66 Time April 6–13, 2020A nATionAl response To The coronAvirus pAn-
demic is under way. Congress is doing its part with a
disaster-relief and economic-stimulus package. Our
federal response, however essential it may be, is less
critical t han h ow we respond community by com-
munity to this disaster. We are facing a g reat test of
American collectivism.
As a Marine, I participated in the federal response
to Hurricane Katrina and witnessed firsthand the im-
portance of strong communities, the limits of a federal
response and the consequences when a community
falters. Three days after the hurricane, I arrived in
New Orleans leading a pla-
toon of 70 Marines. Our pla-
toon was sent to a suburb to
augment recovery efforts.
The mayor said the most
essential service we could
provide would be to help
first responders take care of
their own homes and fam-
ilies. Each day, the people
on his list would come to the warehouse where we
were staying and take a few Marines with them to
help. What soon became obvious was the people on
this list were not those most in need. Marines on the
work sites were sledgehammering out drywall, tidy-
ing up front yards and, in one case, cleaning some-
one’s swimming pool. The list the mayor handed usdid contain some first responders, but his
definition of first responder also included
many of his political friends and allies.
After a week, we tore up that list. We
relied on others in the community to guide
us to where our help was required. In one
instance, a gas-station attendant directed
us to an elderly couple. A tree had fallen
through the roof of their home. With no-
where else to go, they were still living in
the house, even among the continuing
rains. To remove the tree, we’d need chain
saws to cut it into manageable pieces. No
surprise, chain saws weren’t something
the federal government typically issued
to Marines. So we drove to the nearest
Lowe’s. After we explained the situation
to the store manager, who regarded us
with a frown, he relented and lent us four
chain saws as well as a couple of extra lad-
ders. He simply asked that we bring them
back “not too broken,” as I recall. By that
night, we had cut out the tree and slung a tarp over the hole in the roof, but
only after destroying one of the chain saws. When I brought it back to the
store, the manager was good-natured about it, but he handed me an invoice
for a few hundred dollars: “See what you can do.”We Wound up spending just over a month in New Orleans. My experi-
ences there demonstrated how a community could falter but also how it
could come together. It taught me about the nature of American collectiv-
ism, which is different from the centralized collectivism of other societ-
ies, like China or Singapore. When we submit our individual selves to the
collective as Americans, we do so largely of our own free will, and because
our submission is made freely, this country has through its history been
able to at times act with an unmatched collective
will. It’s the same will that allowed us to overthrow
the greatest empire on earth at our founding, to
weather t wo worl d wars , t o p lace a p ers on o n t he
moon and to lead the information revolution.
We’re facing another test of that collective will
now. We have only one another to rely on. Call me
sentimental but I believe in the general goodness of
people, particularly the American people, and I be-
lieve that that goodness will pull us through. These
days, I’ve often thought of getting back from Katrina and coming into my
Camp Lejeune office and seeing an envelope sitting on my desk. The guys
in the platoon had taken up a collection. They knew the Marine Corps bu-
reaucracy wouldn’t foot the bill and so decided that we would. Inside was
just enough to make the manager at Lowe’s whole.Ackerman’s upcoming novel is Red Dress in Black and White<
Marines in the Ninth
Ward of New Orleans
after Hurricane KatrinaCall m e s entimental
but I b eliev e i n t he
general g oodness o f
people, p art icularl y
the A merican p eopleCOLLECTIVE WILL
What the response to Katrina taught one veteran about
how we help each other By Elliot AckermanTED SOQUI—CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES
UWR.Ackerman.Albright.indd 66 3/25/20 4:13 PM