[SARC] Fw: The Section Manager of Katrina

[John Brown]

The Section Manager of Katrina
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jay Isbell 
To: jay at arksupplies.com 
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 3:12 PM
Subject: The Section Manager of Katrina


Hi Folks, 
This piece was written by someone from outside the Southeastern Region of ARRL, and recently came to my attention. Having been involved during this time, I can substantiate everything said and could have written this myself, though not anywhere near as eloquently.

Greg is a friend, and I feel this is the time to bring some of his, less spoken about, events to the attention of the region.

Please read and forward as you see fit. 
73 and God Bless 

Jay Isbell KA4KUN 
ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator, Alabama Section 

SECTION MANAGER OF KATRINA FOR THESE HISTORIC TIMES 
For a brief 39 days, Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, was not ARRL Section Manager (SM) of Alabama, but the Section Manager of Katrina. 

A makeshift title for an ARRL leader who became the point man for what turned out to be the biggest ARES disaster mission in American Radio Relay League history. Moments before he got the initial call to action, Greg could never imagined his every move for those 39 days would be scripted and preserved for history. 

And even more important; when it was all over-after all the after action reports, committee meetings and the final 42 page Katrina document, Greg was again, as SM of Katrina, the most important information source. In short he helped shape the most fundamental changes ever in the operation of ARES the result of the lessons Greg and the thousands of ham volunteers learned from his experience. 

It all started when Greg first moved the ARRL effort into the abandoned K-Mart in Montgomery, Alabama - the official Red Cross marshaling center. There he assembled a team and communications station. In assessing thousands of volunteers who came in, he was making more personnel decisions in any minute than a Section Manager usually makes in a year. 

With a desk made up of three to four kitchen tables Greg interviewed the hundreds of volunteer amateur radio operators from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but most days lasted much longer. During those 12 hour days he interviewed each volunteer to access a brief summery of their skills, make an assessment where each could apply those skills effectively and set up teams of workers. 

Greg, working with ARRL Headquarters in Newington, was greeting this makeshift volunteer pool from those members which ARRL recruited. Some were in the field for three days; some three weeks. Thousands of hams which Greg had to keep track of and fill as many disaster positions he could possibly find. "My most important job was to make sure the hams in the disaster area had what they needed".

Recalling those hectic 39 days, Greg remembered how much small humorous comments and mindless banter between all volunteers is how everyone got through the terrible times. "This banter was a major morale booster," he said, "absolutely essential to all of us getting though the difficult work." 

And what was the most amazing aspect of the Katrina (and later Rita) relief effort? The fact there were no guidelines, no workable manual of action, nothing Greg could refer to which guided his actions. Greg was writing the manual of major disaster as he went along his daily interviews and placements. It is how history is made.

But history is worthless unless it is written down and that written record made available for the future. Greg's written daily action plan, mostly written in his head, was an important resource for the Amateur Radio Emergency Response Plan. This is the document from which The League revised and updated how the ARRL will respond, quickly and effectively, to future disasters of this magnitude. 

Months after he left the Montgomery abandoned K-Mart, Greg, W4OZK, was still serving as Section Manager of Katrina. 





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