Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Naval Cruise Book

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be worthy of our heritage iday, 25 September- Our participation here in the Gulf of Mexico is winding down fast, I expect we jet word to head home sometime in the not-too-distant future. From the decl plates, there is a feeling ■ we ' re done. Once officially detached, it will take about a week to get back to Norfolk, after we refuel, ick up the LCAC, drop off the helicopters and the Marines, conduct our engineering Inspection, maybe refuel again, then pull into homeport. We could not have predicted the ending to all this; it was certainly not what any of us expected. We expected a clean ending in New Orleans, but Rita changed that and dragged it out. And our contributions to relief efforts over the past three to four days in the wake of latest hurricane were not as extensive as during Hurricane Katrina, which is a good thing, but our pilots and aircrewmen proved their worth and made a number of rescues and evacuations over the past two days. The surveys of the areas show damage and flooding, but there is great activity on the ground and things are recovering quickly. The capabilities of our naval force appear to be no longer needed. But, when you prepare for the worst, you always bring a full tool box even though most of the tools will never be used. It has been an extraordinary month. It seems like it was a year ago, not a month ago, that we hastily departed Norfolk and raced down to the Gulf Coast. I don ' t think anyone could have predicted the events that took place, the missions we ended up divining for ourselves, the people we would meet, having the President visit the ship three times and inspire the crew along with over 50 admirals and generals (we lost count) and an equal number of Senators, Congressmen, local dignitaries, and senior officials, and the remarkable things that would be accomplished. There is a great deal of satisfaction by the crew that in the end we made a difference and when you sift through all the anxiety of gearing up for missions, the frustration of constantly changing requirements, herding cats, and the tedium of routinely being in waiting station, there remains the satisfaction of a job well done. Regretfully (or perhaps thankfully), this will be my final Update. These updates started out as nightly rituals to send an email narrative to my wife, family, and a few close friends - an opportunity for me to collect my thoughts at the end of a long and sometimes frustrating day - and report on the events I had seen and the extraordinary accomplishments of all onboard this ship and around us. Despite all the tragedy I witnessed, there were always pockets of hope stubbornly persevering in a sea of despair On one hand 1 saw the extraordinary generosity of the American people and witnessed the abundance of aid and relief, the dedication of First Responders who stayed in the field while Katrina raged helping to save others and restore hope while politicians and the media from a thousand miles away condemned them for being too slow or not responsive enough, and thousands of volunteers that just put their personal lives on hold and stepped up to the plate to bring relief and comfort to those in despair And on the other hand, I was disappointed to see partisan politics in the midst of a national crisis of Biblical proportions. As with any human endeavor, there will be blame thrown about and shameful grandstanding. But in the end, it was clear to me that the Country showed her true self, that ordinary people stepped up to the plate and helped out, that the right things were done by our government and local authonties, and our President would find the right man in the person of Vice Admiral Thad Allen, United States Coast Guard, at the right time to command recovery efforts in the wake of Katrina. I never imagined that my nightly Updates would have reached such a wide audience, but after a few early responses from strangers across the worid or shipmates in high places I became aware of that fact. Over the past two weeks I have been inundated with emails of praise and kindness for what the Sailors and Marines of USS IWG JIMA were doing in New Orieans and in the wake of Hurncane Rita. To all of you, 1 am grateful for your confidence in us and thank you for your kind words. One in particular struck my heart and soul. It was from a former Marine who quoted the famous ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher Archimedes. This Marine wrote: Archimedes said that if he had (a lever and) a place upon which to stand he could move the earth. ..Looks like the folks down in New Orleans have found a place to stand. Semper Fi IWO JIMA. In March of this year, we held a ceremony on the ship back in Norfolk to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. We had some 50 survivors from the Battle in attendance, some on oxygen machines and in wheel chairs but damned if they would miss the event. The Commandant ' s own Drum and Bugle Corps and Silent Drill team performed for several hundred guests, but the highlight of the evening was the presentation of American flags flown from the ship ' s mast on 23 February - the 60th anniversary of the raising of the national ensign atop Mount Suribachi so immortalized in the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph - by this generation of service men and women to the Greatest Generation as well as the unveiling of a memorial wall with the names of the some 6,000 Marines, Sailors and other service members who made the ultimate sacrifice on that small volcanic island. At the time I wrote, We, the Sailors and Marines of this IWO JIMA are forever mindful of the heritage that has been entrusted to us by the ship ' s name. It is both a burden - one we willingly shoulder - to forever uphold the traditions set by those who sacrificed so much, and a source of great inspiration, all for the same reason. We hope that when it is our time to answer the Nation ' s call, as these young men did over 60 years ago, we will do so, inspired by their actions, and hope to acquit ourselves honorably so as to be worthy of that heritage. It is my fervent hope that we are worthy of that heritage. May God continue to bless America.

