Photo By Chief Petty Officer Stephen Hickok | Steelworker 1st Class Albert Burgess, a Reserve Sailor assigned to Navy Operational...... read more read more
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America’s deadliest recorded hurricane made landfall at the turn of the 20th century. Close to 8,000 lives were lost and the island of Galveston, Texas was completely destroyed. Recent storms like Harvey, Irma, Katrina, Maria, Michael and others have threatened coastal regions with a growing regularity. Newscast images illustrate the devastation through aerial photos, roofs flying off houses, and families being rescued from floodwaters have defined the hurricane experience for many.
For the staff and Reserve Sailors stationed at Navy Operational Support Center Wilmington, a less familiar picture of a super storm’s lasting effect was on full display after Hurricane Florence plodded across the North Carolina landscape in September.
Hovering over the Carolinas for three days, Florence brought several feet of water to areas around Wilmington. Rain pounded roofs until they collapsed and wind sent trees through walls kicking off disaster recovery efforts that would continue for months, if not years.
“Everybody thinks that the storm comes, it goes, the flood waters recede, and everything goes back to normal,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Heather Simons. “But in reality, there’s this ripple effect that happens and people are still having issues or are waiting to even get help.”
Simons is assigned to the Operational Health Support Unit Detachment N with Naval Medical Center, Camp Lejeune. Having first responder and deployment experience, she planned to ride out the storm. “I had all the water, the generator, the food and supplies,” she said. “I had my med-kits because I knew that first responders were going to be in deficit.”
When rain collapsed her roof on the third story and water started pouring in all the way down on the first floor, she was forced to leave as the center of the hurricane parked over Wilmington. “Having to leave, it was very emotional and I didn’t expect what I came back to,” she said. “We knew the roof leaked, but I didn’t expect the level of damage.”
Upon her return she was met by unexpected destruction, but most surprising was the following slow passage of time and inaction that turned a bad situation into a nightmare.
“It took a couple of weeks to even get the insurance adjuster out to find out if it was covered.” Simons said. “But in the meantime, I have a massive amount of mold. Can I start pulling this out? What about my things? It’s like being in the Bermuda Triangle. It’s really scary.”
Simons’ experience highlighted the untold story of disaster recovery. “I thought you just got your FEMA aid and insurance money and started rebuilding,” she said. “Nobody talks about the weird limbo where you just sit and wait and look at your house and your things and what you used to have.”
As insurance companies do their inspections and soaked furniture finds its way to the curb, Sailors like Simons try to adjust and begin navigating the road to disaster recovery. For many Reservists, it’s a path that starts with their NOSC.
Driving south, past Camp Lejeune to Wilmington, a sign outside a small business reads “Hurricane Florence, like being run over by a turtle.” The hurricanes slow crawl across the city served as a rude welcome to Cmdr. Stephen Healey, the new commanding officer of NOSC Wilmington.
“I assumed command on the 8th, we had a family day on the 9th, and the evacuation order on the 10th,” Healey said. His first act as CO: evacuating his full time support Navy staff.
With help from NOSC Knoxville, Healey led the relocation of his 19 Sailors, 41 dependents and 16 dogs. The tally didn’t include the other 200 Reserve Sailors assigned to the NOSC. “SELRES who are not on orders are civilians as far as the system is concerned,” said Healey. Systems don’t measure espirt de corps however, and the NOSC staff did all they could to assist their fellow Sailors.
The first step was making contact. As power was knocked out for days across the area, communication was a challenge. “The NOSC worked hard to get in touch with me by any means possible,” said Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class Christopher George. “As soon as I had a little bit of a cellphone signal they were on top of it trying to get ahold of me.”
Riding out the storm like Simons, George also watched as water started pouring into his living room. But as a fire and emergency services civilian and with his prior active duty Navy service as a Hospital Corpsman, he wasn’t too stressed about himself. “Once the accountability was done they started on making sure I had a place to go, that we were safe,” he said. “They wanted to make sure I was getting good meals. I’m happy eating MREs, but I’m sure my family would not have been.”
Steelworker 1st Class Albert Burgess was able to evacuate from the storm. Once he returned home, the NOSC called to checkin. “All the ceilings in the bedrooms and bathrooms have collapsed,” He answered. “The roof is compromised, water is everywhere, and mold and mildew have pretty much set up on everything.”
