USA — Louisiana Guard Aids Oil Spill Operations

NEW ORLEANS, May 4, 2010 — Louisiana Nation­al Guard mem­bers yes­ter­day par­tic­i­pat­ed in oil-spill response oper­a­tions at the Bre­ton Sound Mari­na in Hope­dale, La., with St. Bernard Parish offi­cials and work­ers from a pri­vate com­pa­ny called Oil Mop.

Louisiana Nation­al Guard sol­diers help Oil Mop employ­ees load oil booms onto boats at the Bre­ton Sound Mari­na in Hope­dale, La., May 3, 2010. Bildquelle: U.S. Army pho­to by Sgt. Michael L. Owens Click to enlarge

Guards­men from the 527th Engi­neer Battalion’s 1022nd Engi­neer Com­pa­ny kept track of the num­ber of oil booms that will be used to col­lect oil from the water as it reach­es the coastline. 

The sol­diers were giv­en a class on safe­ty and imme­di­ate­ly began load­ing bags of booms and stakes onto boats that are going to put the booms in place. 

“As each bag is care­ful­ly loaded, it is our job to make sure that every­thing is count­ed,” said Army Cpl. Cait­lyn M. Jones. “That can be a hard task, because this is a big oper­a­tion, but we are going to do it efficiently.” 

The sol­diers also kept a record of the num­ber of booms being loaded and the boats car­ry­ing them. 

“We have been look­ing for a way to keep account­abil­i­ty on what is going out,” said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Namon R. Dim­itroff. “The Guards­men are help­ing us out tremen­dous­ly, and we appre­ci­ate their help.” 

Source:
Louisiana Nation­al Guard