E-mail From Alabama
Hurricane Ivan 9/16/04
The following e-mails and more stories will be included in my forthcoming book "Sunset in Alabama" I will have more details when I finish writing and print up a few copies for my friends to read. -Matthew
"The e-mail that changed everything"
Sent: Saturday,
September 04, 2004 7:17 PM
Subject: Citizen Corps and Hurricane Frances
Citizen Corps and Hurricane Frances
As you are aware, the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA is responding to its
second major hurricane to hit Florida in the past several weeks, and we need
your help. Hurricane Frances is approximately 2 and a half times the size of
Hurricane Charley. It is expected to hit Florida and, potentially other states,
resulting in devastating damages. FEMA Response and Recovery operations are a
top priority of the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA is asking us to
contact and tap our State and local Citizen Corps Councils, our affiliates and
program partners to find volunteers who could serve as Hurricane Frances
Community Relations Officers.
You are being requested to immediately seek individuals among your State and
Local Citizen Corps Councils for a two-week minimum field assignment as a
Community Relations Field Officer. WE NEED 1000 COMMUNITY RELATIONS OFFICERS
WITHIN 48 HOURS BEGINNING NOW (SEPT. 4th) FOR A TOTAL OF 2000 WITHIN 7 DAYS.
Requirements
for individuals:
* Must be sponsored by your State or Local Citizen Corps Council.
* Must be a United States Citizen with no prior felony convictions and the
ability to successfully complete a government background check.
* Must be at least 18 years of age.
* Must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for
medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day.
* Must be willing to work long hours under arduous conditions (e.g., individuals
may reside in an emergency worker tent city rather than a hotel during their
assignment.)
* Workers may be exposed to mold, high heat and humidity and insects.
* Must be willing to work in vicinity of disaster debris, damaged facilities and
related adverse conditions.
* This assignment is temporary and is a paid assignment.
* Must not self-deploy. Individuals who self-deploy will not be reimbursed.
Role of Community Relations Officer:
* Establish and maintain positive working relationships with disaster affected
communities and the citizens of those communities
* Collect and disseminate information and make referrals for appropriate
assistance
* Identification of potential issues within the community and reporting to
appropriate persons
* Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials,
community organizations and the general public
* Perform outreach with community leaders on available Federal disaster
assistance
Role of State or Local Citizen Corps Council:
* Recruit qualified individuals from existing Citizen Corps volunteer rolls.
(e.g. CERT, VIPS, MRCs, other local Citizen Corps groups)
* Provide names of qualified volunteers to the FEMA Region 5 ROC
Upon arrival at the Mobilization Center in Atlanta, GA, the recruit will:
* Be sworn in as a Federal employee.
* Be given training on Community Relations in Atlanta, GA before you are
deployed to the field.
* Receive training on deployment procedures and requirements.
* Be compensated for the period of employment as a level C-1 reservist ($18.88
per hour)
* Receive per diem at the local rate.
* Airfare and/or other transportation to Atlanta, GA will be by invitational
travel (paid by FEMA)
* Note: individual must save all travel related receipts for
"vouchering"
* Be issued a FEMA badge.
* Be issued a temporary government travel credit card. (You are expected to use
this card for all travel related expenses such as airfare, lodging, meals, gas,
etc. and to pay all bills after reimbursement.)
Procedures:
* State and Local POC's will compile a list of available individuals using the
Volunteer Activation Form (available through Region V ROC).
* The POC will forward the completed Volunteer Activation Form to the FEMA
Region V ROC for review and approval via FAX or by email.
* An acceptance package with specific instructions will then be forwarded to the
POC for distribution to each individual approved for deployment.
The e-mails listed here were to the large number of people in the 10-70 radio club and Ramsey Office of Emergency Management. The Ham radio symbol "de" means "from". So when I say 10-70 de K2NUD it means to the club from me.
"Letter to home" 09/13/04
Hello Gang;
I will try and e-mail everyone when I can.
I got here on Sunday and checked into FEMA and my hotel.
Today I was “processed” and sworn in as a federal employee. I will be put into the 4 to 6 week group tomorrow. The group leaders are picked by whoever has the highest incident command training. i.e. 100 200 300 400. They start at 400 and make their way down until they get a hit. Mike I am now sorry I never did that I will be sure to start it when I get home. Not that I was gunning for a leadership position, I am fine as a worker. Teams are 25 people.
