Accent on the 3rd syllable.

we do fine without it. It’s more a hindrance than a help. I guess you don’t seem to know that. Personally, if we want to change FEMA, why have Ed Emmitt(County Judge here in Harris County). The fact still remains that Obama doesn’t care about anything and neither does Biden.

You are absolutely right about the utter and complete lack of personal responsibility from the citizens of NOLA, I’m not blaming FEMA for any of that. I watched the FEMA HQ in Baton Rouge stumble and bumble along for a couple days till we figured out how they functioned, or more accurately, failed to function and then, in typical Paratrooper fashion, stepped in and took what we wanted.

The FEMA HQ had established a Tactical Operations Center, I don’t know what they called it, but that’s what it was. To all appearances they had never established or worked out of one before. Not only did the left hand not know what the right hand was doing, people sitting on the floor of the TOC didn’t know what the person beside them was doing. In the military this is called stovepiping, each individual cell’s efforts only involve their own cell and the product goes straight up, like a stovepipe. Each cell’s efforts should spread across each of the operating systems. They had some rudimentary operating systems, Logistics for example. There was a group of women in one room who answered phone calls from volunteers, all day and all night. They would get calls from electric companies, truckers, people with boats, shower and latrine facilities, heavy equipment operators, lunch trucks with kitchens, an amazing array of people wanting to help and/or get on the FEMA money bandwagon. These women would answer the phone, jot down a name, phone number and list of equipment. for example, Joe Ragpicker has a trailer with 6 fan boats, they would then send Joe Ragpicker to one of several assembly areas to wait to be contacted and sent to where his boats were needed. Except the sticky notes they jotted the info down on never left their room. No one else knew what equipment was available or where it was. We were screaming and begging for boats and being told there were none, till we sent Paratroopers to the assembly areas and we started taking charge.

At one point I found a group of volunteers who had a work station on the floor of the TOC, they needed to know the current water levels across the city. They had reached the point of frustration where they had sent people in 4×4 trucks into NOLA to drive around and check the water levels, then drive back to Baton Rouge and report them. Two seats away on the floor of the TOC were some computer/techno geeks from one from one of the Universities, with satellite feeds and map printers. They were collecting data on the current water levels and had been for several days. They had maps of where the water was, they had projections of how fast it would recede, everything that the folks two chairs away needed but didn’t know.

Granted, as a HQ POG, I was intimately familiar with running a TOC, it was my job. But, FEMA, as an emergency response system should have known also. The folks there had no training, no one was in charge, no one had a clue. The big shots were all lined up trying to get some TV time with Jessie Jerkson outside the front door and the worker bees were just spinning their wheels trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. There is NO EXCUSE for their utter and complete lack of training in how to execute their mission.

Of course, they are a government agency, I should have expected exactly what I saw. I do now, the President could send the DMV as an emergency response coordination cell and get exactly the same results. No knowledge, no training, no clue, wow sounds like congress!

Yes, it seems FEMA was unfairly sold as first responder in New Orleans by the media/left and politicized to nail Bush. Ask any average person who they think might be first help in a disaster and they are going to tell you FEMA. So FEMA has a expectation message problem right off the bat.

I am saying taxpayer money is better spent at state and local level for the immediate help that people really need when time is of the essence. There was absolutely none, zero, zip, nada from govt agencies at all except for the local police were good about patrolling the area and running off looters.

In a disaster, people need food, water, shelter, demolition of flooded material, or at least some knowledgeable people to send them in the right direction. People need to know what to do. Everyone had to figure it out for themselves and help each other. My niece used facebook and craigslist. Others called around for donations and help.

Filling out stacks of paperwork and online forms isn’t a big priority when you don’t have the basic stuff covered.

Yes, people need to think for themselves and prepare themselves. Less government, more self reliance will always work out better. My young niece learned a tough but valuable lesson. Fortunately, she is completing her teaching degree/internship so we’ll have one more real world person teaching our young ones.

that idiot Blanco to declare a disaster so he could federalize the guard…