batten down yer new boat.
edit: moved post to its own topic in proper forum - admin
I know... this thing was supposed to turn and go up FL's west coast.
The bad news is that the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore is already here in Biloxi. He's usually not far from the main action.
The wife and kids split this morning. When New Orleans evacuates, it really wreaks havoc on the roads.
I'm watching Jim talk to the Mayor now. "they aren't gonna leave as soon as the casino's open" - aj holloway
says live .
edit.
I'd just like to say that I and others were there in '98 with Georges or horhay or jorge. Be prepared to eat burgers and dogs at the chow hall and see hundreds of airmen around with trash bags picking up stuff and raking like no tomorrow.
10:00 am Sunday morning -- Category 5 @ 173 mph winds
This ain't gonna be pretty...
I'd just like to take this opportunity to vent a little and thank my squadron commander for making all this possible.
If not for his "all active duty personnel in my squadron are mission essential and will shelter on-base" policy, I would be long gone from this joint. His logic for the policy is that he wants to get training back up and running ASAP. It would be one thing if it was a wing or even a group policy, but we are the only squadron doing this!
Well, I got news for him, when the entire base is destroyed, there won't be any training going on. Hell, there may not be anybody to train after this one because I'm pretty sure that the buildings that we'll be in aren't rated for this magnitude storm. And even if we survive unscathed, there is going to be massive cleanup to follow that will require everyone to be involved. So guess what? There won't be any training going on then either! WTF?!?
Anyway, this may be my last post... if so, it was nice knowing ya. And thanks again Major Williams.
Bullsh!t like that is one of the reasons I am "former" military.
Ask some of the oldtimers around that rode through hurricane Andrew on base as it devestated Homestead AFB around them. It ain't gonna be pretty!!
All I can say is good luck and God bless you all.
Anyone heard from Jesse????????????
I hope he and his family are okay. I would hate to be down there... but if I was was, I wouldn't want to be active duty from what he posted.
Sheeeeeeeeesh.
I was tempted to send an e-mail to the major but I'd think a decision like this will be a career ender or prevent him from seeing any higher rank if he survived and perhaps send him to greenland.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123011495
After seeing these pictures, I hope they made it through the storm okay. :-(
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina010ParkingLotalongD.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina009ViewofDStreetadj.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina008RearofDolanHall.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina007Zone1Bldg4422.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina006FloodedCar.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina005ViewLookingNorth.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina004FrontofCommissar.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina003viewofThriftShop.jpg)
(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b234/Thraxas/HurricaneKatrina011ViewalongChappie.jpg)
Well folks, thankfully I am still alive. My family is fine and they are with our relatives in Tulsa indefinitely. I am now living in the dorms where our students used to be. They moved to Sheppard AFB for the most part. Only about 1/3 remain as support and cleanup personnel.
I took over 4 ft of water in the house so the entire downstairs is ruined. I am working on getting the upstairs stuff out. Kind of difficult to do logistically these days, but I think my father-in-law and brother are coming down with a trailer to haul it out. Oh yeah, and it turns out my renters insurance doesn't cover water damage... more to come on that one. Last dime I ever give Geico, I tell you that. USAA is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better come to find out. Lesson learned the hard way I guess.
The passenger window on my truck blew out and the salt water blowing in shorted out everything in the dash. The lights, radio, everything came on and ran the battery down. It was still shorted when I tried to jump it two days later. I've got it running and can use it at least, just had to remove some fuses.
On the other hand, the one item that I own and don't need, my boat is in fine shape. I took it to a friends house and tied it up to a pretty sturdy carport. It fared just fine.
Little things that I took for granted before, now take on a whole new meaning. A cold drink, a warm meal, a shower... the list goes on. I've got it way better than most do right now though. So it is hard to complain. Every thing will work out eventually, I guess.
I'll try and get some of the aftermath pictures that I've take posted. I've just got to get them off my phone another way since I lost my card reader. I'll probably have to e-mail them to myself and then download them.
Thanks for the kind thoughts.
Jesse
P.S. Yes, please don't take up my fight with the commander. I've got the situation under control and it will be fully addressed from the top down. There was no reason for 6000 people to be in harms way. I'm not the only one addressing that particular issue either. Again, thanks for the thought though.
And how did you come across net access? Mini bx?
The base LAN is up and running. I just came over to the office to see what was up and thought I'd try it. I was surprised, but I guess everything is underground so it was ok.
Here's some pics...