Tomorrow we get a special visit from Secretary Brown. They were doing a “clean up” of the entire hotel grounds to make it nice for him.
There evidently was some chaos last week with a huge influx of people and they are just recovering now. There are many disasters besides Florida and I heard they dispatched one group to Colorado for something. I was told to keep my room until Sunday, which would be the earliest I would be deployed. They also asked for any special skills so I put in that I worked with computer networks, cabling, radio stuff, etc. It might be nice if they picked me to do something technical but again I am here to help in any way I can.
Still waiting for FCC to update my commercial license status, I check every day.
God bless you all, I miss you and miss the Dah-di-Dah of the repeater already, funny how some things in everyday life stick in your head!
73/88
Matthew, K2NUD
"Matthew's Deployment" 09/20/04
10-70 de K2NUD
Dear Friends and Family,
I have finally received my deployment orders today. I will be helping the Hurricane / Tropical Storm victims in North Carolina . I do not know what exact city I will be in. I have to remember to be “FEMA FLEXIBLE” There was tremendous flooding in the mountain areas and they need Federal help. So we can be put anywhere in the effected areas, see www.fema.gov and click on North Carolina for more info. I leave at 7:00 AM tomorrow. Too bad I packed for Florida , going to get a sweatshirt today. It is 64 degrees today in NC.
For those of you who did not get my other updates I am sorry I left you off the list, slight oversight on my part, but I am a temporary worker for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I do not know at this time if I will be working in a disaster recovery center or be going door to door. As of today they have trained 2480 people and deployed 1889. This is an incredible amount of people for such a short time. The leadership here is very good to accomplish such a feat.
Today I was “promoted” if you can call it that to squad leader. So far I just keep my mouth shut and follow the chain of command. That is no small task for someone like me from New Jersey !!!! If I have good luck they will keep me for a long time and I will go home just before my Cruise in December, but the average deployments are 4 to 6 weeks only.
Mike (Adams) I just want to let you know I took and passed my IC-100 Test (Introduction to ICS) I hope to finish the NIMS introduction and take the test later today. FEMA will mail me the certificates to add to my collection.
Well I may not be able to get e-mail after tonight so God bless everyone and I hope to talk soon. I MISS EVERYONE!
Matthew, K2NUD
"Riding Backwards" 09/27/04
10-70 de K2NUD
Dear Friends.
I am currently stationed in Enterprise , Alabama . It is in the South-East of the state. We were put here for Jeanne if she ended up pounding this area but it looks like the weary people here avoided any damage.
We are awaiting our orders from above. As of right now we are still assigned to Alabama, but that can change, remember I was supposed to go to North Carolina only to wake up and get on a bus to Alabama. My team was split up yesterday and only half of us ended up here the other half ended up moving to North Carolina .
This is one of the greatest human nature experiences I have ever seen. It is high school, college and corporate life all rolled up into one; remember there are over 40 states represented here with a WIDE variety of backgrounds and personalities. Mike Adams warned me of this. The 3 P’s personalities, power and pettiness. There are people here that will complain if they hit the lotto, and other people who are foaming at the mouth to get power. I have met and befriended a firefighter from Texas (lieutenant) and he told me that we should just “Ride Backwards” and keep our mouths shut. Firefighters should be familiar with this term, it was the first time I heard it.
As for my squad it is history, when we were in Birmingham for our briefing a higher up asked me if there was a fitness problem in my squad. He was referencing some elderly folk, around Mike Adams age, that had trouble walking in the amphitheater classroom. In US Government style I answered him that FEMA was an equal opportunity employer and that I could not discriminate against anyone for a possible handicap. He smiled and asked the question again and this time I said some people may be better suited for office work. They shipped them to an office job and I was put in another group, “riding backwards” now. I am FEMA Flexible!
For those of you who did not talk to me the FCC finally posted my commercial license! We will see where this road leads later….
We are not allowed to talk about the individual cases we see, but I can tell you there is terrible devastation. TV does not complete the picture, you have to see it with your own eyes. I was on a street where a row of telephone poles were all snapped in half. Some people will not have power for an extended period of time. I have seen power crews from as far as New Jersey and Massachusetts . There is a minefield of power lines, angry dogs and yesterday we encountered big mosquitoes and our first snake. There is enough fire wood here now to heat all the homes in New Jersey all winter!
