Posted on 09/09/2005 5:13:38 AM PDT by CrawDaddyCA
NEW ORLEANS -- From the bridge of the 844-foot-long USS Iwo Jima, a panoramic view of New Orleans provides few clues to the destruction that Hurricane Katrina left in her wake.
But Rear Adm. Reubin Bookert, commander of Amphibious Group II and the Iwo Jima, knows better.
"We've got a lot of work to do. Totally devastated situation. My first reaction was shock," Bookert said Thursday of his initial thought of the scene when he arrived in New Orleans earlier in the week.
The multipurpose amphibious assault ship spent its third day in New Orleans on Thursday docked behind the Riverwalk shopping mall on the Mississippi River, usually a spot reserved for luxury cruise ships.
The Iwo Jima left Norfolk, Va., on Aug. 31, spent a day in Biloxi after dropping off personnel, hovercraft and supplies in that area, then set up a command and control center on the New Orleans riverfront. The ship is housing Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guard and FEMA personnel.
The Iwo Jima is performing several functions in New Orleans: search and rescue, medical assistance, relief hub for troops and a launching pad for helicopters to ferry supplies to needy areas.
Bookert said the ship has logged only about 20 bona-fide medical cases so far plus hundreds of "routine medical assistance" cases while in New Orleans.
"We're here to help. We're willing to help. We want to help," he said. "We're trying to respond to the parameters as established by FEMA."
Bookert said the ship's departure from the city has not been considered or discussed. "We're here as long as it takes," he said.
The Iwo Jima is joined in New Orleans by the USS Shreveport and USS Tortuga, two Navy ships docked just upriver and downriver from the Iwo Jima. Bookert said the ships, particularly the Tortuga, are launching smaller boats that can go "house to house" to support the city's mandatory evacuation order.
"We're doing a very good job of convincing folks that they would be better off coming with us," he said.
The Iwo Jima, built in Pascagoula, Miss., was commissioned in 2001. It has a 1,500-person crew.
My hubbie is on the Iwo and is working from sunrise to sunset. He said Cheney, Nagin, and Honore have all been on board. They are feeding civilian first responders. Civilians are getting medical attention and showers on board. Alot of action is taking place on the Iwo. He also said there are alot of things he can't tell me till he sees me face-to-face.
No one mentioned the teams sent ashore to take care of the snipers.
Where did you get that from? 1st i've heard of that.
A couple of days ago one news crew followed armed Navy Seals patrolling, and one of the Seals gave medication to a man he had apparently talked to before. I'd assume that the Seals came in on the ship.
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