GULFPORT, Miss. – The normally pristine white sand beaches of southern Mississippi resembles a landfill or an eccentric yard sale. Photo albums, books, chairs and various curious mix with debris and trash to form a strange and bleak landscape extending inland into the nearby neighborhoods. Bare concrete foundations and refuse filled swimming pools are all that remain of the beautiful beachfront houses.
To the layman, it could seem a daunting, if not Herculean task to clean up.
Engineer units at the Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport, Miss. have a multifaceted mission before them. They must clear the roads, clean up debris and waste, and eventually help rebuild the infrastructure with several side jobs along the way.
These jobs have included clearing out a warehouse for the Salvation Army and conducting clean up at the John C. Stennis Space Center near the Louisiana border.
One of the stranger assignments the engineers have received is what they are referring to as “operation chicken drop,” the removal of processed chicken parts from the beach areas. “There was a large storage facility in Gulfport containing frozen chicken among other things,” said Maj. Ilos Ducksworth, 890th Engineer Battalion.
“When the hurricane hit, it strewed chicken pieces from Gulfport to Long Beach.” The 890th Eng. Bn. has been cleaning up chicken for a few days now. “All that chicken just lying out there in the sun is posing a health risk now that it is starting to rot,” Ducksworth said. “A civilian company has provided us with dumpsters to load it and they cart it off when we fill them.”
The engineer teams have also experienced the gamut of human tragedy while out on missions, said Col. Earnest Harrington, commander, 168th Engineer Group, Miss. National Guard. “I met a man who lost his whole family and was trying to come to terms with that,” he said. “Five family members all gone … I tell you, that’s gut wrenching.”
For some of the troops on the ground, the cleanup operations are occurring in their own back yards. “I had a brand new house in Bay St. Louis, or at least it was brand new,” said Ducksworth. “I had been living in it three weeks. It’s still standing, but I lost everything inside.”
Despite hardships, the Soldiers press on. “My daughter doesn’t even have a place to go to school right now,” Ducksworth said. “I’m in the Guard, but I personally thank everybody for what they’re doing.”
The engineer teams going out have an elevated level of respect from the people, according Harrington. “We have the ability to go into these communities, to stay there and do work, spend the night and start again the next morning instead of going back to some air conditioned office for the night,” he said.
The engineers are ready to get into their rebuilding roles and start the reconstruction effort, Harrington said, but they have many obstacles to overcome -- chicken parts included -- before that can take place.