More pics
Glad to read that you are alive and well. :-)
The scuttlebutt around here is that Keesler will become a Joint Task Force for cleaning up the coast. Should remain that way for a couple of years. But, the situation is extremely fluid these days, so there is no real telling what the heck is going to end up happening.
The big wigs in the career field are supposed to have a plan by the end of this week about how and where training is going to take place. No idea how that is going to shake out.
The hospital is supposed to be down for about 6 months. Some genious decided that the basement was the best place to put the generators and all the electrical. As soon as they started taking on water they lost everything. Those poor miserable bastards that had to shelter there had it bad off. They delivered two babies and did two operations by flashlight. Had no power for 2 days.
The BX and commissary were flooded pretty severely. They were only able to salvage the top shelves out of them. The rest was bulldozed into the parking lot and destroyed.
On a positive note, I was able to go down to E. Biloxi and help unload food and necessities at some distribution sites. The church we were at had to have been under about 12 ft. of water. I couldn't even reach the water line with my hand. Those poor people in that neighborhood lost everything. But what was so great to see was the spirit of sharing. People were coming from everywhere carrying everything that they could to help them out. Trunks of cars filled, backs of trucks, trailers, you name it. It was truly gratifying to help those folks out in what little way I could.
I guess that's enough for now, I'll report more as time permits. Take care and keep us in your thoughts.
Jesse
Quote from: Hoopty on 09-07-2005 -- 15:55:10
The big wigs in the career field are supposed to have a plan by the end of this week about how and where training is going to take place. No idea how that is going to shake out.
We talked about this today at the morning meeting and the man in the front office says they're looking at a few scenarios... Here are two of the ones that were touched on... ugh.
1. Get rid of the tech school completely... Send the Airmen straight to the field after EP.
2. Send the current tech school students... Block 3(260's?) and above to the field.
Are they moving EP to another EP base? Cause that's still there. Wolfe hall gives you familiarity with equip and some basic troubleshooting and other schtuff.
Don't think commercial employers would like less training so you'd not be as valuable to society when you got out because your fundamental edumaction wasn't what they are used to.
Eh we'll see. Maybe they can move here to Robins since we have sooo much obsolete equipment that they'll learn how the sine wave was created and why it was confused with a triangle.
Quote from: flamy78 on 09-08-2005 -- 22:45:45
Are they moving EP to another EP base? Cause that's still there. Wolfe hall gives you familiarity with equip and some basic troubleshooting and other schtuff.
I dunno... right now from what I understand it's all just a bunch of email traffic and speculation.
What's the difference, ya'll throw em to the wolves in Phys-D........just throw em on in to the other areas.
A good friend of mine teaches at the Navy calibration school at Keesler. As of now they have him over in Pensacola. Any word on what the Navy is going to do?
Quote from: bradley563 on 09-09-2005 -- 20:11:28
A good friend of mine teaches at the Navy calibration school at Keesler. As of now they have him over in Pensacola. Any word on what the Navy is going to do?
Most of their school is in Pensacola now. Only the C schools were in Biloxi......for calibration.
I've put together an album of the pictures I've taken in the photo gallery. It can be found here (http://www.pmelforum.com/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=42&g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=387).
I'll work on labeling them whenever I get time...
George Carlin on New Orleans:
Been sitting here with my ass in a wad, wanting to speak out about the bullsh!t going on in New Orleans. For the people of New Orleans...
First I would like to say, Sorry for your loss. With that said, let's go through a few hurricane rules:
(Unlike an earthquake, we know it's coming)
#1. A mandatory evacuation means just that...Get the hell out. Don't blame the Government after they tell you to go. If they hadn't said anything, I can see the argument. They said get out... if you didn't, it's your fault, not theirs.(I don't want to hear it, even if you don't have a car, you can get out.)
#2. If there is an emergency, stock up on water and non-perishables. If you didn't do this, it's not the Government's fault you're starving.
#2a. If you run out of food and water, find a store that has some. (Remember, shoes, TV's, DVD's and CD's are not edible. Leave them alone.)
#2b. If the local store has been looted of food or water, leave your neighbor's TV and stereo alone. (See #2a) They worked hard to get their stuff. Just because they were smart enough to leave during a mandatory evacuation, doesn't give you the right to take their stuff...it's theirs, not yours.
#3. If someone comes in to help you, don't shoot at them and then complain no one is helping you. I'm not getting shot to help save some dumb ass who didn't leave when told to do so.
