ERT Assists Friend Ships’ Preparations for Haiti
February 1st, 2010
Friend Ships’ Spirit with the MV Integrity in the background.
Half of Unit 42’s ERT recently deployed to assist Friend Ships in their preparation to transport relief supplies to Haiti. Friend Ships is a Christian ministry which specializes in the overseas transport of supplies for disaster relief and humanitarian aid. www.friendships.org
Much of the men’s time was spent palletizing, waterproofing, and shrinkwrapping donated food and relief supplies for shipment to Haiti. Here the men are packing soy grits.
Waterproofing pieces of the emergency radio station for shipment.
Shrink wrapping a pallet of food.
Most of the ship was loaded by forklift but the men eagerly jumped in as needed to load items by hand.
Friend Ships will be setting up a base camp in Haiti to provide ongoing medical relief as well as relief distribution. Here the men move supplies to be packed for use in the base camp.
The ALERT team with a few of the pallets they packed in the background. These men distinguished themselves by their eagerness to work and servant’s hearts doing whatever was asked of them to prepare the ship to sail. In four days they were able to pack 200+ pallets of food, medical supplies which will be used to demonstrate Christ’s love to the people of Haiti.
Motorcycle and Body pulled from flooded creek near Hallsville, TX.
November 11th, 2009
On November 08, 2009, Steve Dankers and members of the ALERT dive team recovered the body of motorcyclist Antwain Chism from Little Cypress Creek north of Hallsville, Texas. Chism’s motorcycle was recovered from the river at 10:30 pm and his body at 11:10 pm.
ALERT was informed that a young man rode his motorcycle off the road into the swift moving water of the swollen Little Cypress Creek and drowned. The Marion County Dive Team had been called but the area was large and they requested help. Steve Dankers suggested the help of Longview Fire Department Dive Team and they also responded.
Marion County Dive Team located the motorcycle before ALERT and Longview F.D. arrived. Due to the cold water and dangerous conditions divers were limited in the amount of time they could search. ALERT and Longview Divers arrived on the scene at 6:50 pm and began the five hour task of locating the victim among all the debris clogging the river bottom. Despite the cold and hazardous conditions, diver’s covered approximately 15,000 square feet in low visibility water with a 0.7-knot current.
ALERT responded to the call from Harrison County Game Warden Javier Quintez and his partner Darren Peeples. They heard about ALERT from Upshur County Game Warden David Pellizzari. The International ALERT Academy appreciates the opportunity to serve their community with emergency service skills.
Click here to view the CBS19 News Report
ALERT dive team members who responded to this incident: Steve Dankers, Joel Talley, Cliff Patrick, Jedediah Backus, Gabriel Flores, Micah Justice, and Trevor Thiel.
Saturday Inspection
November 10th, 2009
One of the greatest tests of teamwork, diligence and attention to detail in Basic Training is the weekly Saturday inspections. Each time, the recruits spend hours working to bring every area of the barracks and their uniform to the highest standard.
Every week the recruits get closer and closer to passing as they learn to thoroughly clean even the most mundane objects. Here, Recruit Barr polishes the brass threshold of the barracks.
No areas are left unchecked as recruits even work with flashlights to reveal dust.
Recruit Derbyshire gives a final check to a bed, tightening the blankets and ensuring that all the folds are correct.
After the preparation time, the unit forms up on the flag field for a thorough uniform inspection by their drill instructors, senior drill sergeant or officers.
Moving inside, Senior Drill Sergeant Archibald examines a drawer for cleanliness, proper folding and order of layout.
Recruit Engell stands at attention while Drill Instructor Price inspects his bed.
Any area not clean, spots of dirt, or other problems result in a “gig” for the unit.
Drill Instructor Moody checks a week of journal pages to make sure that the recruit has filled them out.
Each week that the unit does not pass, inspection is followed by an intense PT session to provide motivation for future improvement. Hard work at last pays off when the unit finally does pass inspection.