After initial contact with each Reserve Sailor was accomplished, NOSC Wilmington staff started connecting resources to needs. “For Sailors we knew were in desperate need, with support from the Mid-Atlantic Reserve Component Command, we got them hooked up with resources in whatever fashion we could,” Healey said. “Anything we had available to us we were leveraging as an RCC team.”
The NOSC became a resource in and of itself by reaching out to the community on behalf of the Sailors. “We pursued the USO, Red Cross, FEMA and the Navy League,” Healey listed off. “We also have the entire community here which is very military friendly. The retired active and Reserve who are embedded in the community are a resource themselves.”
Healey explained that a mayor in one of the local communities is a retired Navy Reservist as well as a few real-estate agents. “Although it’s not as flexible as the open amounts of funding the active side has, we find workarounds to provide for our Sailors.”
Part of the workaround for Simons turned out to be her own chain of command. Her officer in charge showed up to help. “Once he heard about the damage I had, he got his neighbors together, got a ladder, and they came out and tarped my roof,” she said. “It was a huge help. It may not seem like much, but other civilians in the community were waiting weeks and even paying to get tarps on their roofs.”
The support built more than a roof, it built a deeper level of connection with her unit. “If your OIC can see you trudging through your house, swimming in your own life and still wants to help, that creates an undeniable bond,” Simons said. “It’s not just saying, here is your resource, it’s here is what I can do, I can come over and help.”
Near the top of the chain of command, Rear Adm. Thomas Luscher, deputy Chief of Navy Reserve, sees such relationships as a key part in accomplishing the Navy’s overarching mission. “These times are very serious,” he said. “We’re in a great power competition with Russia and China. We’re working toward a re-united and denuclearized Korean peninsula. We have to be ready for a full-on mobilization.”
In light of geo-political threats, it may sound odd to hear the second in command of the Navy Reserve say it’s sometimes important to put the military on the back burner. But Reserve Sailors balance a unique blend of career, family and military. “After a disaster, your priorities are going to go directly to taking care of your family and home,” Luscher said. “Second is your civilian job and community and the military part becomes third.”
Luscher, who was stationed in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit, experienced first-hand the challenge of disaster recovery. “These things can last for years” he said. “It took over five years for Sailors after Katrina to get back up to normal speed. The news cycle gets onto the next disaster or story, but the real work is getting a Sailor and their family back to 100 percent.”
As a firefighter, George sees the time frame as the biggest challenge. “When I’m responding to a scene, the maximum time I’m on station is 20 minutes to an hour,” he said. “You’re used to helping, mitigating the problem and leaving. Everything is rectified and you’re back to the station. Here, it’s just the most long drawn out process.”
It’s during the wait, that George, Simons and Burgess have had time to reflect on their own version of a common Navy standard operating procedure, the after-action report.
Simons says it’s important to learn from every situation. “We all know about doing a recall,” she said. “But after this, what are other steps that could be put in place? How can we better prepare our response after a disaster?”
For good reason — purchase flood insurance, understand your policy, and know your deductible — was becoming NOSC Wilmington’s mantra. “You take so many things for granted day in and day out until something like this hits close to home,” George said. “Have a backup plan. A natural disaster can hit anywhere at anytime. Just when you think everything’s going one way, Murphy’s Law will catch up and kick you in the butt.”
Lining the streets of Wilmington are the insides of homes. What was once cherished is now piled up, waiting to be hauled away. As Burgess and his wife toss out the last ruined mattress onto his own street corner, he displays a strength not expected in light of everything he lost.
“Resilience is always in the midst,” he said. “As long as we have arms and legs, we can knock this out. No matter what’s going on right now, it doesn’t stop my purpose.”
For these Reserve Sailors, the hurricane experience is now defined by more than just images on a screen. It was discovered among their wet, mold-covered homes after Florence ended its onslaught.
An unexpected hope arose as the waters receded however. Who knew some of the Navy’s best work could come on dry land.
| Date Taken: | 12.05.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2019 15:16 |
| Story ID: | 309574 |
| Location: | WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 131 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Calm After The Storm, by CPO Stephen Hickok, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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