Posted on 09/20/2005 9:49:12 AM PDT by Dane
PAULA ZAHN: Well, because of all the chaos after Katrina, many New Orleans police officers, as I have just said, simply vanished. And their fellow officers called them all that and more. Well, tonight, for the first time, in an exclusive report, you're about to hear from one of those who left, a high-ranking officer, and hear why he made that choice.
Here's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing, man? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
(CROSSTALK)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the days of lawlessness, looting and flooding, something happened few people in New Orleans imagines was possible. Hundreds of police officers, like Lieutenant Henry Waller, abandoned their fellow officers and thousands of evacuees when they were needed most.
LT. HENRY WALLER, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I defend it by saying that I left them in a bad situation, but I have would have been leaving my wife in a worse situation.
Snip
H. WALLER: The one time that I know that I did the right thing and made the right decision, it's going to vilify me, that's difficult to deal with.
Snip.
H. WALLER: We listened to the radio. And we're hearing the things, the water is still rising. The water is still rising. The water is still rising. The looting is this. The looting is that.
Snip
H. WALLER: I got with another lieutenant in the First District, who essentially told me, look, you're a supervisor. You can't scare these guys. If they know you're scared, they're going to be scared. And I said, flat out, I said, you know what? I am scared. Everybody here is scared. And the bottom line is, I'm not going to tell these guys everything is going to be OK when it's not going to be OK.
(Excerpt) Read more at transcripts.cnn.com ...
Fine with me. Get a new job and stay with your wife.
I can't hold being an Air Force weenie against you (I'm Army). ;-)
You are absolutely right. I wonder how Eva Zahn would have addressed a soldier (Or Airman) who went AWOL when the unit needed him. Your sense of duty is obviously great and I hope you took that Air Force training to earn what you deserve. The divorce rate for servicemembers is pretty high, and most people outside the military don't know how easy it is to ruin a marraige because commanders demand so much "time" and zero defect mission support. I am sure that you, as a A&P mechanic, know that you couldn't just leave any time you wanted. Even when we're not at war, the UCMJ takes care of any desires to walk off the job.
Have a great night!
Do you really believe that keeping your word equates to slavery? How about the hippocratic oath? Would you be upset at the doctor caring for you, if he chose not to "really" take care of you? I bet you'd be pretty upset about that.
Just another example of how out of touch the MSM is. A little research should be expected to get the facts straight before broadcasting it to ignorant viewers and warping their sense of reality.
Good thing for us that your husband isn't serving in our military.
Easy, drama queen. Any reason why wifey couldn't get herself and the kids out of Dodge while hubby fulfilled his promise to protect and serve?
I just realized that you are a firefighter, so you must know all about working for peanuts while risking your life for others.
I married my husband after his service.
I am friends with the wife's half sister and found out that their dad was perfectly fine and wasn't even in an area majorly affected by the hurricane.
Not spectacular, but certainly not poverty ...
This is true. Hopefully it will be a job without any responsibility.
Middling high-ranking ...
Recruit, Officer I, Officer II, Officer III, Officer IV, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Asst. Superintendent.
Majors and Superintendents probably are more political than anything else.
Wow, a blast from the past, but I think the point everyone can agree on is that New Orleans and Louisiana state executive branch are the epitomie of the word dysfunctional.
Read the story.
His wife was already out of New Orleans and in Baton Rouge staying with the in-laws.
On Tuesday, he says he went for supplies in Baton Rouge (and perhaps he brought them back to NO) but didn't show back up on Wednesday morning.
Your 'What-if' is bogus.
Perhaps a mile in another man's moccasins might help.
W
Thankfully our soldiers don't think that way.
You know it is entirely different.
1. It is rare anymore for US Soldiers to be fighting in the same neighborhood as their families.
2. In Europe for example there were extensive and detailed plans to fly US Families out of Europe en-masse if things hinted at becoming serious. That included drills,special documents and rehearsals of all aspects. So the Military takes the issue very seriously.
3. If we made such arrangements for Police families our citizens would quite rightly say if such plans are needed they should be made for all citizens not just a selected few. Peace Officers are employees, civilians (by law). They are civil authorities with unions and a great many other issues that impact what can and cannot be done for their families.
Should there be an evacuation plan for families of Peace Officers and Public Officials.... touchy subject.
I think if they are evacuated to a central point in the same community, that would pass the smell test. Say some NG Armory or a Convention Center which can then be used a base of operations for civil authority. Then they are not immune from all hazard but they will not be successfully targeted either. If they are integrated into the civil defense apparatus and doing productive work that would also be justified.
W
You know it is entirely different.
1. It is rare anymore for US Soldiers to be fighting in the same neighborhood as their families.
2. In Europe for example there were extensive and detailed plans to fly US Families out of Europe en-masse if things hinted at becoming serious. That included drills,special documents and rehearsals of all aspects. So the Military takes the issue very seriously.
3. If we made such arrangements for Police families our citizens would quite rightly say if such plans are needed they should be made for all citizens not just a selected few. Peace Officers are employees, civilians (by law). They are civil authorities with unions and a great many other issues that impact what can and cannot be done for their families.
Should there be an evacuation plan for families of Peace Officers and Public Officials.... touchy subject.
I think if they are evacuated to a central point in the same community, that would pass the smell test. Say some NG Armory or a Convention Center which can then be used a base of operations for civil authority. Then they are not immune from all hazard but they will not be successfully targeted either. If they are integrated into the civil defense apparatus and doing productive work that would also be justified.
W
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