U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gene Jones, 33, thought of his 11-year-old son when he heard about a dead 11-year-old girl recently pulled from an attic in New Orleans.
“Back at home you can’t comprehend this until you hear and see someone that actually lived it,” he said.
Jones of the 223rd Military Police Company of the Kentucky National Guard is one of about 100 guardsmen called from his everyday life to protect the temporary hospitals and shelters on campus.
Since the University began its emergency-relief effort on Aug. 29, the day Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana, National Guard troops – both men and women from Kentucky and the U.S. Virgin Islands – have used the University as their operations base. They are scheduled to leave campus between Sept. 21 and 24.
In 2003, Jones was assigned to transport prisoners of war in southern Iraq. He traveled to Baghdad, Fallujah and Bazra.
“You’re dealing with a totally different level of stress over there with people shooting at you,” Jones said. “Your emotions get more involved here.”
Jones said it has been difficult over the past few weeks to hear evacuee’s sad stories first-hand. He said what bothered him the most during this mission was seeing the distress of evacuees who have lost family members or do not know their whereabouts.
The state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness assigned the troops to Baton Rouge shortly after the hurricane.
Although the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is no longer a temporary hospital, the troops continue to provide security for the special-needs shelter at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse, the animal shelter at Parker Coliseum and other emergency shelters, including those in Port Allen and Assumption Parish.
Maj. Ricky Adams said his department requested the troops to supplement his officers.
“They’ve been an asset,” Adams said. “This is standard. It happens in emergency situations.”
LSUPD officers were able to return to their normal patrols on campus once the Guard arrived. They could also focus on keeping Nicholson Drive secure for emergency vehicles getting to campus.
But the Guard’s daily options are limited. Most troops are not authorized to leave campus – even to visit a grocery store – unless they are assigned a task.
The Guard’s military command post is located inside the PMAC, where two weeks ago they secured every entrance for disaster-assistance teams rushing evacuees into a full-fledged hospital complete with a radiology lab and pediatric ward.
Capt. Rosa Maynard, commanding officer of the 438th Military Police Company of the Kentucky National Guard and commander of the troops on campus, said she and 46 troops initially flew into New Orleans with the U.S. Air Force. There they were assigned to support relief operations at the University, along with 33 guardsmen from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Other guardsmen stationed around Baton Rouge are from Connecticut, Nebraska, Wyoming and Minnesota.
Maynard’s troops have regular jobs in Kentucky. Some are businessmen, factory workers, bankers and police officers. They can be called to action at any time.
Students do not appear disturbed by the military presence.   
“It doesn’t really make me uncomfortable,” said Ellen Fullmer, marketing junior and transfer student from the University of New Orleans.
Fullmer said she admires how the military is protecting the medical care facilities. She said transfer students find the military presence on campus as another adjustment.
“The school is so different,” Fullmer said. “It might make some people freak out, coming to a big school and seeing military people walking around.”
Lisa Abad, nursing senior, said the military presence is no change for her because her father was in the Navy.
“It doesn’t really phase me,” Abad said. “I just kind of think of them as ROTC. But it’s kind of weird seeing the ambulances and helicopters.”
Contact Chris Day at [email protected]