Chapter 29

Three hours into the flight I could tell we had slowed by the change in vibrations and then twenty minutes later we were back up to speed. Another inflight refueling had been completed. This time it was before we got out of the range of the carrier. I went back to sleep until I heard the gear go down again. We were landing at Travis Air Force Base where Air Force One was waiting.

It took two hours to get clear of Travis Air Force Base. The two media who had been with us had been giving live reports over their satellite phones and there was a crowd of reporters waiting. I had to give a news conference or face the Wrath of Kahn - the media.

‘‘As many of you now know I have spent the last two days talking with survivors of the Hawaii volcano tragedy, first at Camp Parks. Their stories of survival are horrific and their eye witness accounts to the massive eruption and death toll is unbelievable and the individual struggles to survive, heroic,’’ I said.

‘‘As you also know I spent time at Hawaii and saw the devastation first hand. I visited the hospital ship ‘Mercy’ and other ships, talking with those that had just been transported from the main island of Hawaii. I also made a helicopter trip over the islands,’’ I said.

“Based on the reports and observations, I believe the rescue of those still living will be completed in the next few days. There are still nearly one hundred thousand in bunkers and Navy ships waiting to be transferred to the cruise ships transporting them to the US,’’ I said.

‘‘If the long-range weather prediction is correct, there is going to be a massive storm hitting the area in the next seven to ten days. If that holds true, all the ships will have to navigate to safer waters ending rescue and recovery efforts. Obviously, the push is on to find any remaining survivors and get all survivors on ships headed to the west coast, ‘‘ I said.

‘‘Two supply ships - the USS Acme and the Red Lion - resupplied critically low food and other supplies to all the ships working the tragedy. Thousands of extra people on board rapidly deplete ships stores. Two more should arrive late tomorrow; the USS Kroger and the USS Albertson. Those two will place additional supplies on the rescue ships in the event the Navy ships have to race to the coast to escape the storm with the survivors on them,’’ I said.

‘‘We have to be thankful that with all the hours the helicopters are flying with little time for maintenance, the hours that the pilots, ship crews, doctors, nurses and the rescuers on land are putting in, that there have been no serious accidents or injuries,’’ I said.

‘‘I know that just about every member of the military and civilian personnel are putting in, 12, 14 and 16 hour days to help the survivors get to America as fast as humanly possible,’’ I said.

‘‘Recovery and burial will continue until the ships must leave the area. Currently there are about one hundred thousand Army, Navy and Marines involved in the rescue, recovery of the deceased and grave yard operations working every available daylight minute. Along with that is the challenge of identifying as many as possible to give the living closure,’’ I said.

‘‘Crowding on the ships, feeding that many people, giving them the care that is needed has been a tremendous challenge. That is not just a shipboard challenge, those currently in the bunkers must also have water and be fed as some were days without either. As you can imagine, sewage is another issue. There is no power or water and the backup generators are failing because of the ash and fuel supplies are running out,’’ I said.

‘‘The elephant in the room is going to be – ‘What happens to the state of Hawaii?’ Based on my observations given the pending storm, I think all of Hawaii will have to be abandoned for the short term,’’ I said.

‘‘Another item in the list leading to that decision is four busses carrying the Governor and the entire state government were found today. All were deceased,’’ I said.

‘‘That said, there is going to be an effort to get the remaining Hawaiians off all the other islands - even those lightly affected by the volcano - before the storm arrives. They have little food, fresh water, power, or medical assistance available to them. We are not going to air drop or make supply runs to them for months or years,’’ I said.

‘‘As soon as time permits, before the ships leave all classified weapons system will be removed. A survey of the two ships that were caught in the Pearl drydocks to see if they can be removed and repairs completed at west coast shipyards will be done as soon as tomorrow,’’ I said.

There were 200 nuclear weapons including nuclear tipped cruise missile and bombs in storage that needed to be removed. They would be guarded until then. Hopefully the helicopters and landing ships could make the transfer before the ships run from the storm. The command team had been ordered before I left to remove or destroy all classified material from all military installations.

‘‘All military equipment and personnel will be reassigned to other Pacific bases for an undetermined length of time,’’ I said.

‘‘On another note, there have been a lot of requests from scientific community to go there. All those requests will be denied and strictly enforced. This is not Pompey two thousand years later. By best guess, there are seven hundred thousand people missing and presumed dead in the ash and rubble,’’ I said.

‘‘I am determined that we are not going to see thousands of pictures and reports of bodies in the print or electronic media or scientific journals for weeks, months or decades,’’ I said.

‘‘The severity of the storm may require the graves unit return to bury any exposed bodies,’’ I added.

‘‘We must thank all the people of the United States that have helped getting materials, food and medicines to those affected by the volcano. We must give special thanks to all the medical personnel that have stepped up to provide care for the injured,’’ I said.