you back and in one piece.
Good to have you back and in one piece.
TTLWHKR
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Originally posted by SafetyPro@Sep 22 2005, 03:50 PM
Welcome back, Jon. Sometime, we'll have to get together over a beer or 6 and swap stories.
Good to have you back and in one piece.
Underage drinking... Very very bad... Especially at 20 (or 19) what ever he is.That is something that needs to be done at 16 and 17...