I must tell you that although I feel sorry for the people who were affected by the storms I love doing this job. It is fun for me to meet diverse people from all over. This is one of the reasons I like to go on cruise ships, you meet so many people. It is equally fun for me to work with them. I wish more people had my attitude. I am even ready to stay in a tent city in Florida if necessary.
That is all for now, if I get moved I will not have e-mail but I should be good until Tuesday morning. Getting ready to ride backwards at my briefing….
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew K2NUD
"Blue Shirts" 10/4/2004
Hello from the very hot and sunny state of Alabama .
In the infinite wisdom of someone many pay grades above me we are all wearing dark blue shirts. The shirts may have been an experiment in a solar research lab at one point in their lifetime. Nonetheless that is what we are all stuck with so there is much laundry to be done on an almost daily basis. Please note the fact that we were only issued two each. I should not complain too much because only the Florida and Alabama FEMA crews are allowed to wear shorts, this may have changed since I departed Atlanta.
After 3 weeks and some days now it is becoming apparent who comes from a competitive background. There are people from all over the country here and they do not all have the same work ethic. I do not want to say anything negative about anyone specifically, but I will tell you that some of the people here wouldn’t be able to make the coffee fast enough at a New Jersey Dunkin Donuts. In easier terms they would get eaten alive in the NJ/NY job market. The people here see how I work and some of them may not like it, but they can at least see what a New Jersey guy is made of. I can understand how some people are slower than others that live in this extreme heat. I think it would take its toll on even a hyper guy like me. For now Matthew is firing on all 8 cylinders, even in the dark blue shirt.
Let me reinforce the fact that I am proud of our government for pulling off this massive aid program. We are getting the federal aid message out despite any problems the personnel may have. Again I think 4 hurricanes and thousands of civilians trained in days was big deal for FEMA to handle. We all know the government works very differently from the private sector. As I analyze the situation some of the private sector people here have really helped our cause because of their experience outside the government. Furthermore I am proud to represent New Jersey , Bergen County and Ramsey. This is a very satisfying experience, I am happy to be here.
I think my dark blue shirts are ready for the dryer now.
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew, K2NUD
"Working my way out of a job" 10/12/2004
10-70 de K2NUD
Dear Friends and Family,
The collective FEMA Community Relation Officer’s tenacity is slowly eating away at the reason for us being here. We are getting the ”FEMA” word out and I am happy to report over 1 million people from Florida and Alabama have registered with FEMA. In Alabama alone the 140 CR’s from FEMA and the State have registered 96,000* residents. (* As of October 10th). Unfortunately because we have been as ubiquitous as we have been in this state, we will start to lose members of the team shortly. Some already through attrition because they have to go back to their regular jobs and now some forced to go because the work will be running out.
There is a chance that I may be moved into a debris monitoring program. They asked people who can stay an extra month to sign up for this program. There is one stipulation that you need to have a U.S. Government credit card. I have one but my partner does not. This may have presented a slight problem because I gave my word to my “wingman” that I would not leave him, however he told me on his own that if I could get into the program to go for it. So pray that I get into this program so I can stay another month, even if I end up counting truckloads of debris all day. If I work my way out of the CR job I hope to end up as a DM.
For those of you in need of a little humor:
What did Florida change its state flag to? A blue tarp.
What do you call a woman in Alabama with all her teeth? A visitor.
What’s the new logo that replaced the orange on the Florida license plate? A chainsaw
I am happy to report I finished my IS-700 National Incident Management System course. I have now started the IS-200 ICS course and hopefully I will be able to finish it before I loose my internet access. There have been a few rainy days here from the poorly organized, weakest storm of the year, Matthew. Glad my namesake did not do too much damage to the hurricane weary people. Any similarities in strength between us you may be thinking please disregard immediately. The storm did keep me indoors long enough to get some coursework done.
That is enough for now and I hope this finds you all well. I go back to working myself out of a job tomorrow.
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew, K2NUD
"The Truck Police" 10/24/2004
10-70 de K2NUD
Dear Friends and Family,
I am happy to report that I have been re-assigned as of Friday October, 15th as a Debris Monitor. I really did work my way out of my Community Relations Officer job that I was originally assigned. Management decided that moving people into Debris Management was a good way to trim the amount of CR’s, since the county we were working in was covered very well by my old team.
