Finally, I know.
I've been back for several weeks now and I still think about it everyday. I think about the faces of the people we helped, I think about the lives that have bee forever changed by this disaster. The one thing no pictures can convey - no news reports can show - is the overall feeling of appreciation that everyone involved in THIS rescue/recovery effort experienced. We were met with nothing but kindness and hospitality from people who had basically lost everything - they have to start all over again and they're offering us what little they still do have.
I'll talk about the conditions a bit. We finally camped at a small airport in southern Mississippi - when I say we camped at an airport, we were about 100 yards from the active runway:
When I say active runway - I'm not talking about little airplanes - I'm talking about C-130's and the like. It could get very loud sometimes. You may be able to see that the area we camped at used to have trees on it, they had been blown over by the storm and already were cleared by the time we arrived.
I've decided to let the pictures speak for themselves:
Day One - Capt. Welch and myself interview a resident.
Lt. Lei (a paramedic like me) listens to the lungs of an infant while the mother and grandmother look on.
Finally, a shot of most of the ground team I was a part of - missing are Capt. Welch, and Lt. Lei, both spent the last day at mission base getting our final operations squared away.
Overall this was on of the greatest experiences of my life - I will never forget it. It was probably not the most convenient time for me to be leaving home for a week straight but I would do it again in a heartbeat - I hope that we never have to be called to another major disaster like this one - but if we are, I'll be there, no questions asked.
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