Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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

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Rita New Missions Tuesday, 20 September- The onset of Hurricane Rita, and the growing strength of the storm as it moves into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, has increased anxiety levels and - heightened the sense of urgency. It was a massive undertaking today as hundreds of personnel moved off the ship and hundreds of Marines moved on. As expected in fluid and dynamic situations such as this, decisions appear to be last minute and the game plan changes hourly, requiring the ship and All Hands to demonstrate extraordinary flexibility. The venerable C5 Officer, Al Carver, from Amahllo Texas ( a panhandle man as remarked both former President Bush and the current President when they individually met him) declared, We don ' t know what we ' re doing, but whatever it is, we ' re ready to do it! In total, close to 150 pallets of material, cargo. Marine Corps supplies, MREs, bottled water, helicopter equipment and pack-up kits were brought onboard throughout the day and night. The ship ' s yellow forklifts and their experienced drivers were hot commodities in this massive logistics effort as they attacked rows of palletized cargo on the pier and brought them onboard the ship. Police whistles sounded throughout the day and night as safety observers indicated it was all clear for pedestrian traffic to cross the brow and transit up and down the ship ' s ramps after the heavily laden forklifts had passed - one whistle to stop traffic, two to resume. In all, about 1,200 people moved on and off the ship today, a number equal to the size of the entire crew. It was much like doing a crew swap in 12 hours. By 2100, our former tenants had all departed and some 647 Marines of 24 Marine Expeditionary Unit had arhved onboard. These Marines had been in the field for the last three weeks: no hot showers, no racks, no hot chow, and no air conditioning. Life for them is going to be different now. With IWO JIMA ' s departure imminent, there was a steady stream of former tenants coming onboard for one last meal, one last shower, and one last thp to the ship ' s store. There was also a steady stream of visitors who came onboard for farewell tours. Over the past few weeks the crew of IWO JIMA has established friendships with a wide range of people: with the various Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard units as well as the countless State National Guard units, out-of-state police, fire, and health departments, volunteers from around the country and the world as well as members of the local community. A great number of mementoes were exchanged, and I swear that half the population of the area is now wearing the famous IWO JIMA ball cap. The President of the United States made his third visit to IWO JIMA today, flying onboard this afternoon for a brief from VADM Allen, LGEN Honore and the vahous task force commanders on both the Federal and Dept of Defense recovery efforts for Katrina and contingency plans for Hurhcane Rita, The various commanders ouflined detailed plans and preparations for the Rita contingency: everything from alerting fishing fleets and shipping, clearing and securing harbors, pre-staging relief aid and rescue equipment, identifying secure areas to house First Responders so that they would be safe during the storm allowing them to be relief providers and not victims, securing areas to prevent potential environmental hazards, and implementing evacuation plans. They appeared to leave no stone unturned. Pundits would say that all these extensive preparations were a direct result of and reaction to the lessons of Katrina, but my impression in dealing with these leaders over the past few weeks, particularly our shipmates in the Coast Guard, is that these plans and preparafions are routine and are normally in place in anticipation of an approaching storm, it is just that Kathna was so massive and catastrophic that such preparations were swept away in the storm ' s fury, I talked with a FEMA rep from Galveston, Texas. She said the Texans are loaded for bear for Hurricane Rita. Evacuations of hospitals and nursing homes are.already undenway. The Texas National Guard was recalled and is in place along the storms projected path. Evacuations sites are already set up with food and water. Their attitude is different: If an official tells you to evacuate and offers you a ride out if you don ' t have the means to get out, and you don ' t take it. Then forget it. You are on your own. Now that ' s personal responsibility! I said farewell to Governor Blanco yesterday as she was waiting to board her helicopter. She was reluctant to have IWO JIMA depart and urged that the ship remain. But for the last week our mission has been winding down, Rita only accelerated the process. When the Governor spoke to the JTF Katrina commanders for the first fime nearly two weeks ago, she thanked them up front for their service and looking to the future said, your departure will mean that you are going back to your homes and families, but it will also mean that we are back on our feet. When we anchored off Biloxi and Gulfport on the 3rd of September, we had a pretty well defined mission: land the Naval Beach Group and the Amphibious Construcfion Battalion and sustain their operations on the beach. Our mission in New Orleans has never been defined: no deployment order - no nothing, just bhng IWO JIMA up the Mississippi and embark JTF Katrina. Our role as airfield, intelligence center, communications platform, conference center, chow hall, laundramat, hotel, and refuge all came about as we saw pressing needs. No one ever directed us to do them, we just did them, in typical Navy fashion on our own. In the end, we and our sister ships TORTUGA and SHREVEPORT did as President Bush asked all Americans to do duhng his Jackson Park speech, Find your role and do your part, We found our role and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to do our part. We may have more missions tomorrow.