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Running with the winds and seas, there is very little rocking and rolling. With the exception of one extremely ominous rain squall, the skies have been cloudy but clear, the visual horizon seemingly unlimited but absent of any surface traffic. We saw only one or two brave merchantmen today, one heading away from the storm towards the Straits of Florida and one intrepid merchantman heading to the vicinity of the Entrance to the tvlississippi, some enterprising mariner perhaps, hoping to be the first up the river after it is reopened. While Rita remains a dangerous storm, there is cause for some hope here. The weakening of the system from an intensive Category 5 down to a Category 3 storm is a good sign. It is hoped the system decays rapidly after it goes ashore and doesn ' t linger dumping many inches of rain in the already hit areas. We received word this evening from our shipmates at the Oklahoma National Guard still in New Orleans, Contrary to a news report that they had evacuated the city, they are all still at their posts. There have been two breaches in the Industrial Canal levee and the 17th Street levee, bringing flood waters into recently flooded, but evacuated, areas The Army Corps of Engineers had worked so desperately hard to repair the previous breaches, strengthen the levee walls, and dram all the neighborhoods and parishes of the residual flood waters is disheartening to see their work reversed. But I believe the worst has passed for New Orieans (and not a repeat of Katrina) and in approximately 3 hours, Rita will make landfall in Texas and Western Louisiana, And we ' ll see what missions await us.

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1 ■ ■ -s: fnrK. .i Kr ■ . .K ' -in k k ' -c T .- cfc ;h water ; . Power Plant and Water Production Engineers produced and distributed nearly 1 20.000 gallons of trc per day; double normal crew usage Hot showers Aircraft and vehicle maintenance Additional support EPMU testing required Produced approx 6.200 KW s of electrical power 60-70°-o above nonnal use 4 SSTGs online the entire time Air Conditioning Plants Aircraft elevators, stemgate Regional Intelligence Center Provided support to 55 separate agencies and commands including the White House Primary (external) source of Intelligence and information within New Orleans for: City of New Orleans Emergency Operations Center (EOC) FEMA FPO Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) National Guard (RI. OK) and 82 Airborne New Orleans Police Dept (NOPD) Jack Lucas Airfield IWO JIMA - only full service airfield in New Orleans on arrival Conducted 1 ,600 evolutions averaging 1 00 per day on 4 modified spots 2 forward on the bow and 2 aft Area adjacent to the superstructure became the bone Continuous pier-side flight operations averaging 14 hrs day Flight quarters for re-spot 1 hr before after flight ops = avg 16 hrs day ops Flight Deck Tower manned 24 7 for Rescue Coord Center support Dispensed - 120.000 gallons of JP-5 Operated aircraft from Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, National Guard, State Police, NOPD, ICE, and HMX-1 Hotel IWO JIMA 3,000 extra meals per day (above the 1 .500 crew and embarked units) 400 showers per day (above crew and embarked units) Berthed an additional 1. 000 personnel 1 19th MP Company, RI Nat ' l Guard 82nd Airborne FEMA, U.S. Marshals, Game and Fisheries, Park Service. ICE. EPA. Center for Disease Control (CDC) Laundry services for 1,500 people per day plus 55 per day on self-sen e 200 extra customers per day in st ore $96K sales in 16 days pier side NOLA NO PERSONNEL AUGMENTATION ' 1 jr.: Distinguished Visitors IWO JIM. became ideal location for VIP isits and briefs Secure location, C2, berthing, close proximity to PFO HQ, etc Over 100 Senior officials and flag general officer visits in 2 weeks President of the United States (3) Vice President of the United States VCJCS, CNO, CFFC plus another 50 flag and general officers Secretary of Homeland Security New Director of FEMA Director of EPA Governor and LT Gov of Louisiana 1 7 Senators and 1 6 Congressmen Asst SECDEF for Health Affairs Ma or of New Orleans and dozens of other City and State Officials Hospital Dental Clinic Full Ser ' ice Hospital Integrated 85+ medical augmentees Carried out 50 surgical procedures Averaged 30+ patient visits and 5 in-patients per day Received casualties by air, water, and ground (ambulance and walk-in) HM ' s support multiple field missions 12 major pre med site assessment sur eys in support of 15,000 troops Critical Incident Stress Debriefing for 2,000 First Responders Nat ' l Guard Only Dental clinic in all New Orleans Handled 91 patients, 1 10 visits 44 extractions; 37 fillings Majority Nat ' l Guard and Army NOPD, HLS ICE, LA State Troopers In addition to care for 1,200 Sailors USS IWO JIMA Air Element Support for JTF Gulf Coast . t HM-14: Pro ided heavy lift capability utilizing 3 MH-53E helicopters ,- -- with 175hours of flight time; 580.000 pounds ofcargo transported; 783 g passengers evacuees transported throughout the JOA. K HSC 26: Provided day night all weatherSAR platform utilizing three ,- MH-60S helos.Provided 161 hours of flight time; I78,000pounds S;? of external cargo, 22,600 pounds of internal cargo; 359 VIPs, pax, — w evacuees. 7 HC-2: Day SAR ' logistics platform utilizing 2 SH-3G helos. Provided -«■ 90 hrs of flight time; 38 hoist rescues; 30 other rescues; 4 medical and J 44 other c acs plus 1 1 .800 lbs ofcargo