The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Just confirms that the most dangerous thing in any crisis, is other people.

The part where he stops the truck to give a water bottle to an young lady, only to attact the attention of a gang of thugs.

The best way to survive is to group up, arm up and stay with friends, strength in numbers. Loners won't have a chance, you have to sleep eventually.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

This is a pretty good read...
A fine (and I use "fine" loosely) example of American reaction to a SHTF situ.



heh..

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

wow! I guess we will see more of this.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

That was a crazy read.

Nice to see our MIC was still in good working order able to deploy Navy SEALs into an American city.

I will plan my best to not ever have to ask the "government" for anything. I will do my best not to need their food, water, or "protection" in the form of jack booted thugs or trained killers rolling down my street.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

You guys are speed readers!

I am reading it right now. "Enjoying" is not the right word, but I am gripped by it.

Edit: I am in the middle of it now, where there are shooters in the mall at JCPenny's. I have video game imagery in my head.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

This should be sticky, at least for a while. The knowledge within the experience is profound. For those who would be prepared for SHTF or worse, consider how your strategy applies to the threats here... and how you would better it after the read.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Absolutely. I just finished reading it. It sounds like war.

The lack of available and accurate communication made everything so much worse. The next SHTF item I purchase should address the issue of communication.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Wow... amazing how crappy the cops acted at the hotel .. "to swerve and neglect" ...

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

WOW! What a horrifying read. Thank you so much. Really opened my eyes. I'll definitely be re-prioritizing my monthly prep purchases. It's truly frightening what we humans are capable of.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

New Orleans ain't America, it's a cesspool and has been for decades. WTSHTF, make sure you're not stuck in some hell-hole like that.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Awesome read, thanks!

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Damn that was a long read. A good / informative one though.

Thanks for the link!

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

what would that communication item be???

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Very gripping reading. Thanks for posting. Inspires me to step up my preps into even higher gear.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

I have an auto-sense 4 pack of 2-way radios with 7 mile effective radius. They aren't ideal, but they will work regardless of towers etcetera. They also take standard AAA batteries, which means less dependancy on a power grid. The other thing I have done is plan ahead for the channels we will use for communication. Nothing worse that chewing batteries and time scanning 50 channels for someone.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

I have looked at similar walkie talkies but with slightly longer range, and I have a portable mini roll-up solar panel which can recharge it. Florida is flat, so the walkie talkies range is good, and Florida has plenty of sun for the solar. The people I want to be able to contact are within 10 miles.

I really don't know what the best option would be . . . a HAM radio comes to mind. Don't laugh. I don't know anything about HAM, or whether it uses towers or what. I am concerned that I won't put the effort into learning how to use it if it is too complicated, or getting a license, or even maintaining a HAM presence. I can handle the mental challenge, but I prefer to use my time in other ways. In other words, you can call me lazy if you want, just don't call me stupid. :wink:

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

HAM is all about understanding the principles of radio wave propagation. Once you have a true fundamental understanding of the principles you would select the appropriate frequency for the task at hand so as to design and then build a system that utilizes the correct antenna and amplification to accomplish the task and stay within regulatory requirements. A HAM radio can be anything from a 9V battery and some wire coiled around cardboard with a spark gap switch to a microphone on a headend amp attached to a specially designed clothes line to a colossal and refined very expensive classic radio setup.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

My uncle operates my cities emergency HAM radio service. He always texts me about incoming events, or setting up independant lines of communication for police/etc.

Last year a tornado clipped the city and brought down a stage in an outdoor festival. Within minutes the cell phone lines were blocked with traffic. He had to rush to work to setup the emergency radio lines so responders could communicate. If the office he works at was damaged in any way, responders would of been SOL.

I imagine this is what happened with Katrina, everything was flooded, and the lines were not setup, or failed due to water.

HAM operators can communicate around the world with a big enough antenna through Morse code. Once he let me listen to him pinging a satellite.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

Ham Radio is very easy to set up and obtain a license, several of us here are Ham Radio Ops, myself included, Golddust, Lt. Dan, Glass and several others. I lived KATRINA and found his read interesting, we were without power for over a month! Local landlines and Cell phones were kaput, sorry, I had to call California via 20 meters and pass messages to my Sister in Law and the family. I live Southeast of New Orleans so this is a timely and informative read.

For Ham Radio info:

www.arrl.org

http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind...ing&id=amateur

http://www.w5yi.org/

Learn about commo and ham radio offers a civilian the most versitile methods available from Shortwave, Repeater Relays on VHF/UHF, Satellite and interlink systems. From Afgahastan to Zimbabwe, we cover it all.

Re: The untold story of Katrina, a medic's perspective
 

That was a great read. In 93 we had a real blizzard in Atlanta and I was on duty when it hit. (paramedic) I worked for 72 hrs straight. Nothing was open and we ran out of diesel at one point. I went for 48 hours with nothing to eat or drink. I totally sympathize with this dude, we too were completely hung out to dry by the bosses.