U.S. Navy Seaman Michael Nodine was stationed in Norfolk, Va., with the rest of the crew of the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake rattled the island nation of Haiti last month.<\/p>\n
Nodine, a 2005 graduate of Kent-Meridian and a master helmsman on the Bataan, along the rest of his crew, immediately packed up and headed south to aid in the relief efforts.<\/p>\n
Today, Nodine and the rest of the Bataan are stationed in the Baie de Grand Goave, near the city of Grand Goave, Haiti.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was unexpected for us,\u201d he said during a phone interview Feb. 12 from his ship, adding that the Bataan, a ship that primary provides supplies Marines on their missions, had just returned from a seven-month deployment designed to reinforce America\u2019s commitment to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions.<\/p>\n
But when duty calls, the Navy answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is to support (the Marines), but right now, we\u2019re supporting Haiti,\u201d<\/p>\n
dine said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take long for us to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nodine said the Bataan is primarily sending personnel ashore with supplies, such as MREs (\u201cmeals ready to eat,\u201d or military food packs) and anything else they can deliver in the hopes of making the lives of the Haitians a little easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to help them live a little better day by day,\u201d Nodine said.<\/p>\n
Nodine said the MREs \u201cdon\u2019t taste all that great,\u201d but even so, the Haitians are grateful for the food and the assistance.<\/p>\n
The Bataan arrived in Haiti Jan. 18, six days after the devastating temblor hit and then scene was enough to affect even those in the U.S. military.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a little tough at times,\u201d Nodine said, adding that he has had to help get the injured to medical treatment, including a young boy who needed to have an arm amputated due to injuries sustained in the quake.<\/p>\n
Nodine said the destruction in Haiti, already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, is a sharp contrast from Kent, where he grew up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pretty much live in man-made tents,\u201d he said of the post-quake living situation.<\/p>\n
Nodine noted much of the population is sleeping on the ground under tarps that are held up with sticks collected from the rubble.<\/p>\n
Along with the damage, Nodine said one of the more difficult aspects to get used to is the heat and humidity of the Caribbean, a far cry from what he knew growing up in traditionally temperate and cloudy Western Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I love the rain, I miss it back home,\u201d Nodine said with a slight chuckle. \u201cI miss the smell of the the rain and the grass and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nodine said he hopes to take some leave this summer and to come home to Kent to see family and friends, with whom he is still in contact, but said he misses seeing.<\/p>\n
Seeing the destruction and poverty in Haiti has also given Nodine a new appreciation for how fortunate those of us who live here really are.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe grateful for everything we have back home,\u201d he said. Out here, the people of Haiti have little to nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnjoy what you have back home,\u201d Nodine noted, adding to his family and friends \u201cI love you and I\u2019ll be home soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now though, there is no scheduled end to the Bataan\u2019s mission in Haiti and Nodine said he expects his ship to continue to aid relief efforts for as long as is necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been good overall,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to make sure everything is getting better for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But getting better is just the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here until the job is done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. Navy Seaman Michael Nodine was stationed in Norfolk, Va., with the rest of the crew of the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) when the magnitude 7.0 earthquake rattled the island nation of Haiti last month.
\nNodine, a 2005 graduate of Kent-Meridian and a master helmsman on the Bataan, along the rest of his crew, immediately packed up and headed south to aid in the relief efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":4314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}