So its been a while since I wrote. I've been occupied.
Our job in Selma, AL is done. We were able to coordinate the establishment of several localized teams to take over our functionality. They are smaller in scope and well situated to handle to inprocessing and outprocessing of the trailers & mobile homes.
It was a frustrating assignment from the perspective that we were being hampered by FEMA modus operandi. Their approach is to hire contractors to handle the different tasks that is tasked. If there is an issue, they have a pat response of "that's not our issue, it needs to be addressed by the contractor." The trailers aren't being processed very efficiently..."That's not our problem." There are people dropping from heat stress..."That's not our problem." Our employees are only being provided 1 meal in a 12 hour shift..."That's not our problem." The drivers are stacking up at the front gate..."That's not our problem." The drivers are revolting and threatening bodily harm..."That's not our problem."
I'm not strectching the truth. If anything, I'm playing it down. I was fortunate in that I did not work in these processing areas, but heard all this second hand, but I trust the individuals that I heard from.
Anyway, we are glad to be away.
Of course, now we are reassigned to something more in line with our skills. The Mississippi forestry office has been severely affected. The now have a lot of downed trees that need to be handled. We are going to help develop treatments for at last 7 counties working together with the state and the Forest Service office from the area. It has the team members much more excited than 2 weeks ago.
I know it has been a few days (4 to be exact) since I posted, but they have been quite busy. As I posted before, we did in fact receive an assignment. Tuesday morning we began the day long trek to our final (temporary) resting place. In one day I theoretically touched ground in all four timezones in the Lower 48.
We started in Boise, then flew to Reno, NV to pickup a second team. From Reno we flew to Redding, CA to pickup a third team. The jet we were on had room for 100 people. I think we maxed it out. In fact, after all the gear was stowed from all three teams, we had to make an extra stop in Oklahoma City to get a refill. Once we took off, we flew to Jackson, MS to deliver the two teams we had picked up and then from there we flew to Marietta, GA. All in all, we spent about 14 hours in transit.
The reason I say "theoretically" touched the ground is because not once did we ever get a chance to exit the plane. Zip. Zero. Zilch. There were quite a few stir crazy individuals by the time we debarked.
Once we were in GA, we spent two nights (and surrounding days) getting an in briefing (such as it was) about what we were being asked to do, and then we drove to our final resting place: Selma, AL. We are in fact somewhat responsible for receiving and distributing trailer homes & camper trailers from manufacturers to needy recipients. However, it's not just us that is involved AND there is not a consistent chain of command in this process. We are dealing with five separate distribution points scattered across 5 different states.
To date the field guys have done a tremendous job, but not without the some head butting.
I think that is all for now. I'm going to go to bed.
This is the second time I'm writing this piece. The first was in my head while I was walking this morning - it was much better then...trust me.
We have been staged in Boise, ID since Saturday night. Boise is kinda like the wildland fire nerve center. I hate so say "brain" because it is more like a neural mass.
Staged means a couple things:
We had a team meeting this morning in which we found out that we could expect another 24 hours of the same. As we were departing, the IC (incident commander) received a call. It's not a fer sure thing yet, but we may be going to Mobile, AL to help take delivery of and manage 75,000 (no, not 7,500) mobile homes that are being delivered. So they are mobilizing mobile homes to Mobile, AL.
We may be in transit as soon as this afternoon. More to come.
There was an article in todays News-Minus about our team. The article is pretty much a feel good article, but its great that they did a few inches on our team. It even features comments from a Coe-worker (grin).
The only thing that they really got wrong was that we did not respond to the shuttle disaster. Several individuals went, but we did not go as a team (almost, but not quite). As the article states, there are 16 national teams. We follow a rotation schedule that attempts to ensure teams have equal number of assignments. It works.
That said, I leave tomorrow at 8:30am for another great adventure.
Tomorrow morning I leave my family for four weeks to go help out in the south again. This time it's Katrina that calls to me. Our team is traveling in the morning to Boise to be staged (temporarily held together in one place) and from there we travel somewhere. Where, I do not know.
I did not pack any kevlar, and the IC kinda lauged when I asked if I should pack..as in pack heat. I did have to verify that my Hep A & B shots were complete and that my tetanus/diptheria was up to snuff. Aside from that and my latex gloves everything else is as I usually travel on one of these assignments.
I'll (try to) check in when I can. Personally, I find that I shift the emotions into neutral when I do one of these types of incidents. Of course, my Milady may argue that that is a normal state of mind.