The Deuce

Thanks to Liz for sending me this diary of one man's odyssey in his 'deuce' vehicle to help survivors in Biloxi and New Orleans. He meets with armed looters and everything else you can imagine. And thanks to the author for his heroism and for getting his experiences down in writing. It begins:

Background:
My name is John and I live in Central Texas. I have served in three different military components totaling 25 years of service and I am recording this story for posterity. All opinions are the author's and if you disagree with them, that's really too bad.

Katrina Day 1: Monday, 29 August 2005
Watching the news today was horrific. Hurricane Katrina has devastated an area larger than the United Kingdom. When I heard that Biloxi was savaged, I immediately thought about my best friend Tracy.

Tracy was a Master Sergeant with me in the US Air Force and we were stationed together for several years. Friendships formed in the military are far stronger than anything a civilian can experience. They usually last until the grave. I won't go into the psychology of it, it is just so. You usually bond to one particular individual, and Tracy was it. He was my Best Buddy, and that is spelt with two capital B's.

I know this man well enough to know that he was not going to evacuate, he would tough it out. Now I was worried sick about Tracy and his family. I tried calling him for several hours but gave up realizing that communication would be non-existent. [..]

Visit Lonestar MVPA to read about the epic journey, or cut and paste this URL:

http://lonestar-mvpa.org/events/2005/05_Katrina.htm