Another week starts in The Big Un-Easyby Arnold Strong on September 12, 2005 at 4:53 PMAbout two thirds of our sector of the Orleans Parish remains underwater. It is the start of another week in The Big Un-Easy. We arrived here a week ago tonight and things have changed tremendously in a very shorttime. I write this despite the fact that the remains of 45 citizens of this city were discovered today in the basement of a flooded hospital. It was apparent, according to several reports that many of these people survived the Hurricane, only to remain stranded. It is terrible. But I fear that there will be more stories like this in the near future. About two thirds of our sector of the Orleans Parish remains underwater. The tide has receded about two to three feet, but that has left many areas still doorway deep in a noxious black water. The most seriously damaged area is in the poorest parts of town. Our battalions are deployed across the sector and have been conducting patrols in depth. For the 2-162nd Infantry, who only returned from Iraq six months ago, this is routine, very similar to the patrols they had performed for their year in Baghdad. One of the soldiers today compared the situation to Iraq, saying that it was hard to see this state of affairs in his own country, but that in many ways it reminded him of foot patrols in Baghdad. The only difference is that "At least people ain't shooting at us, Sir." Went downtown early on in what has become my battle rhythm, meeting with the major media and telling them about our soldiers work. Met Martin Cossi from NPR and Miles O'Brien from CNN. They both seemed interested in doing a ride along with our soldiers whether by foot or mounted. Of course, that was before these remains were discovered. The nature of news terribly remains static, "If it bleeds, it leads." I doubt seriously that they will want to follow us, but we will see. The good news is that we have an antidote to this terrible news. Since day one, Major Bea, our Brigade surgeon, working with Charlie Med, 141 Support Battalion has made it a central task to rebuild and reestablish a Hospital in our sector. The Bywater Hotel, located right across the street from the Catholic Nunnery that I have occupied for a week as our Civil Military Operations Center, or CMOC, has undergone a radical change in the past week. Starting by clearing all floors of the building, the medics have cleaned out the ruin that was the first floor and basement and made this building into an almost working Field Hospital. The goal being to make this a workable location for civil authorities to start treating patients anew. They can use it. In a conference call this morning that I got to sit in on with Brig. Gen. Pritt, we listened in awe as every sector but our own reported the return of 90 - 100% in water, power and school district openings. We are at 0 percent across the board. But ours is one of the most impoverished areas in the city. A place that few of the media and less of the politicians visit. The poor, unemployed, and crime drug addled are overwhelmingly located in our sector of operations. It is a sad state of affairs, but it is an awesome site to witness these citizen soldiers, airmen and other first responders working their tails off to bring some element of good to these desperate people. Until tomorrow, MAJOR STRONG | Arnold Strong
Major Strong is the Task Force Public Affairs Officer. After leaving the
Active Force of the Oregon National Guard in May, Major Strong returned to private industry. He was recalled to active service like the rest of this force to support in relief efforts in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina. Top Stories
By Andy Sullivan
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Fast-rising water brought by the outer edge of Hurricane Rita spilled over a freshly patched levee in New Orleans on Friday and flooded a deserted neighborhood of the already devastated city.
Pack it up, move it out...Go, Go, Go!
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