Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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Signs of Recovery Wednesday, 14 September- Our neighbors in the Riverwalk Terminal, the 119th Rhode Island National Guard, have been told they are moving out and returning to the Ocean State in the next few days. These 140 guardsmen have been our shipmates for the past two weeks. They were one of the first teams on station in New Orleans, helped the local police restore order, and were the ones who carried out the grim mission of cleahng out the Convention Center. Some of the guardsmen have done tours in Iraq, some have scars from VIED attacks. Now they are going home. With this being their last mission day before pack out they took the XO on patrol ...in his flight suit. There are signs of recovery. A local McDonalds opened up nearby. It was reported that there were lines extending for miles with service men and women waiting for a Big Mac. We saw plenty of soldiers and guardsmen with McDonald ' s bags this morning. That probably accounts for the precipitous decline in breakfast diners this morning. During his patrol with the 119th, the XO stopped by and bought 50 burgers for the crew. He said that McDonalds was giving a free meal to all military customers as thanks for what they have done and for what they are doing. Now i understand the populanty. But all in all, this is a good sign. There are a number of detachment personnel packing up as well. Good ships WHIDBEY ISUVND and HARRY S TRUMAN are headed back to the Tidewater area. The New Orleans International Airport opened yesterday with 30 flights throughout the day - about a quarter of the normal capacity. They expect to be up to 60 aircraft a day by the end of the month. More traffic is coming up and down the river. When we arrived on 5 September, the river pilot told me merchant traffic was about 10 percent capacity. Five days later it had risen to 20 percent: double. New teams are coming in. The South Dakota National Guard rolled into the city today. Thankfully, they will not have to face the same challenges as the Rhode Islanders when they arrived. There are more supplies coming in by road every day. The pilots reported that the highways are filled with cars and traffic. Having suffered the commute in Washington DC for two years. 1 thought I never consider bumper to bumper traffic and traffic jams progress . It was also reported that the checkpoints coming into the city are crowded as residents stream back to rebuild their homes and their city. The mission we are executing is one that is not new to our Amphibious Forces. In truth, for the past several decades, the Gator Navy and their allies in the United States Marine Corps have carried out dozens of humanitarian aid disaster relief missions. The ships are ideally suited for the mission. The landing craft from our floodable well and the helicopters off our flight deck can just as easily carry humanitarian supplies and a construction battalion as they could combat loaded Marines ready to hit the beach. The cavernous vehicle stowage spaces, magazines, and hangars can carry thousands of tons of supplies. And we have the means to get it all to the beach. The focus here isn ' t missiles or weapons - no one is currently shooting at us - but logistics - tactical logistics, the art of moving vast amounts of supplies, material, equipment, and people, tactically - getting the right material to the right place at the right time. This is the challenge we face every day. Over the past week, we have moved hundreds of pallets of stores and humanitarian supplies. The HSV SWIFT has sailed up the Mississippi twice since we have been here delivering 300 pallets of supplies to IWO JIMA for further transfer to TORTUGA and SHREVEPORT by either landing craft or by helicopter vertical

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devastating attack on New Orleans. First, Katrine savaged the area witti winds as she moved northward, knocking over telephone poles, power lines, and cell phone and microwave antennas. Then as the storm passed and moved northward, expanding in size as it gathered up moisture over the Mississippi valley, it brought a calm to the ravaged city New Orleans, lulling the residents with the false belief that they had dodged the worst of it. Then Katrina poured a sea of rain into the Mississippi valley swelling the river and Lake Ponchatrain and all the tributaries beyond their banks, tunneling massive amount of raging water through New Orleans and the delta, weakening some of the levees until they broke without warning. The water rose quickly, several feet within minutes in some cases, covering huge areas. There was no time to evacuate, no way to escape, and no way to call for help - all the phone lines and cell phone services were down. Flooded streets denied rescue workers access by road. Downed trees impeded access by boat. The storm knocked out bridges and causeways cutting off sections of the city - separating and dividing friendly forces. Smashed or flooded air fields denied aircraft staging bases from which to launch search and rescue efforts. Rescue workers inside the area