(no subject)
hey everyone.. how's it goin? aah... i'm here.. that's for sure..
- now for some details about what i did while i was in louisiana..
- it took two days to travel down there... actually three because they relocated us.. we first arrived at baton rouge... we didn't see hardly any damage the way we went... but, we went to this camp.. they had set up 7 circus tents with atleast 200 cots in each.. i think that was where they stationed us before they let us know where we were going... but anyways... we stayed the night there... ate some mre's.. meals ready to eat.. ewww ewww ewww.. the next morning, we proceeded to get up at 5:00.. got ready, and got into our vans and traveled on down to new orleans... it was sooo freaking scary down there.. before we got into the city limits, we had to stop at gas stations for gas.. we stopped at this one gas station for 3-4 hours just for gas.. it was so crazy.. and people were terrified of what was about to come.... we then headed on down to new orleans... the city was completely blocked off.. so we had to be escorted into the city.. and from then on, we saw HORRIBLE damage.. it was just like a ghost town.. except for a few scragglers behind pushing buggies with numerous amounts of water in them... we headed on to the airport, where we were stationed at. right when we got there.. we saw air force one.. (which the president was in.. ) it was pretty cool... knowing i was that close to the president.. wow.. :).. but anyways.. as soon as we got there, we had to wait an hour for another escort to help us by all the people on the outside of the airport... it was so crazy just seeing all those helpless people stand there.. with no place to go.. i even saw this woman and a itty bitty baby.. she was just holding her baby in her arms, so close... just sobbing... lord that broke my heart from there... but anyways.. we arrived there at like 2, and immediately put our things inside the airport, set our cots up, put our clothes away, and were told we had a very important meeting we had to attend in 5 minutes.. so, we headed on down to another part of the airport.. there was a man named sergeant greear and boy was he easy on the eyes.. but, he told us what we were about to do would probably be the most horrible thing we would have to do in our lives.. he proceeded on telling us how to carry people in stretchers (or litters). depending upon how much the person weighed depended upon how many people would carry them.. so, anywyas.. after that brief speech, we went directly on to work... we had to walk through different terminals in the airport to try and dodge as many refugees as we could.. and i'll never, ever forget the smell of that place.. omg.. it was enough to make you puke right then and there.. they told us it was the stench of dead ppl, piss, shit and other stuff too.. eww.. it was terrible.. but anyways, we went outside, and there was a conveyer belt which was used for getting luggage onto these carts.. and there was 4 different carts lined up one behind eachother.. so, my group was split up.. 5 went onto the part where they were loading people onto air crafts, and the other 5 was inside carrying hte people down to the ramp, where my group was there carrying them onto these carts... i'm telling you.. it was the craziest thing i've ever seen in my life.. i mean, one came right after another... we could load about 50 people onto a plane. and we loaded i think 12 planes that day.. (we worked til 12).. so, anyways.. it was terrible.. and most of the people we had to carry out were from nursing homes... and i had to keep telling myself that they were this way BEFORE the hurricane... so.. i saw so many different people.. i was proud of myself that day... i didnt' cry at all until about 10 that night... i went inside to help the other group, which was a bad idea in itself.. because they had a morge inside of the hospital... not even 50 feet away from where they were lining up the ppl to be carried out... (the air force was there to help us.. which were the nicest ppl in the world to us..) but anyways... i went inside to help, and i saw this man, in his 30's.. and he was laying there so helpless.. in so much pain.. screaming and crying.. he had evidentally broken his wrist, because he had all these pins inside of it.. and that tore me all to pieces.. so.. i ran outside.. to try and compose myself. because i knew i had to be doing this for atleast another week or two.. (there were 25,000 refugees inside that airport when we first arrived) so, i found me a little place, sat down.. balled my eyes out.. smoked a couple cigs.. and tried to get my nerves to settle down... my boss came and sat with me.. and told me that it was better for me to cry and get all of this out.. so, i did.. for a good 20-30 minutes.. after that.. coach barker came to me.. and told me that they thoroughly check these ppl out before bringing them onto the plane.. so.. that helped me out... because all these ppl laying there screaming and crying.. talking out of their heads, needing more help than i could ever give them... or any nurse.. it was horrible.. so, i composed myself.. went back to work.. and i this time, i went and loaded people onto the plane... it was better.. ( we had to wait for planes to come because there were about 30 - 40 planes flying in and out of this place doing there best to help get all these ppl out as best as