A friend of mine went from Huntsville, AL down to Homestead and managed the disaster recovery team for IT. They were able to rebuild the Homestead computer systems in Huntsville in just over three days.
Frank described massive water damage, chunks of concrete pulled out of the ground and tossed around, and nearly every computer system severely damaged.
In his career Frank had seen lots of action, from Vietnam to spook missions. He described Homestead as completely overwhelming and beyond comprehension. His men had a job to do, and they did it.
This soldier in the picture reminds me of the "goodness" (not perfection, mind you) of our soldiers, especially compared to those of many other countries. Some blue soldiers in other countries would have sold these supplies to friends and neighbors, and worse.
I remember driving south bound on the Palmetto Expressway two days after Andrew, and being nearly overcome by tears at the sight of convoy, after convoy of trucks bearing the marks of Power and Light as well as telephone companies from a half-dozen States, massive convoys too.
I lost it when I read the sign on one truck that said, "Help is on its way!!".
This went on for days, I swear that I saw utility trucks from nearly every State in the Union.
The people of Miami-Dade responded like champs for the most part, there were your isolated pockets of looting, but very few. We had no street lights, but we had no accidents, people were incredily courteous and patient. In some real busy intersections, citizens would simply stand in the middle of the street for hours at a time directing traffic...and not one person questioned them, and many honked their horns to thank them.
We had the biggest bar-b-que ever in the block where I lived then, the food was going to spoil, so we cooked it, and sat outside and partied with the neighbors.