Notes from the field?

Final post from the field...

What a week. We're on our way home now - this is the first time I've had solid cell coverage.

We did amazing work. This experience has changed my life forever. I've seen parts of this country I never would have seen. I'm not even talking about the damage from Katrina, I'm talking about the living conditions in the southern parts of this country. If I take anything away from this deployment it will be a new appreciation for my living situation - no matter how bad it gets for me it will NEVER be as bad as it is down there. I will always have a roof over my head and food to eat - sometimes that's not the case down there.

As soon as I get home I'll write a complete wrap up of my experience - I want to leave you with a photo of me about 50 feet from the gulf. If you can't tell, the lot behind me used to be a house - it hasn't been cleared or torn down, this is the result of the hurricane damage. We estimated that this was probably at least a million dollar home - it was ocean front property. More soon.

WOW!

To say we'vebeen busy would be an extreme understatement. We have personally met hunderds of people who have been affected by Katrina. This is the first moment I've had to write anything. We have been to peoples residences where they are housing more than 20 people. Some people have had no food or water for days.

I take this mission VERY seriously, every contact I make I maintain a very high level of professionalism - some people do not. This has been the only furstrating thing. People complain about the image of CAP, they can't understand why we don't get more respect - well, now I know.

Enough about that... I took my first shower since I got here yesterday - the facilities are getting better everyday but things are still rough. We eat a lot of MRE's - yum. They just started cooking meals yesterday that made a big difference.

I leave you with a photo of a hurricane shelter - it was anchored to the ground using 4 foot long spikes and heavy chain and it "almost didn't make it".

Dawn on the flightline...

So I slept like a baby last night in my MSR Zoid 1 tent. Despite the fact that we were sleep 100 feet from an active runway. We are heading down to Stennis field as we speak. Stennis is one of the hardest hit areas north or I-10. I'd love to give more details but we've been told not to. I've enclosed a photo of the flightline...

Moon Pies and RC's...

So we just crossed into Mississipps and stopped for fuel and food. I was waiting in line for the restroom I saw a southern dessert treat - moon pie, then of course you have to wash that down with an RC cola. We're about 3 hours away from mission base. More soon!

First photo...

Here I am riding down.

We are headed to Hawkins field now - we will stay there tonight and then most likely be deployed to a forward operating area. One of the towns that we may be sent to is Pascagoula Mississippi. More to come soon.

On our way...

Well everyone - off we go. We're heading to Mississippi wing headquarters as our first stop then we're going to be sent to a small town in MS to do door to door search and rescue. I'll try to keep this updated so everyone knows how I'm doing. Wish me luck.