Retiring General Aims To Create A Culture Of U.S. Preparedness (Honore)

AZ Daily Star ^ | Jan 9, 2008 | AP

[RDTF]

FOREST PARK, Ga. — The gruff, cigar-chomping general who led federal troops into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is convinced America hasn't learned its lesson from the storm.

As Lt. Gen. Russel Honore gets ready to retire from the Army and hand over his command on Friday, he says he wants to spend the rest of his life creating a "culture of preparedness" to prevent another post-disaster disaster.

"There's an attitude everywhere else that people are smarter than they are in New Orleans and in Mississippi. They're not," the 60-year-old general said at his office at Fort Gillem, just outside Atlanta. "What happened in New Orleans could have happened anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard."

During his 37-year Army career, Honore commanded troops in South Korea and prepared soldiers to fight in Iraq. After Katrina, the native of Lakeland, La., led the vast relief convoy that rolled into New Orleans during its darkest hour. The 22,000-member force was one of the largest federal deployments in the South since the end of the Civil War.

With a beret cocked to one side, a crisp, take-charge attitude (at news conferences, he ended sentences with the word "over," as if transmitting over military radio) and biting one-liners — "Don't get stuck on stupid!" he snapped at reporters — he impressed politicians and ordinary folks alike. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, for one, famously called him a "John Wayne dude."

Honore returned to Atlanta after the storm to focus on his main job as commander of the First Army, training National Guardsmen and reservists for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The devastation in his home state — the stranded residents, destroyed neighborhoods and bloated corpses — "left a passion in me to be a champion of something," he said.

-snip-

[McBuff]

There are two things I remember about Honore:

"Don't get stuck on stupid, people" and the quirky way during an interview he would say "OVER" whenever he finished his sentence.

One of a kind, that's for sure

[gunnedah]

This is just a ploy and a move to help him start a political career. If these people and politicians really cared they would not allow homes to be built on flood plains.

[goodwithagun]

I have no problem with them building houses on flood plains. It is their right to build where they want. But don’t reach into my pocket for money when your house gets washed away by a big wave.

[marktwain]

Let’s see him promote firearms training with the NRA as part of the program.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

I will adopt a wait and see attitude with the General. He is a rare bird indeed if he truly cares about this plan of his. If he can make it work then he is worthy of the rank he achieved.

[cva66snipe]

Let’s see him promote firearms training with the NRA as part of the program.

Better yet let's hear him say don't depend on the NRA to defend your Constitutional Rights because they won't. They are a political organization and as such make political choices and support issues that are not necessarily in agreement with the Constitution. It is your duty to do so as an American citizen. Be armed, be prepared, be ready.

[alloysteel]

Hire that man, whatever it takes, and let him choose his job.

A man as tested and true as Rudy Giuliani, and as rugged as George S. Patton.

Who says there are no men of ginormous stature in today’s world.

At least put him in charge of the Military District of New Orleans. When that district is once again ready to be readmitted to the United States, make him the governor of Louisiana.

For life.

[IrishMike]

“Don’t get stuck on stupid!”
That will never be forgotten, it was simply priceless.

[Ben Hecks]

I also liked his comment “Son, you’re looking at a calendar, I’m looking at my watch”.

[padre35]

Gen Honore is correct, the average American Home does not have things like water purification equipment, let alone a competent battery of firearms.

All the NRA can do is allow you the opportunity to purchase a quality firearm, one actually does have to go out and buy the thing yourself...

[gunnedah]

But youre not the government that is going to subsidize them with your and my tax dollars and call us racist.

[quant5]

The country needs civilian defense also in case of emergencies such as nuclear/bioterrorism that pushes our country into an economic collaps. Or God forbid an all out-nuclear attack. How fast we could rebuild and defeat our enemies would have a lot to do with having simple communication equipment in multiple cities scattered throughout the country such as 2 way radios with battery back-up and enough of a civilian police force to maintain order considering the local National Guard and police forces will be more then overwhelmed and unable to provide the basics to a population.