WEBVTT - Ep. 262: This Country Life - The Hurricane 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.680 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.760 from con hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.720 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:19.280 my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.279 by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:28.280 the best outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.880 grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:42.120 stories to share the hurricane. We're deviating from the format 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.480 this week for something that I believe is more important. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.000 I'm still going to tell you a story, but that 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.760 story is just about going to take up the whole episode. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.840 It's something that means a great deal to me and 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.800 something that more or less came full circle after my 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.480 job made me break a promise to myself from nearly 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:07.080 twenty years ago. Parents talk about some things here that 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:11.039 might have the little ones asking questions. Nothing graphic, y'all 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.960 know me better than that, but it may bring up 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.840 some questions, especially for our listeners that have been affected 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.760 one way or another from Hurricane Helene. But that said, 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:33.080 let's get to it. When I left New Orleans nineteen 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.000 years ago, I swore i'd never go back. It had 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:39.920 been my first trip to a place I'd only heard 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.640 about prior to my arrival, and was a destination I'd 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.600 intended on traveling to one day. After all, the food 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.120 New Orleans is famous for is my favorite and in 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.760 many respects very similar to what I've grown up eating myself. 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.080 The folks there always seem to be having a good time, 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.200 and good food and good times are what I've always 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.120 been about, and not necessarily in that order. But this 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.160 was different, and my being there had nothing to do 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:15.200 with food or fun. Hurricane Katrina had ravaged Louisiana and 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.200 a lot of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. Was August 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.040 of two thousand and five, and I was the SWAT 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:25.280 Team commander of the Union County Sheriff's Department in Arkansas. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.840 Union County borders Louisiana, and we trained with the Union 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.880 Parish Sheriff's Office team should any operations require us to 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.519 cross the state line and vice versa, or to work 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.400 in conjunction with them, Since we shared the small community 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.680 of Junction City, a town that straddled the state line 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:51.080 of Arkansas and Louisiana. Now only on a couple occasions 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.760 prior to the hurricane. Did we ever see that training 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.639 in preparation put to use. A couple of search warrants 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:02.000 and low level manhunts of really in significance were what 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:10.680 the joint operations consisted of until the hurricane. As we 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.520 all set glued to the news. As the impending doom 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.160 and gloom of the hurricane approached landfall, I received a 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.679 call from my share a conversation with something like this 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.120 Union Parish has requested us to be ready to assist 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.080 him and the advent the storm stays on the projected levels. 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.680 Of course, get the team advised, ready to deploy should 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.200 that happen, and pack for a week with our team 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:40.640 and support personnel and boats. We deployed nearly a dozen 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:45.440 deputies to assist the Louisiana Sheriff's Association Hurricane Task Force 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:52.000 in Operation Restore Order. We were assigned a designation southeast 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.640 of Baton Rouge that would serve as a rally point 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.720 and staging area where we would be briefed on where 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.400 help was needed, what sets we brought in our overall 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:07.040 capabilities to support security for search and rescue efforts that 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.880 were still in the initial stages of planning and execution. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.279 All communication was limited to SAD phones and vehicle to 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:23.520 vehicle communication on low band radios. Handheld radios were good 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.320 only for short distances, and anything that relied upon the 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.720 relay of a boosted signal from radio towers was useless. 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.880 Either the power of those towers was off or the 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:40.000 towers themselves were destroyed by the storm. And we arrived 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.800 in Gonzales, Louisiana, to a mass of law enforcement, fire 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.039 and medical services that filled up big fair grounds and 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:52.680 exhibition center. It was beyond chaotic, lots of well intended 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.960 people kind of standing around, ready to offer aid, with 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.920 little or no clear direction of where to do it. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.160 That would lend itself to describe that there was no organizations, 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.080 but it would be unfair to the preparedness of the 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.000 plan and the people who were in charge of it. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.719 The simple truth was there was no way to have 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.960 been prepared for what was happening. All communication had been 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:20.920 cut off from South Louisiana to anywhere. Reports were all 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:25.320 SAT phone dependent, and at that time the technology wasn't 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.359 ten years old yet it was its use or even 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.480 the need for it hadn't been a priority to anyone 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.400 in the Sevilian sector. With a little direction from the 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.360 stage in personnel, and gonzales I reached out to our 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.040 sheriff back in Arkansas. He eventually made contact with the 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:46.159 Jefferson Parish sheriff, where the offer of our services he 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.720 gladly accepted. In less than eighteen hours after arriving in Louisiana, 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.080 we had our first clear mission. We were headed to 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.800 New Orleans and would link up with the Jefferson Parish 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.920 Sheriff in the downtown staging area where they had set 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.039 up a command post. The ride from gonzales to New 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.600 Orleans would take you less than an hour. Today it 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.680 was considerably longer due to the debris in the road. