Gustav Called Tonight

[Hellgate]

Hey Folks out of here of an undetermined amount of time, hopefully only through Labor Day.

I was actived about two hours ago to begin building the Texas Task Force to respond to Hurricane Gustav if needed.

Hopefully the storm dies out and become a tropical depression. If it builds back up in the Gulf and hits Texas or Louisiana we will go. The problem with these storms is you never know how long they will last, where you will be and what you will find once you get there.

I lead an Infantry line company in New Orleans for Katrina and then in Texas for Rita and I felt, and most Soldiers I spoken to both Active Duty and Guard, felt that the Katrina mission was harder than Iraq or the 'Stan. Very auster living conditions.

For this mission I will the the Command Sergeant Major for the Task Force. While I hope and pray we are not needed, however I am very much looking forward to the mission and getting back in the box. Civilian life can be very boring.

The Task Force Commander that I will be working for was our S3 (Operation Officer) for Katrina and is very squared way. So I'm glad I've got a very good partner for this mission.

Keep the shiny side up.

Blackdeath 9, OUT!

 

[FZ1inNH]

Here's hoping this doesn't warrant the need of your services! God Speed to you all!

 

[wrightme43]

Thanks Pete, and tell your guys we say thanks for what they do.

 

[Hellgate]

Launched a Force Package Platoon on Saturday, they have a logistics mission to push MREs, H2O, cots and sundry items to evacuation shelters. I also have medical assist units ready to go if we need them for ugent and routine care.

So far its me and 4 other Soldiers in my HQ unit that have been busting our asses, mainbody lands tomorrow at 0800, 20 more PAX and the Battalion Commander. We have build three units in the past three days. We launch forward into the storm at 1000 tomorrow, following another force platoon that goes at 0900. Destination unknown, probably in Louisiana somewhere and set up our Force Package Headquarters TOC. The biggest problem is getting in contact with Soldiers. Many on vacation or pulling families out of the storm's path.

No OPORD, just FRAGO to FRAGO, mission to mission. This makes Iraq look easy in some regards...no real plan but react to the requirement within the Commader's intent.

If we go to Louisiana this time I don't think I'll get shot at this time. That kinda sucks...splash, BANG! "Hey, was he aiming at ME?!?!? Mother F****er!!!!" And you can't shoot back...

Got my Soldiers, vehicles are fueled and on line, gear loaded, TIs and PMCS complete, another summer, another hurricane, time for another star...time for another Crown please.

 

[sideshow_downs]

I hope you dont have to go in and if you do that its quick and easy. Anyway it works out i know that you and your guys will do a great job

 

[Wh0M3]

Good luck and take care.

I had some friends in the Michigan National Guard who served during Katrina, they drove PLS's down from Michigan to help move stuff. I volunteered to go but wasn't called.

-PD

 

[Hellgate]

Well we rolled back into Austin after waiting for something to happen. The good thing is nothing happend. The bad thing is we are now waiting to see what Ike and Josephine do. :disapprove: We are now waiting to see if we are able to take a "tactical pause" and turn the Soldiers lose for the next three days. Looks like we'll be on orders waiting on the weather until the 15th. :rant:

 

[FZ1inNH]

Sorry to hear you have to deal with this Pete! But, also glad that nothing happened!!!

Wife and I are headed to Florida Sunday morning. We're counting on each of these missing us. But, we're also not too concerned with the fallout of evacuating from one.

Take care!

 

[Hellgate]

I feel like a ping-pong ball...

Hurricane Ike has been bouncing around the Gulf and our FRAGOs change everyday. First we were supposed to go to Houston to evacuate people, then to DFW Airport to receive evacuies (Displaced Texans is the offical term), then we convoyed 350 miles to San Banito, TX to evacuate the Brownsville area, then the storm shifted north again,then we returned to Austin and we are back on the DFW mission....Whewww.....

The Soldiers have been great and really want to do their job and the morale is great. In my 19 years of doing this I've never had a group of people who haven't complained about anything. My hat is off to them.

 

[cp04]

Good luck with all your missions. Try not to work too hard.

 

[Fred]

I sent Pete a text and just heard back. He's waiting to be deployed to Houston right now. No details other than that.

 

[Nelly]

Good luck Pete,

If at all possible can you take some pictures of your squad and some of the sites that you encounter.

Nelly

 

[Hellgate]

Hey everyone. All I can say is what a "Charlie Foxtrot". That's Army speak for "Cluster F*ck".