For those of you who do not know what debris monitoring is we make sure that the Federal Government is not paying for ineligible non-storm related debris. In saving the Fed’s money we also save all of your money, your tax money. In simple terms I make sure the debris that is being collected is eligible and others on my team see to how “full” the trucks are. It is tedious at times and I follow trucks all over the county putting around 300 miles on the car every day. It is a long day but I am happy to do it. I believe the cleanup will take a few more weeks and depending on attrition and vacations, I may still be here for a while. My personal cut off date is December 3rd, my cruise which is paid for, embarks on December the 4th.
The people from the contractors and the city I am working in have called me the “Truck Police”. I guess I am a little relentless at this job. I follow trucks to their sites and look at what they are doing. Sometimes I wait out in places that look questionable. It is not just me; we have a big team here all doing the same thing. This has upset some drivers and crews. Unfortunately my enthusiasm in which I leave the dump site to follow trucks has caused me to get that truck police label. I had one guy drive down a 3 mile dead end just to try and upset me. He didn’t, and we all had a laugh at the dump site later that day.
I have to go to FedEx-Kinko’s in order to get my e-mail. The ˝ star hotel is having problems with their wireless internet service. I will come down to get e-mail once or twice a week. I am very tired by the time I get back to the hotel, I am usually working 12 or 13 hours a day, so driving to get e-mail is out of the question every night.
Hope this finds you all well and remember to vote on Election Day. I have an absentee ballot that I will mail on Monday.
Your most faithful servant;
Matthew, K2NUD
"Welcome to Wal-Mart" 11/12/2004
10-70 de K2NUD
Greetings from Lower Alabama ! I Hope this finds you all well!
I am now at day 61 since I left my home in New Jersey . My 4 to 6 weeks of work now looks like it will take me to 9 or 10. I now know every street in Baldwin and Escambia counties in Alabama . I have survived mid week cut backs in personnel and hopefully I can finish out the month of November. I hate to admit this but I am slightly homesick and I miss my family and friends terribly. This still has been a great experience for me no matter when it ends.
There have been many “firsts” for me here in Alabama . One big one was my first experience at Wal-Mart. I have never been in a Wal-Mart and I can’t even tell you where the nearest one is back home in Bergen County . Do we have one? Well they seem to have everything including a place to eat and get your hair cut. My foray into Wal-Mart was because the local Enterprise rent a car was located in there too. I am surprised they don’t have a medical office in there to complete the deal. You could then be born and die in the Wal-Mart too. They may need to add a wedding chapel too.
The food down here has started to stick on me. I have gained weight since I am off my usual diet which usually consists of eating at my neighbor’s house; she really takes good care of me! They have Waffle Houses down here and I am glad the one next to my hotel has finally opened after repairing all the storm damage, YUM! (Note closest one to New Jersey is in Elkton , MD ) After my work is done here, my cruise in December, and the Christmas Holiday I will need to go to a fat farm. I may get my own zip code if I do not stop eating this fattening food.
Once again I need to travel to get on the Internet so it may take some time for me to get e-mail right now. If I do not speak with some of you before Thanksgiving please have a wonderful holiday. I will be getting my turkey at Wal-Mart if I am still here.
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew, K2NUD
"Sunset in Alabama" 11/18/2004
10-70 de K2NUD
Well my long trip has now come to completion. I will only see one more sunset here on the gulf cost of Alabama . I have said many times in previous e-mails what a great experience this has been and it is still true. Seeing the melding of people from all over the country was very interesting. Americans are all so very different but at the same time all the same, Americans. We all know how to rise to an occasion.
I was born in the last year of the baby boom or close to it. I grew up when MTV still played videos and every now and then I tune to it nostalgically hoping to see a video but it has mostly reality shows now. One day I saw the last episode of one of the reality shows where the cast members were saying goodbye to each other after living with each other for only a month or so. They were all terribly emotional about leaving their new friends, but I did not understand how you could be that way with people you only knew for a short time. I now know why they were upset. In this short time I have made good friends and spent most of the day working, dining and the occasional consuming of an adult beverage with them. It will be hard to say goodbye.
We will now see where this experience takes me. I obviously will be thinking of what my future holds after I come back from my cruise. I would like to work for FEMA again. For now I am looking forward to seeing you all again and spending the holidays with my family and friends. Furthermore I really need a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee!
