Katrina Relief - One Man Making Things Happen

Posted By Blackfive

I used to work for a guy who would always ask me, "Matthew, do you want to sit around and watch things happen or do you want make things happen?"  He wasn't really asking me so much as reaffirming our Brigade Commander and Asst. S-3 relationship.  It was just his way of making sure I knew his intent - get out there and get things done.  No excuses.  No blame was ever issued to the unit commanders.  The Colonel's response to a problem was always to turn to me and say, "Just fix it, Captain."

He was a great commander and he's a great General now.

Someone sent me the link to a veteran who took matters into his own hands during the Katrina disaster.  The post is not an request for donations.  It's just about what one man did. 

"Do you just want to sit around and watch things happen or do you want to make things happen?"

John made things happen.

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Comments

[JG]

Quote:
"And one very important note. I am not a hero, I am just a person who believes you sometimes have to do what you feel is right.

-John"

I'm sure Sgt. York and Audie Murphy would agree. But isn't that what heroes do - the right thing? Many who had more resources, capabilities, and responsibility did not do the right thing.

[jtb-in-texas]

Here's a link to a photo of his truck: http://lonestar-mvpa.org/images/2002/02_gtu01.JPG

[Cheryl]

Thank you for writing about this hero, for that is what he definitely is. I wish to hell he would accept contributions, so we could show him how much his selfless actions mean to us all.

[Major Kev]

There are thousands "making it happen" down there right now. I just came back from a three-day quick trip to VanCleave, MS (just North of Ocean Springs). I was sharing floorspace in the VanCleave United Methodist Church with folks from California, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and a bunch of us from a couple Methodist churches in Alabama. The Baptists are out in force down there, too.

Ours was a recon/chain saw group--we went to do what we could immediately and recon for the next, larger groups to go down. Cleared fallen trees for those who couldn't, getting them ready to accept power again.

While the churches don't do things like we did in the Army, they make up for it with an incredibly great attitude of service.

I also saws convoys of semis, escorted by MSP cars, and Asplundh cherry-pickers...and personal cars and trucks with trailers of food, water, bobcat front-end loaders, etc.

Makes one proud.

[Igor]

This guy is the embodiment of the Spirit of America.

Semper Fi, John!

Igor

[Lora]

What an AMAZING story. John, you just need to look in the mirror to see what a hero looks like. Bless you. I hope you are back on your feet soon.

[red river]

I talked to one of my neighbors last night - he was deployed to NOLA 11 days ago. Bush drove right by his truck while he was awaiting decontamination.

Another neighbor spent her first five nights in NOLA in the Superdome with her unit. THAT is a story as well.

A third neighbor was deployed 8 days ago. Have not heard from him yet.

[hunterk2]

Freaking. Awesome. Story.
Thanks John!

[Dr. Goodheart]

Here are some photos and commentary on medical disaster relief efforts going on in and around Biloxi. Lots and lots of people have come to help. I'm just one.

Stan Tillinghast MD

[jj]

We get into more trouble thinking about why we shouldn't do something than why we should. People like John make me proud to be an American. We run ourselves down too much.

[Candace]

John is a true hero (and I sincerely hope he's feeling better soon), and there appear to be many more of those in the ongoing saga of Katrina than not. And thank God for that.

There are also many corporate heroes. Walmart comes to mind. Chef Paul Prudhomme is doing his best to get his operations back up and running so his staff have a home. Emeril paid all his part time workers 40 hours for the week because the timesheets were lost. (Sorry, I love cajun cooking & have links to those sites, hence the overload on cooking.) A Canadian gazillionaire has relo-ed somewhere between 250-400 people (reports vary) and will buy land & trailers to support them for five years (and what's REALLY surprising is his daughter is a member of parliament and he didn't take her along for the photo ops) (thank God because she's a total slimebucket).

Everyone on the left wants to point fingers and lay blame, everyone on the right seems to be "doing something." Funny how that works.

[RG]

IN HONOR OF GEORGE BUSH

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

By Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

[derryair]

In honor of GWB
"Brownie you're doing a heckova job!"
In honor of Barb
"many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
In honor of Rep. Baker (R) LA
"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

[Zach]

I've got to say, your colonol seems to embody all the qualities that Bush has NOT exhibited in his response to this disaster. I don't mean this as flamebait or any form of disrespect, but where your commander was a leader who took responsibility and made things happen, I watch Bush's response and I see someone shifting the blame and not responding.

[Hungry Valley]

Zach, don't be a twit. Showboaters like Carter would be seen hammer in hand but, Commanders In Chief have to time manage and walk the line sparingly.

The reason that FEMA suggests that you have a 72 Hour Kit is because it takes at least that to get things ramped up. The disaster chain of command looks like this. Individuals, families, neighborhoods, towns, states and, lastly the Feds.

I live in earthquake central. Last big one it took us 30 minutes from being awakened to having a card table in the driveway, Coleman lantern on, coffee hot, scanners on an monitored and volunteers checking homes and turning off gas. On a pitch black, electricity off, street by hour two as the sun was coming up we were organized, feeding people and taking care of our neighbors.

