Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 36 text:

Farewells Sunday, 18 September- The Wardroom officers wanted to give the hardworking culinary specialists (CS) and food service attendants (FSA) a break this Sunday morning, so they volunteered to take over their duties for breakfast and allow them to sleep in. IWO JIMA is blessed to have a large cadre of limited duty officers who have not forgotten where they came from. The LDO ' s led the operation. It was interesting to watch the engineers take over the scullery. I observed the Chief Engineer supervising his team, operating the scullery machine as though it was one of the ship ' s 600 lb boilers, and chastising the Boilers Officer when temperatures were out of designed specifications. The CSs and FSAs appreciated the break. The 119th Military Police Company of the Rhode Island National Guard departed this morning. We held a ceremony onboard the ship to formally see our shipmates off and wish them well. The marched onboard a little after 0800 this morning and formed up on the flight deck. They presented the XO with a framed emblem of their unit and In return we gave them a large framed picture of Hotel IWO JIMA. their home for the last two weeks. They were our first line of defense in secuhng the ship dunng the first few uncertain days of our arrival. In the end, they all marched off, 140 of them, in single file, and the XO and I had the pleasure and honor of shaking each and every hand as they departed for home. I told them that in recovering from the biggest natural catastrophe in American history, it was America ' s smallest state that was one of the first to respond. We wish them a safe flight home to their families and loved ones. There has been a steady stream of visitors to the ship, delegations from both the NYPD and FDNY, dozens of local officials, and a myriad of state national guardsmen seeking to tour IWO JIMA. We had a delegation of the Navajo Scouts from Arizona onboard this morning for a tour. One of their members was a relative of the Marine Ira Hayes, the Pema Native American who helped raise the flag atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945. It is extraordinary to see the scope of volunteers who have come to New Orteans help out in the recovery. The Chaplain held a service at the recently restored Holy Trinity Church this morning. The parish ' s pnest had evacuated the area during the storm and was not able to return in time. The National Guard still has road blocks up near the church as there are still flooded neighborhoods nearby. The service was attended by a number of IWO JIMA Sailors who had helped out with the restoration project as well as a number of stalwart parishioners who came to rejoice in seeing their saved church and to thank Father Gianulis and IWO JIMA for their efforts. We hosted a Congressional visit by 16 members of Congress this morning. It followed the same format set by the Senate visit on Friday, but the logistics of getting everyone onboard proved challenging: one member showed up an hour eariy, without much notice, so the ship had scrambled, but we were able to get everyone flown onboard and settled into the wardroom for the traditional brief by VADM Allen. I have heard the brief 4 times now. It is the same brief provided to the President, Vice President, Senate, and now the Congressional Delegation, only each time it is updated to the minute with fresh nformation . In the past, VADM Allen would defer to his subject matter experts (Army Corps of Engineers, etc.), but has emerged as the master of virtually every detail of the recovery effort. As soon as his obligation with the Congressional delegation was complete, he raced off back to work, then later he flew off the ship to his headquarters in Baton Rouge. As with his brief to the Senate, the admiral fielded a barrage of questions from the representatives. Local elected officials and the Parish Presidents made impassioned pleas to the Congress for all kinds of aid and assistance - including the cutting of bureaucratic red tape in order to get recovery efforts moving faster. As before, the admiral explained how the storm occurred and the catastrophic impact it had on first responders, helping to provide insights as to why certain decisions were made. The Governor also spoke, strongly defending the actions of state, local, and federal authorities in the eariy stages of rescue and recovery efforts and condemning the press for distorting what was actually happening on the ground. She challenged the assembled Congressional members to put aside the blame game and political infighting and to work together in this monumental recovery effort. I remember the first time I met Governor Blanco 1 1 days ago. She looked worn from exhaustion and drained by events, all dressed in dark clothes that reflected her spirit. Today

Page 35 text:

-•• ♦ i 1 d 4 m . LiJ --=

Page 37 text:

she was a different person - and I told her so as I escorted her across the brow. She wore a bnght red jacket, confident and in firm control of events and the future of Louisiana. During our afternoon ritual of manning the ghlls at Eddie ' s Soup Kitchen, we observed the growing amount of traffic along Convention Road which runs parallel to the River. We even observed a bacl -up - a sign of the growing influx of people and machines coming to New Orleans. The Mayor had announced his intention to bring bacl some 180,000 residents, starting with the Algiers neighborhoods across the river from us, which had not sustained as much damage as some areas like Saint Bernard ' s Parish. The challenge is to ensure that the services (water, sewage, electncity) are up and operating before the influx. Even Eddie expects to be shutting down his Soup Kitchen in a week or so as the National Guard and Army personnel, as well as the out-of-state First Responder volunteers, turn over to local agencies. The ongoing IWO JIMA clean up efforts have pretty much cleared all the debhs and trash from the Mississippi River and the Terminal two blocks inland to Convention Road and as far north as the Riverwalk Plaza and the World Trade Center. We expect this major project to be complete in a day or two. We have been watching the approach of Tropical Storm Rita with suspicion. The models show the storm building to a Category 2. possibly 3, hurricane by Tuesday as it moves westward across the Gulf of Mexico. A strong High is keeping the system far to our South. Our anxiety concerns leaving New Orleans before our time - to have to sortie for hurhcane avoidance - leaving the impression to the City and all the folks that have volunteered to help with the City ' s restoration that IWO JIMA is deserting them rather than to stay and continue the fight. Nature, however, has little pity or concern for us. We will watch the weather closely