were trapped, isolated, unable to communicate with outside support and with victims, and unable to get around to conduct rescues. It is an absolute miracle, surveying the wide expanse of destruction, that so many thousands were rescued. And it is astounding that 1 .3 million people were safely evacuated to safe havens and refuges under such difficult circumstances within 24 hours - a feat of coordination without precedent. The first thing you notice about the damage from the air is black water and mud. But the second thing you notice is movement . There is movement in the flood waters and on dry land. Flooded areas were being patrolled by Coast Guard boats and teams. Neighborhoods still covered with brown scum were being patrolled by Marines and their amphibious assault vehicles (or tracks ). In areas where the waters had receded Army Air Force, and National Guard personnel walked the streets, checking homes for potential evacuees and people in need. A military helicopter was adding huge bags of cement to a recently repaired levee, reinforcing its banks. Countless utility company trucks were engaged in rigging wires and repairing lines. Strung along the bank of a number of levees were fleets of portable pumps, six to ten in a line, drawing massive amounts of black water from flooded neighborhoods. In less damaged areas, residents were out piling debris from their yards and homes on the edges of the street for some future collection. In another neighborhood, dried mud was being scraped off the street by a bull dozer. And at the Superdome, pieces of heavy equipment were extracting debris and piling it for removal. From the air you occasionally see a sign painted on the roofs of houses. Some had calls for help or noted that a pet had been left behind. But one in particular struck me as inspiring. On a flat, black shingled roof was painted the following message in large white letters: No Phone.. .1 Dog. ..2 Cats...1 Person... Bring Supplies... STAYING! - a sign of stubborn defiance! Foremost of the qualities of Americans, along with charity and good will to others, is perseverance. America throughout her history has prevailed against all forms of adversity: civil war, worid wars, economic depression, civil stnfe, and natural disasters, will be perseverance and a determination by her citizens to rebuild a new New Orieans, despite the challenges of time and the daunting recovery ahead. t:

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replenishment (VERTREP). To date we tiave moved half a million pounds of supplies by air alone with two to three times that amount by surface. But it is not just supplies and logistics. It is also the equipment and gear we carry, TORTUGA was the mother ship for nearly two dozen combat rubber raiding craft. They would send groups of boats into the flood areas supported by one of the LCM-8 landing craft acting as a support ship. They rescued dozens of individuals with this innovative tactic. Combined, the amphibious ships BATAAN, TORTUGA, SHREVEPORT, WHIDBEY ISLAND, and IWO JltVIA brought a significant portion of Naval Beach Group and Amphibious Construction Battalion capabilities to Gulfport and Biloxi where they have opened roads, cleared harbors, and rebuilt infrastructure - so that relief aid can pour in. The unsung heroes in all this are the Combat Cargo Marines. IWO JIMA only has 5 t 1arines as part of ship ' s company - one major who coordinates and controls air operations, and a warrant, one Master Sergeant, a Gunnery Sergeant, and a Staff Sergeant who run combat cargo. They account for and move the thousands of people that cross our flight deck and our well deck during operations and get them to where they need to go in this cavernous and confusing ship. They also move and find storage for tons of cargo, and berth thousands of people on this ship. Berthing in officer ' s country is the domain of Culinary Specialist First Class Drakos. With hundreds of staff officers onboard IWO JIMA, she is far more well known than the Captain, and rightly so. As the ship is bombarded with aircraft and guests, the Combat Cargo Team ensures that the right people get to the nght place at the hght time. I had the privilege to volunteer at the soup kitchen in front of Harrah ' s this evening. It is a remarkable place. It provides hot meals to thousands of First Responders and troops each day from eight o ' clock in the morning until close to nine o ' clock at night. Eddie, his brothers, Joe, and Doug all from Alabama and Florida roared into town after the storm and set up this outside kitchen with gas grilles and coolers. They have been here ever since, feeding thousands. It soon expanded to refrigerator trucks packed with donated steaks, hamburgers, hotdogs, shrimp, and vegetables. Soon thereafter, the tents and chairs arrived, and the operation got larger still. Since Sunday, IWO JIMA has had a steady stream o ' volunteers to help set up, cook, serve, and clean up. The operation is typically American: generous souls who see people in need and share they abundance and good will with those less fortunate. And some people still wonder why we are the most fortunate nation on earth. 125