Like most people we have been watching the TV news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, a storm like this country has never seen before due to the enormous size of destruction. The area that needs rebuilding is the size of our ten smallest states - Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland and West Virginia. If only ten workers were sent to each square mile almost one million workers would be needed.

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Every time a hurricane hits it brings back memories. I was in the Air Force and stationed at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi and at Hurlburt Field, a part of Eglin AFB near Fort Walton Beach, Florida, three and a half years. I loved the Gulf Coast, but learned it can be a dangerous place to live. During my stay I had two direct hits and one near miss.

I lived off base with my wife and small son and during one hurricane when the winds hit 45 mph I was called and told to report to the base for duty. I took my family to a neighbor's house for safety and then drove to the Air Force base in my Volkswagen Beetle.  By then the sustained wind was 60 mph with higher gusts and a strong blast of wind picked up the Volkswagen and set it in a ditch. I was able to drive out and slowly made it to the base.

My military job was maintaining electronic crypto machines, but I also had many other duties as assigned such as running the base communication's diesel generator. If the base lost electricity there would be no communications with authorities or other military bases. Once at the base I entered the building housing the large diesel generator. It was a concrete block building, about 12' x 12' and the generator took most of the room. There were four large open windows each about 3' x 3' and high winds and rain were gushing through the building.

I put on a large rubber raincoat, a helmet and goggles, then strapped myself to a wall with a wide leather belt that was bolted to the wall. After I fired up the generator and set the proper voltage and frequency the entire base lost power so the base's communications were running on the generator. The next five hours I was strapped to the wall so I wouldn't be blown away and I had to keep wiping the goggles so I could see the generator's gauges and controls about two feet away. The hurricane's wind reached 115 mph but I have no idea the force of the winds hitting me. I do remember rain and debris kept hitting my face and it stung like needles.

After five hours the winds lessened and I was allowed to leave my post. I will never forget the night that I endured the brunt of a hurricane strapped to a concrete wall so I wouldn't be blown away.