That is disaster response. It is not sitting on the curb, rending your garments and waiting for the federal tit to come down from heaven.

[Zach]

Hungry, this isn't about Carter hammering away rebuilding homes (and I distinctly remember watching video of Bush doing the same); I'd have been happier to have seen even that from the President. This is about the fact that Bush was not only on vacation when he knew the hurricane was going to hit the coast, but stayed on vacation for three days afterwards. He could have and should have done more to prepare for the response to any potential disaster (as you have obviously done), and it would have been a good start to have hired someone as FEMA director who had the tiniest bit of experience in crisis management.

[gitarcarver]

So Zach, your position is that the President should have returned to the White House, and been further away from the area?

The fact of the matter that seems to be lost on you and others is that the President is never really on vacation. It is only his location that varies.

Of course, in your mind he could have gone to the area sooner, but that would have meant diverting personnel and resources from the actual job of relief. Not exactly a good idea, is it?

As for appointing Brown, there was very little criticism of FEMA last year as it deal with 4 major hurricanes hitting the US. The major complaint was that FEMA handed out too much money in the way of grants which had been falsified by the applicants.

What happened with Katrina is similar to building a house. FEMA is getting blamed for not putting the roof up when the state and local governments hadn't poured a slab or erected walls.

[Ed Brenegar]

I begin almost every speech I give with the following.

"There are three kinds of people in the world.
Those that make things happen. Those who watch things happen. And those who scratch their heads and say, "What happened??!!!" So, which one do you want to be? It is your choice.

I'm glad to hear of this example of leadership initiative.

Thank you.

[Zach]

Those four major hurricanes didn't flood a major metropolitan city and cause a humanitarian disaster of this scale; what FEMA did last year is not relevant to the fact that it failed to do its job this year. On the topic of Brown handing out too much money based on falsified claims, I'd suggest that he may have felt sympathy for other people falsifying claims considering the fact that he lied on his official resume before becoming director of FEMA.
Also, I didn't say that Bush should have returned to the White House; I complained that he stayed on his vacation longer than he should have (I'd have preferred he didn't take the vacation in the first place, but that isn't here nor there). Also, trying to say that the president was working as hard as he would have if he had been in Washington completely ignores what he was actually doing in Texas, including his bike ride with Lance Armstrong (which if I remember correctly occured after New Orleans was flooded) and receiving a ceremonial guitar while thousands were still stranded at the Superdome and FEMA was nowhere to be found.
The state and local governments surely deserve blame for what they didn't do to prepare for the hurricane and flooding (in particular, I think of Nagin not using school buses to evacuate the city), but the federal response was SHAMEFUL.

[Hungry Valley]

Zach, the agenda you are pushing here indicates that you are either stupid or a troll. I don't think it is the first. You might as well take your tambourine and little brass band to another corner since you sill make no converts here.

[Dana]

Matt,
Thank you for posting this story. It is the most powerful piece I have come across thus far regarding Katrina.

John,
You are a blessed man. Thank you for doing the right thing. YOU are a hero. May your body be restored and your life richly blessed.

Always,
Dana N. Carter

[gitarcarver]

Zach, clearly you have no idea of that which you speak.

The fact of the matter is that the 4 hurricanes that struck last year affected more people and strung out the available resources far more than you can imagine.

Secondly, your shot against Brown is a cheap one as I am sure that you realize that Brown did not approve the fraudulent applications personally. In fact, in previous years people complained the FEMA took much to long to give money for repairs so they attempted to streamline the process. As usual, criminals took advantage of the situation. It says a great deal about you that you blame their criminal activities on the director of FEMA.

For the record, the Lance Armstron ride was August 20, so it is clear that you do not remember correctly. The guitar presented to the President was presented at San Diego, during a long before planned ceremony in rememberance of VJ Day. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that you didn't even know it was VJ, and you probably didn't care.

As for the issue of the Superdome, FEMA was not only found, it was the local government that was preventing the delivery of supplies to the area. I know this will go against your mindset, but FEMA coordinates relief. If there is a pre-positioned convoy at the Superdome, what idiot in their right mind would even think of not allowing it to deliver the supplies? Who would think that it would not be allowed to complete its task?

Lastly, if FEMA's response to Katrina was "shameful," what are you basing that opinion upon? You dismiss Brown for not having hurricane relief experience (which isn't true, but that is another story) and they you make a pronouncement that FEMA failed.

What is your experience in hurricane relief Zach? How many times have you helped in hurricanes? How many have you been through? How many have you helped coordinate relief efforts?

If your basis for criticism of Brown is, in part, because of his perceived lack of hurricane relief experience, then to offer your opinion, you must have experience greater to, or equal than his.

I suspect that you don't.

[Mary]

What a great man! A real hero. His dedication and determination to help others makes me proud to be an American. I will pass this story along. I hope John gets well soon.