In August of 2005, when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I was on active duty status with the US Coast Guard. I was, however, not stationed here but was in Seattle, Washington. As you can imagine, the Coast Guard personnel serving in this part of the country suffered much the same types of personal loses as many others. One major difference for them came from the very nature of their jobs. Rather than being with their families, the Coast Guard men and women were busy aiding others. While the job itself was physically taxing, the separation from family at a time like that coupled with the knowledge that their own homes and belongings might be gone understandably caused immense psychological strain. To alleviate some of the stress on the local Coasties, the USCG started pulling personnel from other units around the country and shipping them down to Louisiana. As my unit was in Seattle, about as far as you can get from New Orleans in this country (excluding Alaska, Hawaii), we were pretty much last on the list to ship anyone down. We did prepare a group of personnel to come down though. Myself and seven others formed two rescue boat crews and spent weeks preparing equipment and supplies, learning about the area, and watching news from Louisiana as the events unfolded after the storm. Although our group was never sent, the amount of time I spent focused on this area influenced my decision to come here. It seemed to me that in a time when many people were abandoning this city that if it was going to survive then it would need people willing to work to rebuild it. I left the military shortly after and got a job with an offshore diving company based out of Harvey, LA. I am now a member of the Louisiana National Guard. Although I wasn\'t here to experience Katrina directly, I have had a lot of hands-on experience with the damage it left.