"KATRINA": A Coast Guardsman's Narrative

(Paperback)

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August 2005...Hurricane Katrina pummeled the city of New Orleans and the coast of Mississippi in a show of nature versus human persistence. Coast Guard teams swept down from their inland locations to affect rescues as their motto, "Always Ready" proved to be true to life. The conditions endured by both victims and first responders were atrocious. The city levees failed just after the hurricane passed, and the sweltering heat and humidity were minor obstacles compared to the brutal flooding that followed. Some clung to life in a literal sense, a few managed to exist in the deplorable conditions, and others...slipped away from those who loved them.

Author Bio

Brandon graduated from Post Falls High School, Post Falls, Idaho in 1995. He joined the United States Coast Guard and served as a Boatswain's Mate at Coast Guard Station Swansboro; conducting Search and Rescue and Law Enforcement while piloting a 21-foot Rigid Hull Inflatable (RHI) small boat and a 28-foot Utility boat (UTB) off the coast of North Carolina from 1996 - 1999. He received his degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University while assigned to the Air National Guard in Mountain Home, Idaho from 2002 - 2004. Shortly after, he was accepted to the Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School and commissioned as an Ensign in May, 2005. Brandon's subsequent tours of duty include Coast Guard Group Upper Mississippi River, Keokuk, Iowa; Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River, St. Louis, Missouri; Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida; Coast Guard Office of Boat Forces, Washington DC; Coast Guard Sector Charleston, South Carolina; and Coast Guard Office of Shore Forces, Washington DC. Brandon retired from active duty service in 2016 and currently lives in Mountain Home, Idaho with his wife Tracy, daughters Delaney and Ella, and son Jason.