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09.26.05 |
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Before my proposed start date with CDW-G, I received a call from Jennifer Keating, the manager overseeing the engineering team that I was slated to join. "We've got a situation," she began to say, which, in most cases, is not something that you want to hear from your manager prior to beginning your employment. She explained that CDW-G, with the help of Next Marketing out of Atlanta and HP, was sponsoring and deploying a mobile command center to be used to assist relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She extended the opportunity for me to join Phil Simerly, a fellow CDW-G coworker and systems engineer, on the mission and I gladly accepted. Shortly after, Phil and I departed for a month-long road trip to the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast of the United States.
FEMA had an immediate need for our services in Gulfport, Miss., where law enforcement needed to reestablish a communication command center to coordinate response efforts. After a few days on standby, that's where our truck headed.
While traveling through southern Alabama on our way to Gulfport, we ran across several scenes that I had never experienced before. First, there was a colossal swarm of "lovebugs" that was so thick it made driving almost impossible. Soon after, as we traveled further down Interstate 10 (I-10) and closed in on Gulfport, I witnessed the damage left in the wake of a major hurricane. The storm had ripped apart the Pascagoula River Bridge on I-10, one of the largest bridges in the region. Highway signs were ripped down and thrown to the other side of the median. Buildings next to I-10 were in shambles and houses had blue roofs - from plastic tarps patching up holes.
We arrived in Gulfport on Monday evening and received orders from FEMA to proceed to a "tent city," which currently houses hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the nation who are lending their support to the Gulf Coast region. This "tent city" consists of one tent larger than a football field that serves as sleeping quarters for us, as well as law enforcement officers staying in the area. Also on the premises is a tent for meals, a truck with showers set up and, as of today, a mobile command center.
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| 09.28.05 |
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We got off to an early start on Tuesday, September 27. Phil, Jesse Sammons of Next Marketing, and I worked from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. to set up the mobile command center so it could be ready for law enforcement authorities to use on Wednesday. The final result was a command center with 34 kiosks that included computers to provide officers with wireless Internet access through satellite receiver on top of the command center.
As of this morning (September 28), the command center is up and running. Several U.S. Marshals have already arrived and used our facility to access their database in order to track down missing persons in the Gulfport area.
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| 09.29.05 |
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After being setup for two days, several law enforcement agencies, such as the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, have used the mobile command unit to perform various hurricane relief related tasks. Some officers also came by to get in touch with family members that they had not been able to contact via e-mail, since they were deployed to the area.
In addition, the U.S. Marshals have been able to locate handfuls of individuals who had previously been placed on the missing persons list by family or friends after Hurricane Katrina hit. They continue to locate more and more missing persons as days go by.
The news coming out of Mississippi is not all good, however. On more somber note, a tent that houses the morgue unit has been set up 50 yards away from our command center. On the other side of us, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has set up a trailer to house its lab to help in identifying the remains of individuals sent to this morgue.
We will return with an update in the days ahead - wherever we may be.
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| 10.03.05 |
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We have been stationed in Gulfport, Miss., at the law enforcement base camp for a full week now. Even in that short time span, the base has changed, immensely growing in size and population. New facilities have been erected, including a small tent for entertainment, a larger tent for dining and two very large tents to house the on-site morgue. When we arrived, there were approximately 600 individuals living or working on-site and now, several hundred more have joined the encampment.
As for the command center, law enforcement personnel continue to respond very positively to us and our mobile command truck.
Beyond helping law enforcement officials communicate, the mobile command unit has also done much more for many families in the region. Since the storm hit, thousands of missing person reports have been filed with law enforcement personnel. Through the command center, hundreds of family members have been found in the past week, according to law enforcement officers.
"We've probably located hundreds of people so far with the Internet we've been using from you guys," one officer from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Sunday. Another GBI officer chimed in that they had found another 25 individuals on Saturday night alone through the command center's resources.
Although progress continues to be made in the Gulfport area, this part of the country will require many years of rebuilding to get back on its feet again. This will take time - and lots of it.
"I've been to dozens of these [disaster areas]," a member of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said, "and this one takes the prize as the worst." He continued by telling several stories from the wake of the destruction, which he had seen from patrolling the area this past week.
Regardless of how long it takes, this base with fewer than 1,000 officers and personnel assisting relief efforts will continue to work around the clock to help this community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They also appreciate the resources that CDW-G and others have volunteered in this relief effort.
