State of Emergency

I never thought i'd be so relieved to be back at Tech after the longest week I have experienced since the war. It all started on the 5th of this month, weather forecasters were calling the approaching storm the fiercest to hit the Commonwealth of Virginia in over 30 years. Initial reports were up to 3 feet in different areas of the state. while sitting in my Military Science class I received a text message from Staff Sergeant Richey, "Governor declares state of emergency, were activated report to armory asap"... Right away I inform my instructor I have to report for duty and head to my dorm to pack all my gear.

After a 4 hour drive I make it to Fredricksburg and report in for State Active Duty (SAD is the acronym used which suits the detail fairly well). Come 0100 on friday I am ordered to take my Hum-v and my A-driver (assistant driver) to Mary Washington Hospital because they need some means of swapping doctors and nurses around. So myself and Sgt. Geir rol in one Hum-v in the second truck Sgt. Schmidt is driving with Pfc. Mohamed as his A-driver. We get to the hospital and spend all night/morning shuttling hospital staff and at around 1200 on Friday we were relieved by another group of drivers.

After returning to the armory we receive a new mission, head up to the Woodbridge area of Virginia and link up with Woodbridge Fire and EMS at Station 12. We would basically be assisting them as part of a search and rescue team as well as the standard fire/ems. They requested our assistance because with 3 feet of snow covering most neighborhood streets and several inches of ice/slush covering main roads, travel for the Engines and Ambulances was extremely difficult if not impossible. But our Hum-v's handled all those obstacles like champs, crawling effortlessly through 3+ feet of snow and handling fairly well on the ice. I responded to 5 house fires and about 15 EMS calls, 3 of which involved a fatality. I spent 6 days straight working with the men and women at station 12 and I now have a new found respect for all Firefighters and EMS, especially the volunteers. The bond that develops when living with such a respectable group of individuals reminded me of the bonds i developed overseas with the guys in my unit.

After 7 days of pure hell, I came away with more satisfaction from helping so many strangers free stuck cars or tractor trailors, shovel their driveways, escape a house without heat or power, and receive medical attention from EMS which otherwise would of been impossible. But on the negative side I also suffered a torn right tri-cep and exhaustion from getting less than 23 hours of sleep of a period of 7 nights.