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Tagger I hope your son gets in... You should be proud the CG does not just take anyone.
You guys have no idea how good those guys are,,,, To start this I will say that my father is a retired CG officer who taught and was very instrumental to the development of SAR and SAR school. He worked for many years when I was a kid on Governors Island in NY. He was the Captain of the cutter Valient, graduated from and worked at the CG Academy and also taught at the war college in Newport. Not to mention river patrol in Vietnam and all kinds of things that are overlooked and unappreciated by people everyday until their lives depend on them.
Less than 24 hours after Katrina the company I work for was contracted by FEMA to bring water to New Orleans, Bay St Louis and a few other places. We did this for 4 days straight round the clock with very little rest…With an exemption from the FAA to deviate from ANY regulations we flew thousands of gallons of bottled water and tankered round trip fuel (so we were very heavy) to these airports at night, with no instrument approaches, no runway or airport lights, into total darkness and onto short runways with very little rest. To me that was still no comparison to what the CG and other branches of the military pulled off in New Orleans.
They flew 50 ft or less above the ground were up for DAYS straight and were rarely thanked even by the people they saved. I remember them bringing people non-stop to the airport terminal for medical attention when we would be on the ground in N. O. unloading to go do another trip. There was no air traffic control the first night and I remember talking to “Omaha 44” an AWACS airplane running the show from above.
What I saw the first morning after Katrina when the sun came up was incredible. Hundreds and I mean hundreds of helicopters just above the trees… The place was completely devastated and the boys in orange were there. Just like they had been all night and would be for many days to come. There was no question they we doing everything they could to help people. I just don’t think people understand what it takes to be up for days and still be able to maintain the composure to pick people one by one off of roof tops, fly just above the tree line, avoid other aircraft and most of all do it at night in total darkness. Remember there were no city lights or anything and it was literally a dark hole.
I personally can not say enough about what I saw and the respect I have for the Coast Guard and other branches of the military. I hope everyone feels the same way I do.
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