As the member of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation quoted earlier left, he said, "Thanks for being here."
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| 10.07.05 |
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After 10 days on the base with very little opportunity to venture out to surrounding areas, we trekked to the shores of Gulfport on Thursday morning. "Unreal" is the best way to describe what we saw. While there is damage around the main encampment, where our communications center resides, it is nominal in comparison to the devastation that can be seen along the coastline.
The devastation was like nothing I have ever seen, heard or imagined. Officers that patrolled the area had shown us pictures, but they could not capture the scale of damage. On a stretch of road that runs for a couple of miles along the shore in Gulfport, only a couple of houses and commercial buildings still stood - and even those buildings were heavily damaged.
All that remained from a large apartment complex were two sets of stairs. K-Mart was completely gutted, though the structure still stood. Wal-Mart was the same. Houses were demolished. Cars were smashed. Barges were moved hundreds of yards inland and now rest on houses. The few trees that remained standing after the storm had their leaves replaced by clothes and other debris. The process of cleaning up the rubble left behind from Hurricane Katrina will take months or years.
At the command center, we received word from FEMA that we will remain here throughout the rest of our deployment. With at least a few weeks remaining on our mission, we will continue to assist law enforcement with Hurricane Katrina relief.
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| 10.11.05 |
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Haley Barbour (on the left), the governor of Mississippi, unexpectedly stopped by the Law Enforcement Base Camp on Tuesday morning. He toured the camp with several other Mississippi state officials and stopped at our mobile command unit. While visiting with Phil Simerly (on the right) and me, Governor Barbour said he was impressed with the command unit and thanked us for volunteering our services to assist in the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Meanwhile, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Marshals and other agencies continue their efforts to find missing people. Hundreds more have been found in the past week, and almost all of the individuals that were considered missing have been located.
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| 10.14.05 |
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There are a lot of mixed feelings around the camp this morning. Many of the U.S. Marshals stationed here in Gulfport have begun heading home and, while most have been glad to assist in the Katrina relief effort, the officers are excited to return to their families and everyday lives.
Upon leaving, most of the officers that we have befriended and worked with daily thanked us for volunteering our time to provide the technology infrastructure that has helped them locate scores of missing persons. Their appreciation ranged from a straightforward, "Thank you for everything," to a more in-depth comment, such as, "You've helped us out a lot. More than you know."
The law enforcement officials who are leaving today have found almost all of the more than 700 missing persons in the region. Their incoming replacements will continue the search for the remaining missing persons, but their main task will shift to locating criminal offenders.
On another note, we received a large care package from the CDW-G team in Herndon, Va., which included shirts, magazines, candy, coffee and USB jump drives. We also enjoyed a photo that our team sent of themselves, along with a note from each team member. The entire package was very uplifting.
We expect to be located in Gulfport for another two weeks and will continue to update our activities from the law enforcement base camp.
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| 10.23.05 |
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Almost five weeks after leaving the CDW-G office in Herndon, Va., to join in the relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina, we are packing up our mobile command unit and returning home. Our task in Gulfport, Mississippi - living on the law enforcement base camp and operating the mobile command center seven days a week, 16 hours a day over the past month - has been exhausting, yet extraordinarily rewarding.
The response to our efforts over the past month has been amazing. Many officers and officials at the camp continually thanked us for providing communication and Internet services.
During our stay, more than 1,000 individuals worked at the base camp, including an average of 400 officers who were stationed at the camp at any given time. Approximately 361 U.S. Marshals worked out of the camp during the past month, and at least 16 agencies have been on hand, including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Capitol Police and Gulfport-area police departments.
A lot of progress was made in the Gulfport area in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. For example, during our stay, 770 of the 781 missing persons cases that were assigned to the camp were closed. An official at the base camp told us that at least 90 percent of these cases were closed thanks to the resources provided by our mobile command unit. In addition, nearly 196 criminal cases were investigated through our trailer. Officers and local officials used the command center to pay bills and communicate with family and friends back home as well.
While the cleanup and reconstruction of Gulf Coast communities will continue for months and possibly years, progress has already been made in the weeks following the hurricane. Thanks to the support of CDW, HP and Next Marketing, we have been able to make a difference for people who desperately needed assistance.
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