Keesler cleanup going well

  • Published
  • By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
  • Air Force Print News
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Staff Sgt. Art Hughes brushed wood chips and sawdust from his black T-shirt, which smelled of sweat and fresh pine. After cutting down trees all morning, it was break time, so he grabbed a bottle of water and gulped it down.

Across the street, the rest of “Youngblood’s Crew” kept working. The crew, led by Master Sgt. Randy Youngblood, was clearing part of the mess Hurricane Katrina left behind on Pinelawn Street in this base’s Bayview Housing Area.

“We have other crews working at some other housing areas,” said Sergeant Hughes, a pavements and equipment Airman with the 823rd Red Horse Squadron from Hurlburt Field, Fla. “We’re trying to work toward each other and finish this cleanup.”

Cleaning up Keesler, which has been a massive undertaking, is going well. The Red Horse team arrived the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated this training base to help base civil engineers with cleanup work. They brought their heavy equipment and know-how with them.

A half a block down Pinelawn, Airman 1st Class Seth Stucker watched the Red Horse crew at work. He said he is glad the team is on base. Katrina destroyed up to 1,000 of the base’s 1,800 houses. But the storm spared his home, which escaped with only a leaky roof -- now covered by a huge blue plastic tarp. Still, the medical technician lost a couch and all his clothes. Seeing Airmen with red hats at work meant a lot to him.

“They’re not from here, but they’ve been coming out and spending 12 hours a day cutting logs and clearing our streets,” said the Airman from Chittenango, N.Y. He arrived here five months ago and evacuated his wife before the storm. Since his house did not flood, he moved back in.

“It’s refreshing that people will give their time to help others. I’m really thankful,” he said.

A Red Horse advance team arrived at the flooded base Aug. 30. To get here, they had to cut their way through the debris that blocked the roads. At the base, there was no electrical power and people were still huddled in shelters. The next day, the rest of the 91-person volunteer team convoyed here by truck from their base in northern Florida.

“It was complete chaos when we arrived,” said Sergeant Hughes, who is from Beatrice, Neb. “But now this place is starting to look like an Air Force base again.”

That is because Red Horse engineers are doing what they specialize in, clearing massive amounts of debris, said Chief Master Sgt. Mark Lewis. His Airmen first cleared the main parts of the base. Then they cleared four on-base housing areas and five off-base housing areas.

“We haul away almost 3,000 tons of debris each day,” said the chief from Danville, Va.

But 10 days after they began their work, they are still at it -- though they have cleaned up more of the base at this stage than expected, the chief said. So Sergeant Youngblood’s crew keeps working.

“They want to get their work done, and then they want to go home,” Chief Lewis said.

On Pinelawn, part of the crew pulled branches out of broken and shattered trees. Others used noisy chain saws to cut up trees felled by the storm. A front-end loader scraped the sand-covered street as it scooped up a pile of brush, tree trunks and all sorts of debris and loaded it onto a huge dump truck. And on a “man-lift,” Airmen worked to pull a huge oak tree off the roof of a house.

Everyone helps, and when they are not doing their main jobs, team members help where needed. That includes the mechanics, services and other support Airmen the team uses.

“When they put on the red hat, they’re all part of this team,” Chief Lewis said.

Staff Sgt. Darius Kersch, who is from Pensacola, Fla., is a “limb puller” when he is not doing heating, ventilation and air conditioning work. He helped base civil engineers get their HVAC systems back on line when he first arrived, then he joined a cleanup crew.

“This place was truly a disaster,” Sergeant Kersch said. “So we had to make a difference.”

Chief Lewis said some team members also helped technicians here get their power grid back on line. They also fixed and moved generators to critical facilities.

The team is self-sufficient, the chief said. It set up a small camp complete with tents and dining facility and brought all their own heavy equipment and generators. To keep it supplied, 18 other Airmen drive tractor trailers back and forth from Hurlburt bringing needed equipment, supplies and materials. The team even adopted a yappy black mutt they named Katrina.

“We’ll be here as long as needed,” Chief Lewis said.

Sergeant Kersch said he is glad to stay. In the past year, he volunteered to help at bases after hurricanes Ivan and Dennis, but here it was personal. Stationed here three years ago, he still has friends in the local community.

“I have to give something back because people here were good to me,” he said.

The teams keep motivated with friendly competition. Sergeant Hughes said they measure how much work they do at the end of the day by the amount of fuel each team uses.

“So we kind of talk with the other crews and see how much fuel they’re using in their saws and compare it to how much you’re using,” he said.

After a long day of work, “Youngblood’s Crew” uses about 10 gallons of fuel -- enough to claim the “top crew” award, Sergeant Hughes said.

The competition is motivating. But the team is making a difference, which is “what we’re all about,” Sergeant Hughes said.

Though not yet finished, the team has done its job. It has helped Keesler get back on its feet quicker so its people can continue rebuilding and helping with relief operations in the Gulf Coast.

But the best part about what the team has done, Sergeant Hughes said, is giving people here “part of their lives back” and a chance to start over.