Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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showers for the city workers at a local gym and rehab the Orleans Parish City Han to get i; up and running. Around the city there are growing signs of recovery. Some of the parishes are reported to be allowing some residents to return to their homes. The Army Corps of Engineers indicated that dewatehng efforts were proceeding ahead of schedule with the water level dropping on the average of a foot and a half per day across the city. Louis Armstrong Airport is reported to be opening up soon. And as I looked across the night skyline this evening, I notice that the red Sheraton sign has been completely restored. There is still a gigantic amount of trash, debhs, and garbage to be cleared out. But inch by inch, areas of the city are being cleaned and reclaimed. As I went around the room this evening during our Department Head meeting, there was one worthy candidate for the amusing event of the day With such a large population of civilians and personnel from other Services onboard, getting around the ship and comprehending Navy terminology can be challenging. One lost civilian asked a crewmember how she could get to the Half deck Don ' t you mean Quarterdeck? was the response. I suspect it is the new math. Before the President left the mess decks this morning, he spoke briefly to the packed audience of hundreds of service men and women. He thanked the troops for what they had done in relieving the misery of the Gulf Coast and expressed his pride in their service, and he told them that by their actions and extraordinary efforts they were uplifting humanity and bringing hope to those without it.

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mmMii 1 - 1 Uplifting Humanity | Monday, 12 September- President Bush remained overnight 1 aboard good ship IWO JIMA. the first time ever on a Navy ship according to ' the Secret Service foll s. He electrified the crew by showing up on the mess decks eariy this morning for breakfast. IWO JIMA ' s mess decks normally hold , about 100 seats. Within a few minutes, as word spread throughout the ship, the population of the mess decks swelled to three hundred to four hundred people. Hundreds stood in line to shake his hand. The President moved from table to table, greeting Sailors. Marines, Airmen, Soldiers, National Guardsmen, Coast Guardsmen, air crews, doctors, and civilians, shaking hands, taking a picture with them, and thanking them for their service. Would that his incredibly tight schedule permit him to do so. he would have spent all day on the mess decks greeting and thanking each and every service member. As he was departing the ship later this morning, I introduced him to IWO JIMA ' s veteran LDO Chief Engineer, Rick Shelar dressed in coveralls, naturally The President made a point of thanking him for the hot water and cool air - two commodities greatly appreciated by thousands of IWO JIMA guests this past week. We implemented a change in IWO JIMA ' s uniform policy on Sunday Hence forth, all long sleeves shirts have to be rolled up, in the style of the Commander-in-Chief. Like the President, we are ready to get back to work. The business of good ship IWO JIMA continued unintemjpted throughout the President ' s stay Several medical evacuations (medevacs) took place; a number by air and the flight deck and a number brought by ambulance to the quarterdeck. Flight operations continued throughout the morning. Deck department continued their extensive preservation work of the ship ' s port side and the golden anchor on the port side was brightened with a fresh coat of gold paint. The steady stream of soldiers and guardsmen coming aboard for showers, meals, laundry, medical attention, and meetings continued unabated as well as the steady flow of Sailors going off the ship to support a number of relief projects. The trashed and gutted RivenA alk Terminal was completely clean out -, s morning by a large contingent of IWO JIMA Sailors. The Command Master C lef had to hold them off before they went so far as to start waxing the decks. Tne Terminal building is slated to become the new FEMA office for recovery efforts. Twenty volunteers returned to the Plaza to continue the feeding of the First Responders. cooking and barbequing several thousand meals a day for firemen and policemen from New Orleans and from around the country, including some 300 from New York City. Last Sunday, teams of volunteers - including a group of brothers from Alabama - set up the soup kitchen to ensure that the First Responders were supplied with good food as they worked to restore the city A team of engineers conducted a s ite survey of Charity Hospital to drain the , facility ' s huge basement of flood waters. Other teams surveyed jobs to build

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Perseverance Tuesday, 13 September- The schedule of the ship has settled down to a dull roar. It was a slow day on the flight deck, relatively speaking, compared to the high optempo 1 5-16 hour days of last week. Deck department continued their preservation work and conducted a number of stern gate marriages with TORTUGA ' s LCM-8 landing craft to bring supplies on and off the ship. Hotel IWO JIMA remains open for business and the steady stream of customers continues. The engineers have set to work a joint project with the Army to dewater the basement of the venerable Charity Hospital. Navy pumps and an Army generator with Coast Guard oversight - it doesn ' t get more joint than that. I had a delegation of five New York City police officers visit me aboard IWO JIMA. They were part of a 300 person NYPD contingent that arrived on station last Monday. They took to the streets on their own initiative and established order. Some of the members are seasoned veterans of 9 1 1 . Who better to set the first line of defense than New York City ' s finest. With the break in the action, I took the opportunity to tour the City and surrounding areas by air, courtesy of the professionals of Charger 61 from HSC-26 helicopter squadron. We flew as far north as Slidell and as south as the lower part of New Orieans, across all the City ' s parishes. It was a grim and sobering hour and a half flight. From our perch on the bridge of USS IWO JIMA during our transit up the Mississippi we saw a significant amount of damage along the river and a few miles across the river delta lowlands. And even from our travels through downtown New Orieans, we have only seen a fraction of the devastation. It is different from the air. The wide expanse of Katrina ' s cruelty spreads out for dozens of miles. There are sfill neighborhoods flooded with waters from the once broken levees, miles of low one story homes still suffocating and choked in the black Stygian waters. In other areas where waters the color of olive green have receded, the entire landscape IS coated with brownish, olive colored mud: roads, sidewalks, cars, shrubs, lawns, sidewalks and driveways, swimming pools, decks and :iatios, layered in mud and dried scum. But not content to just suffocate and drown in black water and mud, Katrina elected to smash with savage winds. In some areas, homes were flooded off their foundations and then pushed into a pile at the edge of a ' evee. In one parking lot, a bunch of smashed cars were placed n the same way Noble trees uprooted and smashed. Pleasure ijoats piled in a mass half a mile from the nearest water. Homes, businesses, hotels, restaurants, everything smashed, choked, or crushed. And the devastation carries on for miles. After a while, one becomes anesthetized to the carnage. What seems to be completely lost in the press is the nsidious nature with which this massive storm struck the Gulf Coast, particulariy New Orieans. General Honore called this the perfect storm - an enemy who conducted a perfect, flawless, - I 3 1 9 1 mk mr i J 1 3 -9 Uii s [ K 1 9 1 M 1 1 1 1 i 1 F ifl 1