they could.. so anyways.. after we loaded that plane.. i began to walk back to help them load more ppl onto those carts.. when i got about 10 feet away, i heard this man scream.. bloody murder.. and a nurse immediately jumped on top of him and tried to revive him... he had had a cardiac arrest.. and he died right in front of my eyes.. after that, i really lost it... i had never ever been around so much death and so much distruction before in all my life.. and i was doing the best i can.. because you want to do so much for these ppl.. you really want to help them as much as you can.. but i had to keep telling myself i was doing the best thing for them.. i was actually carrying these people to safety... getting them away from all that they had ever known.. after that incident.. i was done for the night.. NO more.. i ended up going to bed around 1 or 2.... then got up the next morning around 5:30.. and worked from 7-8.. and 3 days more went just like that.. i worked so dang hard.. i can't ever remember basketball being that exhausting.. i'm sure you all know about the whole conditioning yourself for you fav. sport... that didn't hold a candle to what i did.. i mean, some of these people were 300+ pounds.. then, there were the patients that were hooked to the heart monitors and respirators.. heavy as crap... also, we had to check all the air tanks and see if they were empty or full.. it was so scary.. but i was so proud of the people i worked with.. we all worked as a team, and the following nights, we loaded 15 planes... it felt good to know that i aided to help 5000+ lives .... by me actually carrying them out... great feeling of satisfaction.... the very last day of us carrying out the people (probably day 7) around 4 or 5 in the day.. we had gotten pretty much all of the people who were unable to move, and started loading mobile people.. so, there was this absolutely precious old man that i saw, he just caught my eye, and i immediately went to him, carried his luggage and his walker.. helped him walk to the plane... and i'll, ever ever forget what he said to me.. he leaned in to me to whisper because the planes were so loud.. it was so hard to hear... he told me " i just want you to know you all have done such a wonderful job here.. you 've saved so many lives... and you sweetheart, are the sweetest person i believe i've ever met in my life.. you've been so gentle, so sweet to me, taken good care of me.. i wish there were more people out there like you and your group. i know it's hard because all these people here are groggy and fatigued, but they do too appreciate what you all are doing.. you all are the heart of america." i cried.. no one had ever said anything that had ever reached that depth to me.. he brought out the happiness that i once had before i went down there... i thanked god for that.. you all don't know how much i needed that.. it was wonderful..
- the next week went by so dang slowly.. we had gotten all the people out of the airport.. (except for a few here and there they had went and rescued and brought them on choppers..) because the day we came there, the lieutenant told us there were over 200 hellicopters out searching for people.. )
- i remember one day, me and a couple of girls left and went to go get supplies for everyone.. because they had told us we might be staying there for a month or so... but, we ended up getting lost, and we went accross this bridge.. and looked to our right, and there was new orleans.. completely underwater.. all you could see were building tops.. and a few telephone poles.. i mean, that was absolutely crazy..
- we couldn't even drink the water down there or brush our teeth because the water was contaminated.. and hand sanitizer was used like crazy down there.. everywhere we went, we took it.. just in case we needed it.. thank god they brought this catering company out of johnson city down there, and fed us... and they even brought showers for us... (which were disgusting) i hated taking showers with a bunch of nakie women.. that didn't needed to be nakie.. ewwww... i guess you really don't care when your in the military.. but i was not even use to the fact of that.. and they even brought in this company that washed our clothes... it was cool-..
- but the remainder of the time we were there, we were picking up debri around the airport.. 3 1/2 miles of trash was hard hard hard to do... plus, we had to clean the inside of the airport.. it was absolutely disgusting.. those people didn't have any place to use the bathroom.. so they decided to take shits every single where.. omg.. the smell... eww eww eww...
- i was very very glad when they cleaned out the morge.. because i can remember one day, walking by it, and seeing 30-40 bodies inside there.. and even some members of my group went and carried them out.. shew.. horrible..
- talk about horrible dreams that i've had... i still can't believe i actually went down there...
- but that's pretty much my whole trip... there are so many other details that i know i've left out.. but my mind's not working up to par... but.. thanks for everyone who read this..
- i came back with the appreciation of my family.. of where i live.. and what i've got... never, ever take anything for granted.. because.. in one day, it all can completely be swept away from you.. i'm so thankful for everything now.. i know it's opened my eyes up about a whole lot of things..