Someone commented on how I close my e-mails. When our founding fathers wrote back and forth to each other this was one of the ways they signed their letters. It caught my eye when I was in college because it indicated something more than just sincerity. I like the way each of them felt they served each other. I have done my best to serve the people of Alabama and represent all of you from my home state. This was a paying job but the mission was more than just to collect a paycheck.
The snowball of events that got me here all started that day in November 2002 when I passed my first radio test to find rockets in a cornfield. Joyce’s smiling face got me to a club meeting the next week and I met most of you who are reading this now. Mike Adams then called me and I was introduced to community service and Ramsey OEM. From all of this I am here now in Alabama in the month of November, 2 years from that radio test. I thank all of you at the 10-70 club for welcoming me and enhancing my life. It is more than a pleasure to be your servant.
When I started this trip in September I was warned to be ready of heat, humidity, mosquitoes, dehydration, rudimentary living conditions and many more hardships. It was clear early that the people affected by hurricane Ivan were the ones with hardships. Many people lost their homes and everything they owned. No matter how bad it was for the workers we all knew we had homes to go back to. As the sun sets in Alabama my home awaits me.
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew, K2NUD
"Two Hands of Cards" 09/15/2005 (A follow up e-mail one year later)
10-70 de K2NUD
Sorry to sound Forest Gump-ish but life can sometimes be similar to a hand of cards; sometimes the cards are good and sometimes they can be very bad. Humans must learn to play the cards that are dealt them to the best of their abilities. We can stack the deck of life in our favor by educating ourselves, taking care of our bodies, and not taking dangerous chances. Every now and then the cards we draw are bad, even if we do all the right things...
It has been one year since I left on my life changing trip to Alabama. To set that trip up I had to take a chance and draw from the deck, I quit a job that most people would consider a good one. It wasn't for me and it was killing my self confidence. The time off let me catch up on things but created a state of melancholy for me. I wondered who would ever hire an aging computer network man when there were so many younger kids coming out of school. What was I going to do? Change careers this late in the game? To those who have been separated from work in middle age, this can be very frightening and depressing.
The deck of life gave me a good draw on Saturday September 4, 2004. I received an e-mail from my OEM director that showed that FEMA was looking for help. The south was being battered by hurricanes and they felt they needed to draw up reserves from the Citizen Corps to help the desperate people of Florida. The e-mail also stated that FEMA was paying 18.88 an hour. This was more than I was getting on unemployment, and my unemployment was running out. It would also be a distraction from the melancholy that surrounded me all summer; when I met the victims in Alabama I not only learned what real melancholy was, but what depression was. The deck of life put things into perspective for me, with 20-20 vision.
There were two hands of cards dealt this last fortnight. Mike Brown the former FEMA director's draw was not so good. After the preponderance of mistakes in the aftermath of Katrina, someone had to go, and the press looked for his head on a platter. When I met him exactly one year ago, he gave a very good speech at the training center. After the speech he posed for a few pictures and started to make his way out of the convention center. By chance he walked by where I was sitting and stopped to address our little group. He then began to paint the picture of what was going on. It was not a pretty picture to say the least. At the end of this talk I was ready to work for expenses only. It was that good of a talk. It was personal, just to us sitting with him, not to the 2000 he addressed earlier. Good speaker or not, his draw caused him to fold.
The second set of cards drawn were good. I was offered a full time, with benefits, job at the medical facility where I have been working on an as needed basis. Although the as needed basis was 40 hours a week, it was nice to be offered a full time permanent job. My middle aged future is now much more secure than one year ago. Yes the cards are good; but the deck was being built a year earlier in Alabama. My deck was stacked by the people I was helping, and I didn't even know it. The people I met and interacted with had made me a better person. The influence of the friends I made, and people I met, will shape the next 40 years of my life and beyond. For those of you who really know me, you know my words do not explain my Alabama experience adequately. When you talk to me about it you can see it in my eyes, you can see the profound effect it has had.
The deck can be cruel sometimes. The loss of a loved one, an unexpected sickness, a failed relationship, a hurricane, the bad cards can be endless. But it is how one reacts, and takes the chance at drawing the next one that matters. Sometimes the hand of cards your holding, that doesn't look very good, can become perfect with the draw of one card.
Your most faithful servant,
Matthew, K2NUD