Blackwater In Louisiana, Pt. II
Written 9/17/05
By: Frank Borelli
Reporting again:
Friday and most of Saturday (Sept 9th and 10th) were spent on the same site in Gretna. On Friday afternoon there were some shots fired out of the Projects that were nearby and a host of Gretna police officers, supported by volunteer cops from all over the United States, showed up. I have to give some credit to these cops. Under normal circumstances, patrol officers secure a perimeter and let SWAT hunt for people shooting (exempting Active Shooter scenarios). Due to the circumstances that surrounded New Orleans since Katrina gave it a new face, the patrol cops are the front line troops that have to handle anything that comes along. All of us operate to our strengths. Some of them are / were capable of hunting; others aren't. They all acted professionally. My partner and I on that site assisted with bringing solution to that incident. Oddly enough we were both better equipped and, by and large, better trained than those on the scene.
Saturday afternoon saw our relief arrive. We spent about twenty minutes giving them a brief on the situation there and then headed out. That evening / night we were to be housed in a hotel in downtown New Orleans located at the intersection of Poydras and Carondelet. That's about two or three blocks off Bourbon Street and from what I was told, Bourbon Street has never been cleaner than it was right then. We got to the hotel, got cleaned up and headed down to the lobby to see what was going on. We were promptly issued an escort assignment to pick up some supplies in Covington - about an hour away from New Orleans under current circumstances.
Going out it was daylight. Coming back it wasn't. We took a wrong turn once we were back into New Orleans proper and that was when we ended up on Bourbon Street. I have to say that it didn't really appeal to me in the dark. I know the city had been evacuated but I also knew that there were plenty of ner-do-wells still lurking about. Driving down a narrow street that is lined by second and third story balconies for blocks at a time just made me feel like a sitting duck. At one point we tried a turn off of Bourbon that put us at a dead end. Two burned out buildings on either side and one essentially collapsed in front of us. Car hulks were scattered around. Thankfully our driver was fresh home from Iraq and didn't waste any time backing us out of there. Three blocks later we were back at the hotel.
Saturday night and Sunday morning were rather relaxed. The food we ate was brought in by the client from their building next door. In fact, if we wanted to, we could go next door to eat at their facilities on the twelfth floor. That inspired some of us to joke about opening a restaurant called "The Twelfth Floor Next Door". When you're tired enough that's just funny as hell.
Sunday afternoon I volunteered to ride along as escort on a food supply run. We loaded up the back end of a Ford Excursion and took the food, drinks, fruit, etc out to an outlying camp housing mostly firemen from all over the U.S. On the way we ran across an open draw bridge. Our truck was full of perishable items and we inquired as to how long the bridge would be open. Due to the fact that it took fifteen minutes to open and ten minutes to close, anytime they open it they tend to leave it open for an hour. The city workers were nice enough to sympathize with our situation and left it open only a half hour.
After getting the food stuffs delivered we had a rather relaxed ride back. It was still daylight and in two trucks we have five long guns and five handguns. Once again, while the city was reportedly evacuated, that's not an accurate term. Several thousand people still remained in and around New Orleans and a large number of them live at, or below, poverty income levels. Many of them choose to.
Sunday evening was an early night because we had received our next assignment for a security detail. Monday morning we were up at 0500 and out the door by 0600. At 0700 we arrived at our post at Oschner Medical Center, a hospital in Jefferson Parish. A FEMA Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) had set up there to provide emergency medical services as well as inoculations. They were giving Tetanus, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B shots.
The situation in New Orleans is so fluid that adapting plans to meet the challenge is almost impossible. We were supposed to be on the hospital site for twelve hours and we ended up there 3.5 days. It wasn't anybodies fault. That's just how things evolve in such situations. The first DMAT team we worked with was from South Carolina and they were good folks. Up until Sunday night they had their security provided by a federal agency that I won't specify. The protection agents that were assigned there did some interesting things from the security services point of view. They pointed every light IN at the tents the DMAT was working in and they made plans to hunker down in that lit area if any shots got fired.
Shots fired was a realistic possibility. In fact, it happened Sunday night before we arrived. When we got there we coordinated our efforts with the National Guardsmen that were on the site (Puerto Rican unit that spoke mostly Spanish - thank God for those that spoke English). We also coordinated with the hospital security staff.
Monday evening I took a perimeter tour and found a few spots that I felt were too open. One side of the hospital property bordered a residential community and all of the houses there had bars on the first floor windows. That's a hint. Across the street was an old hotel, now active as a boarding house and commonly referred to by the locals as a crack house. Another hint. This wasn't a good neighborhood before Katrina hit. It hadn't gotten any better except that some of the people had left.
We made a few changes and the DMAT Commander on site gave us free reign where security was concerned. Apparently, the security people that had bailed out Sunday night knew they were being replaced by Blackwater personnel and made the statement, "If Blackwater is coming, you'll be ok. They're the best in the business." It's kind of cool when federal security employees make those kinds of statements.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed in somewhat of a blur. There were two of us on site to provide 24 hour security. It was funny to listen to the National Guardsmen complain about working six hour shifts on with only twelve hours off. My partner and I did sixty hours on, sleeping minimally as we could. I think I got about five hours in there somewhere. Along the way, the DMAT teams gave thousands of shots each day and filled hundreds of prescriptions for the hospital's emergency room.
Wednesday afternoon saw the addition of two more Blackwater personnel and the changing of schedule at the DMAT site. A team from Georgia took over on Wednesday and the site closed at night, only giving shots from 0700 through 2300. We managed a nice rotation and I got about six hours of sleep Wednesday night.
Thursday my partner and I were relieved and taken to a camp near Memorial Stadium which I THINK is near Louisiana State University. There was an Army Reserve center across the street. Friday morning we were packed and headed out.
Both of us were on a two week contract with Blackwater. We started our travel on the 4th and ended our travel on the 17th. Others that we initially traveled down with extended and are there for another two weeks. A police officer from one of our neighboring agencies in Maryland arrived on Friday the 16th and was committed to 30 days.
As we were leaving the situation was still rapidly changing. News agencies (from what I've seen) have been busy reporting how great everything is going and how soon the city will be recovered. When I left the hospital on Thursday the 15th, I still wouldn't have gone outside a secure perimeter after dark without being armed. Many places still remained in need of survey, body clean up, etc. While reports have said that all the water will be pumped out by October 2nd, that isn't the end of a bad situation. The dust that is left over when the water dries is also toxic. The water contained a happy mixture of petro-chemicals, mercury (from where I don't know) and sewage. "Water" is a loose term that describes what one team mate called "toxic gravy". I think that term is more accurate.
As I was leaving the hospital on Thursday I knew that pack dogs were still out moving freely about at night. Lots of low-to-no income families were inhabiting the area around the hospital. Each day saw fourteen National Guardsmen and four Blackwater personnel securing the hospital grounds. The hospital itself was being guarded by a team of six to ten security guards.
The situation there is still rapidly evolving and I don't think anyone can reasonably say what it will be like at the end of the month much less the end of the year. My personal belief is that the city administrators and other government folks are in way too much of a hurry to push people back into the city. I understand that people want to go home but I'm not sure their homes will be safe, or the lifestyle containing any quality or value until several more weeks in the future. Sure, call me a "nay-sayer", but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Many of the people returning are going to run into simple daily challenges that will further tax an already over-burdened system. Reality is what it is.
I am contemplating a return after a week or so. If so, I'll update. If not, I'll do my best to impartially report what I get from the friends I still have on the ground there. An equipment review will return next week - and it will be on a host of equipment that I used while there. Be safe.