- god bless everyone -
- now for some details about what i did while i was in louisiana..
- it took two days to travel down there... actually three because they relocated us.. we first arrived at baton rouge... we didn't see hardly any damage the way we went... but, we went to this camp.. they had set up 7 circus tents with atleast 200 cots in each.. i think that was where they stationed us before they let us know where we were going... but anyways... we stayed the night there... ate some mre's.. meals ready to eat.. ewww ewww ewww.. the next morning, we proceeded to get up at 5:00.. got ready, and got into our vans and traveled on down to new orleans... it was sooo freaking scary down there.. before we got into the city limits, we had to stop at gas stations for gas.. we stopped at this one gas station for 3-4 hours just for gas.. it was so crazy.. and people were terrified of what was about to come.... we then headed on down to new orleans... the city was completely blocked off.. so we had to be escorted into the city.. and from then on, we saw HORRIBLE damage.. it was just like a ghost town.. except for a few scragglers behind pushing buggies with numerous amounts of water in them... we headed on to the airport, where we were stationed at. right when we got there.. we saw air force one.. (which the president was in.. ) it was pretty cool... knowing i was that close to the president.. wow.. :).. but anyways.. as soon as we got there, we had to wait an hour for another escort to help us by all the people on the outside of the airport... it was so crazy just seeing all those helpless people stand there.. with no place to go.. i even saw this woman and a itty bitty baby.. she was just holding her baby in her arms, so close... just sobbing... lord that broke my heart from there... but anyways.. we arrived there at like 2, and immediately put our things inside the airport, set our cots up, put our clothes away, and were told we had a very important meeting we had to attend in 5 minutes.. so, we headed on down to another part of the airport.. there was a man named sergeant greear and boy was he easy on the eyes.. but, he told us what we were about to do would probably be the most horrible thing we would have to do in our lives.. he proceeded on telling us how to carry people in stretchers (or litters). depending upon how much the person weighed depended upon how many people would carry them.. so, anywyas.. after that brief speech, we went directly on to work... we had to walk through different terminals in the airport to try and dodge as many refugees as we could.. and i'll never, ever forget the smell of that place.. omg.. it was enough to make you puke right then and there.. they told us it was the stench of dead ppl, piss, shit and other stuff too.. eww.. it was terrible.. but anyways, we went outside, and there was a conveyer belt which was used for getting luggage onto these carts.. and there was 4 different carts lined up one behind eachother.. so, my group was split up.. 5 went onto the part where they were loading people onto air crafts, and the other 5 was inside carrying hte people down to the ramp, where my group was there carrying them onto these carts... i'm telling you.. it was the craziest thing i've ever seen in my life.. i mean, one came right after another... we could load about 50 people onto a plane. and we loaded i think 12 planes that day.. (we worked til 12).. so, anyways.. it was terrible.. and most of the people we had to carry out were from nursing homes... and i had to keep telling myself that they were this way BEFORE the hurricane... so.. i saw so many different people.. i was proud of myself that day... i didnt' cry at all until about 10 that night... i went inside to help the other group, which was a bad idea in itself.. because they had a morge inside of the hospital... not even 50 feet away from where they were lining up the ppl to be carried out... (the air force was there to help us.. which were the nicest ppl in the world to us..) but anyways... i went inside to help, and i saw this man, in his 30's.. and he was laying there so helpless.. in so much pain.. screaming and crying.. he had evidentally broken his wrist, because he had all these pins inside of it.. and that tore me all to pieces.. so.. i ran outside.. to try and compose myself. because i knew i had to be doing this for atleast another week or two.. (there were 25,000 refugees inside that airport when we first arrived) so, i found me a little place, sat down.. balled my eyes out.. smoked a couple cigs.. and tried to get my nerves to settle down... my boss came and sat with me.. and told me that it was better for me to cry and get all of this out.. so, i did.. for a good 20-30 minutes.. after that.. coach barker came to me.. and told me that they thoroughly check these ppl out before bringing them onto the plane.. so.. that helped me out... because all these ppl laying there screaming and crying.. talking out of their heads, needing more help than i could ever give them... or any nurse.. it was horrible.. so, i composed myself.. went back to work.. and i this time, i went and loaded people onto the plane... it was better.. ( we had to wait for planes to come because there were about 30 - 40 planes flying in and out of this place doing there best to help get all these ppl out as best as they could.. so anyways.. after we loaded