Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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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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The Onset of Rita Wednesday, 21 September- This was not how it was suppose to end. As we head eastward in the Gulf of Mexico, running north of Hurricane Rita. New Orleans and the Katrina relief efforts have faded in memory, supplanted by the anxieties and battle plans for the new threat, IWO JIMA got undenway from New Orleans at 0800 this morning in calm winds, hazy sunshine, and typical summer heal and humidity. I suspect New Orleans did not pay much attention to our departure as foll s went about their business and the City and all its supporters and volunteers prepared for the onset of rain and winds from Rita. Getting undenway went relatively smoothly. Those of us who sail in and out of the piers at Naval Station Norfolk are spoiled by having the finest pilots and tug masters in the world. The River Pilot nearly slammed IWO ' s stern back into the pier as we pulled away and chastised me for throwing on a left full rudder to kick my stern out. We cleared the dock with about 10 foot separation - more than enough. The rest of the 7 hour trip down the Mississippi was uneventful. Good ship TORTUGA had given us a heads up on some of the navigation issues and everything went smoothly. The Mississippi is a different river than it was over 2 weeks ago when we sailed up You could see definite changes - all for the better. There was heavy vehicle traffic going across the 1-90 bridge behind our berth with a large convoy of military and construction vehicles heading in both directions. The RivenA alk Plaza looked neat and ready for tourists - just as we left it - with the fountain in full operation, and the American flag now closed up on the flag pole - thanks to Airman DaSilva. There was considerable traffic on the River. The pilot thought it was up to about 80 percent capacity. We saw at least two dozen grain earners at anchor waiting their turn to go up river to load. The pilot indicated that they usually stay there a day to get a customs inspection, so these ships were not waiting long. And the grain harvest is reported to be the best in several years. There were dozens and dozens of work boats, tugs, barrages, dredges, floating cranes, LNG carriers, and ferries all along the nver. While there were still a lot of barges high and dry on the levees (and the trees had all sprouted up around them making it look like they were surrounded by a forest), there were steam shovels and bull dozers scouring the earth around them so they could be pulled back into the river. Judging by the number of recently cleared areas, a number of barges had already been reclaimed. There was considerable movement along the shore line. The coaling stations, refineries, liquified natural gas stations, and industrial docks were up and operating despite considerable damage to them by the storm. Some of the neighborhoods along the Mississippi, especially north of the delta, showed signs of coming back to life. The levees had been drained of flood waters, the brown mud replaced by cleared roads and green grass, debris had been moved from yards and streets, and people were out and about repainng their homes and neighborhoods. About 40 miles south of New Orieans on our 1 00 mile transit to the Mouth of the Mississippi, you could see areas still flooded. The waters had receded from most of the inhabited areas, but there were wetlands and lowlands still underwater. Further south you still see smashed neighborhoods, but as everywhere else there were signs of activity and progress. By around 1 1 00, we came across a steady stream of merchant traffic heading up nver as we headed down bound, another sign of recovery. By eariy afternoon, the winds began to pick up, and as we exited the Mississippi, making that tight, challenging turn to the south, they increased out of the northeast to about 20 knots. You could see large bands of white fluffy clouds streaming across the sky at great speed, the leading edge of Ritas massive storm system. By late afternoon, Rita was upgraded to a Category 5 Hurricane, the fifth most powerful Hurricane in the Atlantic region in U. S. history. However, there is an expectation that as the High over the southern United States moves eastward, the Hurricane will start moving to the west northwest into the slightly cooler waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico which may take some energy out of the system before it approaches land. By eariy evening we had turned to the east northeast - dead into the winds and heavy seas - easing towards the Florida panhandle and in the opposite direction of the westward moving Rita. We expect the eye of the storm to pass to the south of us around 0200 at approximately 300 miles. But even at that great range, we can feel the effects of the storm. But, the ship is secured for sea: All heavy equipment was brought down to the lowest point of the ship. Our air wing of nine helicopters is secured in the Hangar and everything else is tied down and inspected twice. We expect the winds to start veering to the east then the south east as the storm passes to the south of us in which case we will follow in behind and be ready to answer the call. The ship is riding comfortably, but we expect there will be some rocking and rolling. Already there are some green faces among the crew and Marines. It IS a shame the Ship ' s Store is out of smoked oysters