Hi PureSurvival,

The Sat phone was borrowed from one of the rescue organizations two days after the storm hit us. My boss was really glad to hear from me as I was the last person to report in. He was great, he called our helpdesk and my parents to report that we were all OK and would be moving out soon.

I had a 70 year old neighbor who's 90 year old mother lived with her. A tree cut their house in half. Our first goal was to get them out of the neighborhood. I am so proud of the people that lived around us. Everyone pitched in to clear the street so they could get their car out of town.

I do contract work for DHS/ICE and at that time Northrup Grumman had the contract. They have a very large presence in the New Orleans area, I was just a very small part of that. Northrup Grumman did a fantastic job of taking care of all of us IMHO. I did get paid for the time I was hunkered down and like I said, I went back to work the day after I got to Fort Smith, AR. I had direct deposit but, Fort Smith did not have a branch of my bank. I opened a checking account here and transfered money electronically. It all worked.

Northrup Grumman did not help with a new house or the relocation as it really was my decision to move to Arkansas. I can't complain about that. They did help with insurance and a counslor and was very understanding with everything. The house in Louisiana was a rental so I didn't really care about it, the owner made a killing when he sold it.

Northrup Grumman lost that contract and I am now working for a different company, same job, different paycheck. I dont think this new company would be as caring.

Thank you for the welcome, I am looking foward to the fire and yes I did have a frot row seat. Never again will I flirt with a hurricane! However, this was not my first disaster or survival situation.

It could be a fire, a flood, a tornado or giant rocks falling out of the sky. Everyone needs to be ready!

Glock-A-Roo,

What I learned about people in survival situations was to much to put into words. Most people were great! Pitching in to help each other and working hard in "not fun" situations. I can tell you stories about the cookouts we had. The freezers were getting warm and so was the beer. People working in the heat and dangerous areas without complaining. And then the stories about the people who hated you because you didn't have the food they liked. Seeing M-16 toting, body armor wearing, HumVee driving troops directing trafic in your little town is a sobering thing.

I learned more after the evacuation. People just wanting the government hand out, people complaining about not getting enough of the government hand out. Some of it made me sick. I had a job and went to work, I tried to help others by giving rides and money to them. After a while I was embarrassed to tell anyone that I was a Katrina survivor because of the bad name some gave us. The criminal element evacuated also.

Just to let you know how much it sucks to have to evacuate a disaster, even now trying to write about it almost four years after, I still get choked up. I thought I was over it. I have to stop now and look forward. I learned much and am still learning.

10-4 CAL, thanks very much.

I bet it feels like it did when I watched my house burn down. I still get mad about that, and it was 15 years ago.