So we got back to Austin, waited a few more days, didn't go to Dallas and finally received a mission to go to Livingston in East Texas. We begin to load up then our objective is changed to Lufkin, about 75 miles north of Livingston. While we are in route we receive word to perform a short halt at Bryan/College Station. On the fly our Battalion Commander radios navigation instructions to the lead vehicle to find a "safe" place to part our convoy to we can get our plan together better. Our convoy is hitting town during rush hour, usually not very big in BC, however the city is full of evacuees and the Texas A&M students have returned to the university so traffic is rather heavy. The lead vehicle decides to pull into a Texas A&M parking lot, we all follow only to find out we can't turn around...so...one of my Master Sergeants dismounts and begins to park the vehicles in a field that happens to be property of the university (hang on - you can see it coming). I'm in the last vehicle in the convey as sweeper and as I pull off of the main road I can see water splashing from the wheels of the 5 ton trucks as they drive into the field. Then I see huge splashes of mud! CRAP!!!! Two rather ugly thoughts enter my mind 1) we are totally tearing up private property and 2) we might get stuck. I jump off my vehicle and stop everyone...they have a "huh???" look on their faces...like..."The Master Sergeant told me to park here." My intent was to back the trucks out in the tracks they made so we wouldn't tear up the field any more. The field is right next to a university reseach orachard. So I begin give hand and arm signals to each driver to move them back. Hand and arm signals are taught at basic training so EVER Soldier should know them. Well here in lies the problem. The Soldiers of my unit are not Combat Arms (Infantry, Armor, Cavalry, Artillery), they are clerks, supply, commo, welders, generator repair, etc. They are not used to large convoy maneuvers nor hand and arm signals. So how this goes is the DRIVER looks forward at the person guiding them for instruction. The first Soldier I come to looks over their shoulder as in a car. There ain't no rear window on a military vehicle!!! I yell "Look at ME!!!" They keep looking back. "LOOK AT ME!!!!" Finally I get the first vehicle out and then a truck decides to drive in a LOOP! UUUGGHHH!!! I'm calling on my handheld radio for all traffic to halt, no one does. I am PISSED, with a capital "P". :rant::banghead::rant: Finally we get all the vehicles out and the Battalion Commander is hot, I mean hot. Not only is he embarassed because he didn't give clear instructions, but he is double embarassed because he was a member of the Corps of Cadets at A&M and a graduate. So we get our Charlie Foxtrot back on the road and head to the local National Guard Armory. I reasurred my troops I was not mad at them but the situation and I failed to consider they did not have the proper training. So this morning we practiced hand and arm signals and ironed out the kinks. Later in the day we convoyed to a refueling point and they did great!

Now the big picture. This whole thing is a CF and the State is really struggling to get their collective act together. This disaster is huge. The main problem is civilians didn't leave when they were told to so there are over 100,000+ people with no power, water, ice or food spread over hundreds of miles. There is also the problem of shelters with larger than expected numbers of people and the on going task of rescue over a giant area.

We will probably receive a mission tomorrow, I hope, to either run several PODs (Point of Distrobution for food, water and ice) or command resupply convoys.

We listen to the State level Emergency Response conference calls twice a day and it sounds as if many of the local governments, city and county, were not prepared to the volume of destruction and the large numbers of citizens who stayed. Also the mayors and judges who have civil power in a state of emergency don't seem to know who to contact for what and what powers they have during an emergency. Many of them didn't order generators, MREs and water prior to the storm landing. The President declared a state of emergency many days in advance of the storm and they receive Federal funds to buy or rent the items they need. They didn't do it and now they have big problems. Many of the towns a tiny so the mayor might be a person who is very old or has no real experiance in leadership to they are truly being tested right now. This is by no means a Katrina but right now its a SNAFU. I think over then two days things will begin to run smoother.

 

[FZ1inNH]

First, glad you're SAFE! Second, sorry to hear that things went as bad as they did for you. Very sorry to hear about the horrific damages wrought by Ike moving through!

Be safe and thanks for being there for those folks!

 

[sideshow_downs]

You got this Top. Hope everything goes good and you can get out of there and back home quickly :Flash:

 

[Hellgate]

We finally received a for real mission! Yeah! We are running an evacuee shelter in Bryan/College Station. So far we have about 100 people. Our mission is to inprocess people, seach them for weapons and contraban, operate radios, coordinate with police, EMS and the City Emergeny Operations Command. For the most part the people we are helping are very thankful. There is always one or two bad apples. The police screen all people for outstanding warrents and they are arrested on the spot, no questions asked, and hauled off.

FEMA put a gas card program into place yesterday and many of the evacuees are headed home. All they needed was the ability to fule their cars, get some meals/H2O and leave. Power is slowly coming back and there are still places that are a real mess but it is getting better.

About half of my troop speak Spanish and they have been very valuable. Many of the evacuees are speak only Spanish and have several small children with them and are scared. So the ability to communicate with them is great. It really puts them at ease and reassures them.

The evacuees are housed in a Community Rec Center sleep on cots in the gym and shower in the locker rooms. There are play grounds for the kids, basketball and volleyball courts for them to play. There is a very nice kitchen and dinning area and food is trucked in from a centeral kitchen.

All in all it is nice to have a mission and helping, finally.

 

[boo68]

Pete, Thank God we have men like you to take care of these people and situations.

BooBear

 

[Hellgate]

Thanks Boo! Don't forget the women too. I have 4 with me who are GREAT!!!! True Soldiers.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I figured you would be in the mix of Ike. So damaging private property, sounds like you broke sprinkler lines underneath the field.

Don't feel too bad, You have describe this as a big CF, can you imagine what it was like for Katrina? FEMA is still trying to figure that one out.

So you have some evacuees that don't speak a lick of English? Are they illegals?

 

[damnpoor]

The Soldiers have been great and really want to do their job and the morale is great. In my 19 years of doing this I've never had a group of people who haven't complained about anything. My hat is off to them.

My unit has a rescue joint task force down there with blackhawks and hercules aircraft and they didn't call me...again. I'm kinda pissed. I watched the whole Katrina thing go down and wished I could help. I knew we had the people and the equipment to make a difference but they never called me. Now we're down there again plucking people off rooftops with our helicopters and and they didn't call me...again. But on the bright side the people I work with made the front page of the Air Force web site because they're out there flying their helicopters throughout Galveston and helping people.

These are the kinds of missions that make the people in the guard happy to do their job for once - the missions where you get to help your fellow Americans and see the direct results of your training and efforts.

Thanks for being down there, even if things are a little haywire. I wish I were there with you.