that plane.. i began to walk back to help them load more ppl onto those carts.. when i got about 10 feet away, i heard this man scream.. bloody murder.. and a nurse immediately jumped on top of him and tried to revive him... he had had a cardiac arrest.. and he died right in front of my eyes.. after that, i really lost it... i had never ever been around so much death and so much distruction before in all my life.. and i was doing the best i can.. because you want to do so much for these ppl.. you really want to help them as much as you can.. but i had to keep telling myself i was doing the best thing for them.. i was actually carrying these people to safety... getting them away from all that they had ever known.. after that incident.. i was done for the night.. NO more.. i ended up going to bed around 1 or 2.... then got up the next morning around 5:30.. and worked from 7-8.. and 3 days more went just like that.. i worked so dang hard.. i can't ever remember basketball being that exhausting.. i'm sure you all know about the whole conditioning yourself for you fav. sport... that didn't hold a candle to what i did.. i mean, some of these people were 300+ pounds.. then, there were the patients that were hooked to the heart monitors and respirators.. heavy as crap... also, we had to check all the air tanks and see if they were empty or full.. it was so scary.. but i was so proud of the people i worked with.. we all worked as a team, and the following nights, we loaded 15 planes... it felt good to know that i aided to help 5000+ lives .... by me actually carrying them out... great feeling of satisfaction.... the very last day of us carrying out the people (probably day 7) around 4 or 5 in the day.. we had gotten pretty much all of the people who were unable to move, and started loading mobile people.. so, there was this absolutely precious old man that i saw, he just caught my eye, and i immediately went to him, carried his luggage and his walker.. helped him walk to the plane... and i'll, ever ever forget what he said to me.. he leaned in to me to whisper because the planes were so loud.. it was so hard to hear... he told me " i just want you to know you all have done such a wonderful job here.. you 've saved so many lives... and you sweetheart, are the sweetest person i believe i've ever met in my life.. you've been so gentle, so sweet to me, taken good care of me.. i wish there were more people out there like you and your group. i know it's hard because all these people here are groggy and fatigued, but they do too appreciate what you all are doing.. you all are the heart of america." i cried.. no one had ever said anything that had ever reached that depth to me.. he brought out the happiness that i once had before i went down there... i thanked god for that.. you all don't know how much i needed that.. it was wonderful..
- the next week went by so dang slowly.. we had gotten all the people out of the airport.. (except for a few here and there they had went and rescued and brought them on choppers..) because the day we came there, the lieutenant told us there were over 200 hellicopters out searching for people.. )
- i remember one day, me and a couple of girls left and went to go get supplies for everyone.. because they had told us we might be staying there for a month or so... but, we ended up getting lost, and we went accross this bridge.. and looked to our right, and there was new orleans.. completely underwater.. all you could see were building tops.. and a few telephone poles.. i mean, that was absolutely crazy..
- we couldn't even drink the water down there or brush our teeth because the water was contaminated.. and hand sanitizer was used like crazy down there.. everywhere we went, we took it.. just in case we needed it.. thank god they brought this catering company out of johnson city down there, and fed us... and they even brought showers for us... (which were disgusting) i hated taking showers with a bunch of nakie women.. that didn't needed to be nakie.. ewwww... i guess you really don't care when your in the military.. but i was not even use to the fact of that.. and they even brought in this company that washed our clothes... it was cool-..
- but the remainder of the time we were there, we were picking up debri around the airport.. 3 1/2 miles of trash was hard hard hard to do... plus, we had to clean the inside of the airport.. it was absolutely disgusting.. those people didn't have any place to use the bathroom.. so they decided to take shits every single where.. omg.. the smell... eww eww eww...
- i was very very glad when they cleaned out the morge.. because i can remember one day, walking by it, and seeing 30-40 bodies inside there.. and even some members of my group went and carried them out.. shew.. horrible..
- talk about horrible dreams that i've had... i still can't believe i actually went down there...
- but that's pretty much my whole trip... there are so many other details that i know i've left out.. but my mind's not working up to par... but.. thanks for everyone who read this..
- i came back with the appreciation of my family.. of where i live.. and what i've got... never, ever take anything for granted.. because.. in one day, it all can completely be swept away from you.. i'm so thankful for everything now.. i know it's opened my eyes up about a whole lot of things..
- god bless everyone -