#4. If you are in your house that is completely under water, your belongings are probably too far gone for anyone to want them. If someone does want them, let them have them and hopefully they'll die in the filth. Just leave!(It's New Orleans, find a voodoo warrior and put a curse on them)
#5. My tax money should not pay to rebuild a 2 million dollar house, a sports stadium or a floating casino. Also, my tax money shouldn't go to rebuild a city that is under sea level. You wouldn't build your house on quicksand would you? You want to live below sea-level, do your country some good and join the Navy.
#6. Regardless of what the Poverty Pimps Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton want you to believe, The US Government didn't create the hurricane as a way to eradicate the black people of New Orleans; (Neither did Russia as a way to destroy America). The US Government didn't cause global warming that caused the hurricane (We've been coming out of an ice age for over a million years).
#7. The government isn't responsible for giving you anything. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, but you gotta work for what you want. McDonalds and Wal-Mart are always hiring, get a damn job and stop spooning off the people who are actually working for a living. President Kennedy said it best..."Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Thank you for allowing me to rant.
I took a ride down to the coliseum today just to see what I could see. I hadn't seen much of Hwy 90 yet as it is still closed except for rush hour from Veterans Blvd to I-110. To my surprise, I ran into the President casino sitting on the Holiday Inn that is/was next door to the coliseum.
I say I was surprised because so much seems to be getting back to normal around here, yet so much is still wrecked. I've heard it referred to as "the new normal". I guess that's what it is...
I took these pictures from the coliseum parking lot. The last picture is where the President should be, which is a good way down the road.
Damn, I loved the all you could eat crab legs at Presidents.
Anymore updates on the local situation, Hoopty?
I lost some much money at that place!
Yeah, there's still alot happening around here.
I would say the most significant event will be when the Popps Ferry bridge re-opens here in a couple of days. Surprisingly, a little over a month ahead of schedule! Right now, the only North-South corridor in Biloxi is I-110. Man that really hoses traffic around here. They just re-opened 90 to traffic in Biloxi. Gulfport opened up 90 a few weeks ago. There is an unimaginable amount of debris still down there to be cleaned up though.
There are going to be a few casinos opening up in the next week or so. The Palace, Imperial Palace, and Isle of Capri should all be open for gambling before the new year. The Beau Rivage is out of commission until next Aug. I haven't heard about the Hard Rock (which was one week from their grand opening before the storm hit).
And as far as the schoolhouse goes, we just graduated a TACAN and 7-level class. We will be in full swing in January with all of the supplemental courses in session. It seems like a pretty miserable TDY at the moment, but I guess there will be more to do when the casinos open up.
Most everybody is concentrating on getting their homes back in order. I've seen more FEMA trailers than I thought imaginable.
Being Christmas and all, there is a big focus on the kids, and rightly so. From what I've seen, nobody should go without this year, as there has been a huge outpouring of support from the rest of the country. Truckloads of toys are being unloaded every day.
All in all, it's fairly depressing, but I think most folks are coping ok.
What Flynn said. :-)
Here is some pretty wicked video taken by a guy who thought that the Beau Rivage parking garage was a good place to ride out the storm. Personally, I'd have to disagree with him on that point, but he does provide some good footage!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5954521938928173924&q=KATRINA+RIVAGE&pr=goog-sl
I can't believe that guy thought that was a good idea. He probably soiled himself when the water level got really high.
How's life down there, Hoopty? Some of my coworkers are going there this year for advanced school. I opted to wait until next year. I heard a rumor about a toilet paper shortage. :lol:
It's not too bad these days. I don't dread going out as much. There for a while it was pretty crazy trying to get into stores and restaurants. Traffic was a real b!tch.
Most of the entertainment was down on the water, and it's pretty much all gone. So there isn't much to do I guess. At least that's what I'm getting from my students. It all depends on what you're into also.
My life has pretty much gotten back to normal, so it's pretty easy to forget just how much is still left to be done. I drive by several new and large trailer parks that were put up by FEMA recently, so it is kind of a reminder of how bad it still is for some folks. And those are just for the ones that didn't or don't own any property to park one of the travel trailers on. And there are a ton of trailers parked in driveways and front yards.
Biloxi seems to be pressing on better than some cities. Places like Waveland and Bay St. Louis just don't seem to have the resources to do it as rapidly. Of course, New Orleans is still a wreck and probably will be unless someone with a clue comes in and takes charge.
Anyway, that's my take on it these days. If you want some specifics, let me know.
Jesse
It's nice to know that Biloxi is doing as well as you say. :-)