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:15.080 There were dead animals and fish of every kind imaginable 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.920 scattered up and down the highway, Mud and marsh, grass, trees, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.320 parts of buildings, boats of every size, and vehicles littered 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:29.120 the road and the landscape in every direction. There were 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.440 huge tuna fish laying on the side of the road 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.960 that one of the first highway exits coming into New Orleans. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.640 It was awful. The sights and the smells were sickening, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:45.360 and it was only going to get worse. And once 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.960 we reported to the Sheriff's Department at the command post. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.520 We were immediately assigned to assist in restoring order to 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.359 the areas where lawlessness and looting had become the norm. 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.440 Got a little western at times, but things slowed down 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.000 to the point after a day or two that we 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.800 were signed tost secure the landing zone, where search and rescue, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:10.400 medical and supply helicopters were on a constant rotation bringing 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.720 in survivors and adding people to the several thousand who 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.920 were already sequestered beneath the overpass where the majority of 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.680 my team was stationed. Now, if you saw or remember 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.160 seeing on the news all the footage of the military 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:30.000 and the Savilian helicopters operating adjacent to an overpass, the 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.320 only place the press was allowed to be, that's where 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:38.480 we were. There was a hopeless sea of humanity beneath us. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.520 The trauma and lost these people had just endeared was 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.960 a scene out of nothing I'd ever witnessed or hope 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:48.520 to see again. There was no bathrooms, no food, and 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.000 nowhere to take them. There were busses supposedly on the way. 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.760 By getting a bus into that area to evacuate them 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.160 was taking a whole lot of time to coordinate. You 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.240 have to remember that all the assets to do in 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:07.040 an evacuation operation of that magnitude had just been washed 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.720 away by the very thing that had these people standing 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.960 below me. It was going to get a lot worse 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:23.480 before it got any better. Darkness fell, The influx of 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.440 evacuees began to subside somewhat, but it didn't stop, and 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.960 there was still no way to get them out. The 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.840 limited communication we had with those in charge was extremely vague. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.480 It wasn't purposefully in that way. There were just no 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.079 clear answers what to do with what some estimates say 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:49.440 was five thousand recently displaced hurricane survivors. Three people lost 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.280 their lives during the thirty six hours we were stationed 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.640 on that bridge, and this staging area was just one 0:08:55.679 --> 0:09:01.600 of many. Eventually, a convoy school buses arrived. People were 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:07.119 methodically loaded on each one to the capacity, and they left. Eventually, 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.960 so did we, and I wouldn't find out until weeks 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.720 later that the majority of them would go to Houston, Texas. 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.800 My team eventually regrouped after a few stress filled hours, 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.679 and some of my men had been assigned to support 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.360 different patrol elements and were scattered all over New Orleans. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.880 They were professionals, capable of doing any job to ask 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:34.240 of them, but with no communication with them. My worry 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.959 was not that they couldn't accomplish the task at hand. 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.520 It was that I couldn't come to help them if 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.520 they needed it. The department and their families had entrusted 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.240 me to bring them all home safe once our mission 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:51.040 was completed, and I didn't take that responsibility lightly. Now, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.320 through the Union Parish Sheriff and our sheriff back in Arkansas, 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.200 we were tasked with supporting the Saint Tammany Parish Sheriff's 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:03.880 Department in Slydale, Louisiana. We rolled northeast across Lake Ponsey 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.440 train and linked up with deputies who arranged for us 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.440 to have the first meal we'd had in about thirty 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:15.040 six hours. We stayed in the Sheriff's department training facility. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.880 We all stayed together in one big classroom, sleeping on 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.200 army cots and living out of our duffel bags. We 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:25.480 started immediately after being sworn in. Half of us on 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.000 twelve hour day shifts and the other half on nights. 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.079 Each of us were assigned to general patrol as a 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.840 ride along to supplement single deputy cars, two officers to 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.960 the car. That's one thing for an area to be 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.800 impacted by an unimaginable storm, but to deal with that 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.800 on top of the escalation of looting and violent crimes 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.880 was something I had never witnessed or hoped to see again. 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:56.120 We after called, after call, the majority of them to 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:02.680 night for the most despicable acts of ny humanity. People 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.520 taking advantage of each other during the best of times 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.079 is bad enough, but it's magnified when the suffering is 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.000 as extreme as losing your home and your way of 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.760 life and your family. I have no idea how many 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.080 people we arrested for looting, but it was a lot. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.760 On the other hand, people we encountered carrying food items 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.360 were allowed to continuer. Grocery store owners had been in 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.680 contact with authorities and said the public had free range 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.160 any store and it was first come, first served until 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.520 all the edible food was gone. The storm serge that 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.720 hit the slide El Louisiana was estimated to be twenty 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.200 to twenty five feet deep, and the average height of 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:50.080 a one story building is about fourteen feet. They don't 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.640 take a math with is to imagine how bad that was. 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.480 The amazing thing I witnessed above everything else were the 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.960 people I was working with. Some deputies Want in particular 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.679 that I was assigned to had lost his home. He'd 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.680 evacuated his family further north in Louisiana to stay with relatives. 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.959 A lot of other deputies did the same, and yet 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:18.120 there they were at work with no idea what was 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.800 going to happen next with their future. They slept there 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.440 in that big converted classroom with the rest of us, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.360 the only difference being we had a home to go 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:32.320 to after this was open and they didn't. There was 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.160 dedicated a group of deputies as I have ever seen. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.160 A few of them only had the uniforms they were 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.079 wearing and spars they kept at work for clothes. That 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.360 was it. We stayed with them for the better part 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.840 of a month before going back home to Arkansas, twelve 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:53.240 hour shifts with no off days. Night before we left, 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.079 they threw us a party. They scrounged up food from 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:02.640 everywhere and cooked for us. Some of them didn't have homes, 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.240 but they cooked for us in appreciation of our being 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.280 there and helping. I've never forgotten that, and we'll always 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.640 remember how the majority of those people who had little, 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.720 if anything to give, gave most of all they had. 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.560 Hurricane Katrina took the lives of one thousand, three hundred 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:28.040 and ninety two people and displaced over a million. Over 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.680 a third of those deaths were attributed to drowning, and 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.439 a higher figure would claim the lives through disease. Later 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:40.920 on, one hundred and thirty five people were as missing and 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:46.000 have never been accounted for. They're just gone. Less than 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.360 a month later, Hurricane Rita claimed the lives of one 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.640 hundred and twenty more down there. Now, as bad as 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.520 I wanted to go home, I felt guilty for leaving. 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.440 Order had been restored for the most part. But the 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.160 men and women and we were working alongside were still there, 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.160 dealing not only with their jobs as peace officers, but 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.280 the losses they incurred from the storms as well. Now, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.520 nineteen years later, Hurricane Helene slammed the eastern US, and 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.880 the cost in lives is well over two hundred, with 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.920 many still missing and unaccounted for. But we have the 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.040 ability to resolve and the will as Americans to stop 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.440 what we're doing and help our brothers and sisters when 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.480 they're in need, and there has been no greater need 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:37.480 in recent times than right now. This is another defining 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.680 American moment where we as individuals are presented an opportunity 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.400 to set aside any differences and rally together with the 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.200 focus of our free people, to choose to do the 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.000 right thing and help those who need it most. Last 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.720 week had me traveling too, and driving through New Orleans, 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.400 the place I vowed to never see again. Well, I 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.400 often think of those events nineteen years ago. I seldom 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.120 speak about them, and I won't go into much more 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:11.880 detail than I already have here, but it has been burdensome, 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.960 to say the least. Driving through New Orleans on the 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.480 way down to Venice last week bothered me more than 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.960 I thought it would. I started recognizing buildings and features 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.160 and seeing the contrast to what it had been to 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:30.000 what it is now. The people there seemed resilient and strong, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.720 and the further we went toward Venice, the dynamic differences 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.440 were standing. Homes and businesses had returned, and comparative photos 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.240 of then and now wouldn't even be thought of as 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.600 taken in the same place. As we drove back through 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.040 New Orleans on the way home, round Callahan asked me 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:53.760 if coming back had helped me. It definitely had, But 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.760 what helped me the most was seeing and talking with 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.560 the people who mark time and stories by saying that 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.880 either happened before or after Katrina, and seeing the pride 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.600 that they had in persevering and the memorialization of all 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.360 that was lost. Now. I'm sure that it isn't the 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:16.000 same as before Katrina, but seeing it seemingly thriving from 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.320 the way it was when we left is me hope 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.920 that the same could be done with what happened as 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:27.760 a as a result of Helene. There are many organizations 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:31.000 collecting money and distributing aid, and I encourage anyone who 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.600 has the means to donate what you can. Five or 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.480 ten dollars may not sound like a whole lot, but 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.800 a whole bunch of them will add up pretty quick. 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.360 As for me, I'm donating through the Gary Sonice Foundation 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:50.320 Hurricane Relief Emergency Fund. Now, if you can't trust Lieutenant 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:52.640 Dan to get the money where it's supposed to go, 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.880 you can't trust anyone. Rie was going to post a 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.920 link in the show description directly to that fund. If 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.399 you're interested in checking it out. Keep those folks in 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:11.000 your prayers. They need them, They need them all Until 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.600 next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful.