National Guard Provides 'Security Blanket' for New Orleans

By Army Sgt. Michael L. Owens
Special to American Forces Press Service

Oct. 23, 2008 - As Joint Task Force Gator continues to help with security in New Orleans, many of the city's residents are becoming comfortable with the attention the soldiers and airmen of the Louisiana National Guard have been giving them. For more than two years, the task force has assisted New Orleans Police Department and other law enforcement agencies by patrolling the streets and helping to keep the city safe. At first, many residents were nervous about the idea of having the military securing their city, but soon after seeing the Guardsmen working in their neighborhoods, they began to embrace the new guys in town.

"When you hear that the military is coming to your city, you tend to imagine mean soldiers with big guns, and that was the perception that I had," said New Orleans Lakeview resident Beatrice C. Marconi. "As they began working, and I saw that my previous views were not a reality, it became a joy seeing them in my neighborhood."

As the city began evacuation operations in late August as Hurricane Gustav approached, many citizens remembered that after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, they returned home to see that all of their possessions were stolen. But with the Guardsmen in their neighborhoods, residents were at ease about leaving their belongings in the hands of the National Guard during the Gustav evacuation.

Eastern New Orleans resident Kerry P. Wagener is one of the many people who put their trust in the soldiers.

"Ever since they began patrolling, their presence has made me and my neighbors feel really comfortable about living in our Katrina-ravaged neighborhood," Wagener said. "When I evacuated for Katrina in 2005, I left with the notion that my home would be robbed by looters. When l left for Gustav, I felt safe knowing that the soldiers would be there to protect our little subdivision."

Air Force Brig. Gen. John B. Soileau Jr., the task force's commander, attributes its success to motivation.

"Since most of the soldiers and airmen live either in New Orleans or surrounding areas, they feel a sense of pride knowing that they are protecting something dear to their hearts," he explained. "When you have a group of people with that much pride, it tends to show in their job performance."

After two years of working in the streets of New Orleans, the soldiers have formed strong bonds with the city's residents. Many residents think of the National Guard as a really close friend.

"They are always walking around and talking with everyone," said 72-year-old resident Gertrude Leblanc. "Like all of my good friends, I seriously hope that they never leave."

(Army Sgt. Michael L. Owens serves with the 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

NOPD, IRA, IAD

Editors Note: One of the authors, Bill Heard, is former US Army.

Police-Writers.com, a website dedicated to listing state and local police officers who have authored books, added three authors who have written on the separate subjects of the New Orleans Police Department, the Irish Republican Army and government corruption.

Lieutenant Don Brewer retired from the New Orleans Police Department in 1993. St Charles Nights is a fictional work based on his twenty-three years of experience, which included such assignments as Deputy Commander Internal Affairs, Deputy Commander of the Second and Seventh Police Districts, Traffic Fatality Commander and Commander of the New Orleans Police Academy. His final tour, prior to retirement, by choice, was the Sixth Police District, which is the actual inspiration for his book, St. Charles Nights.

James Wong spent over thirty years in law enforcement. He retired from the Louisiana State Police as a sergeant. While with the state police, he served as the in their intelligence division, criminal investigations division, as well as their uniform division.

After leaving the state police, he joined the U.S. Customs Service, where he worked in the areas of money laundering, narcotics and arms trafficking, as well as child pornography. He has held management positions at the first line and senior management. In 1999 he was transferred to the Internal Affairs Division, where he remained until the merger of the Customs Service into the Department of Homeland Security. There the Internal Affairs Division morphed into the Office of Professional Responsibility.

James Wong’s book, Corporate and Government Corruption, “defines the aspects of corporate and government corruption. The elements, motives, and causes, as well as the role of the investigator will be presented. Ethical issues and corporate considerations will be examined. Case studies from a civil, criminal and internal perspective are reviewed.”

Born into an English family with a military heritage dating back to the Boer War, Bill Heard was almost destined to pursue a military career. Resisting at first, a combination of the worst economic depression in recent English history and a sense of true Churchillian patriotism, quickly found him fighting a vicious terrorist war in the claustrophobic streets and alleys of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Years later, after immigrating to the United States first joining the US Army, then the Los Angeles Police Department, he found himself in yet two more armed conflicts.

His novel, Bravo November 283, is the first in a series of books and is about the struggle against global terrorism as seen through the eyes of someone who fought it from the trenches. The Book description says, “Long before Osama bin Laden gave terrorists all over the world a bad name, the Provisional Irish Republican Army was laying the foundation for what would be the future of many global insurgencies.

The almost thirty-year terrorist conflict in Northern Ireland, aptly called the troubles, was a brutal war that brought the province to the edge of a civil war. Readers will come to understand the longstanding animosity between the British government and Irish Republicans, yet will have to make their own minds up as to whether the terrorists ends justified the means. This novel is a ten-year personal account of one man fight against terror.”

Bill Heard is currently working on his second novel, 7 Zebra 7, in which he writes about his career with the LAPD. Bill was also added to the listing of authors at LAPDAuthors.com.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 315 police officers (representing 135 police departments) and their 736 books in six categorys, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors, international police officers who have written books and civilian police personnel who have written books.

Murder, sinners and souls

Editors Note: Two of the police officers have prior military service.

January 20, 2007 (San Dimas, CA) New Orleans increased their representation of police authors with the addition of four police officers who continued the New Orleans’ themes of murder, intrigue and thrills in the big easy. Added to the list are Wade Schindler, Sylvester Armand St. Cyr, Frederick Morton and Lawrence Green.

Dr. Wade Schindler began his law enforcement career in 1967 when he joined the New Orleans Police Department. In New Orleans he worked various assignments such as patrol and homicide. In 1974 he became the chief of police for the Oberlin Police Department. He has a Doctorate in Criminal Justice from Southwest University in Arizona and is the author of several novels including “Help! Murder! Police!” According to his website, “Help! Murder! Police!” Is a cop's cop novel. It zeroes in on the day-to-day mission of an average patrolman on the streets of one of America's most intriguing cities at a critical moment in the history of the American psyche.”

Dr. Wade Schindler “developed the idea of a guidebook for the foreign traveler to the United States-a guidebook that would go beyond the ordinary travel guide to give visitors to this country insight into ways of protecting themselves from the all too common criminal attacks in the United States. The book, “Freeze! A Guide to Safe Travel in the United States,” discusses every aspect of safety from living arrangements to travel by automobiles, planes and trains, as well as how to sightsee and shop safely.” He is also the director of the Orleans Regional Security Institute.

According to Ron Schott, of dropzone.com, Sylvester Armand St. Cyr was “A paratrooper in the US ARMY in the early 1950's, he was also a two-time boxing champion and coach of the championship team while on duty in Korea. Following his stint in the military he became an undercover narcotics officer for the New Orleans Police Department. As a New Orleans patrolman, he was the victim of kidnapping and attempted murder. He escaped by defying the perpetrator's orders to run a police road block with his cruiser and instead aimed it at a tree and jumped just prior to the vehicle's impact. His adventures in undercover work and the characters he met provided the background material for his book, The Saint and Sinners.”

Detective Frederick (Eric) C. Morton grew up in a middle class neighborhood in New Orleans with a good family background and virtues. His father raised him with a very stern hand, but taught him always to help others, never turn anyone away who needed the help, never let your guard down, and to always put your family above all. His mother raised him to be a caring person dedicated to family values and God. All during his childhood, he loved to watch and play police, but never thought he would ever develop into that line of work. After joining the military and a few years of college, he became bored with life until a chance encounter with two New Orleans Police Detectives. Infatuated with the idea, they talked him into joining the police department. He is married with three wonderful children, and since his inception in the police department, Eric has held many positions and has attempted to make an impact wherever he went.

Lawrence (Larry) E. Green was born in Natchez, Mississippi, and was raised as a child in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is married and is the father of two children. After graduating high school, he worked as a mechanic for ten years and decided to fulfill his life long dream of being a New Orleans Police Officer. Now he has over ten years of Law Enforcement experience, where the latter part he has held the position of a Homicide Investigator for the New Orleans Police Department.

Both the authors began working together when they headed up an international investigation involving the theft of cemetery artifacts. This investigation led them into a world of supernatural occurrences that changed their life forever. Although their novel, Lost Souls in the City of the Dead,” is completely fictional, it was inspired by this true to life investigation.

Police-Writers.com now hosts 267 police officers (representing 107 police departments) and their 671 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors and international police officers who have written books.

Murder in the big easy

Editors Note: Two of the writers are former military.

January 19, 2007 (San Dimas, CA) New Orleans swept onto the scene of Police-Writers.com with the addition of four new police officers. New Orleans area police officers added are John Dillmann, James Hurley, Brian Perry and James Colbert.

John Dillmann was a highly-decorated, veteran Homicide Detective for the New Orleans Police Department has written several true crime books. As an example, in “Deadly Weekend,” John tells the story of his investigation into the disappearance of Mark Sheppard, a 50-year-old M.D. from St. Petersburg, Florida. According to one reviewer, “With the discovery of the doctor's nude body, the case took a new and grisly turn which led down the treacherous streets of the Big Easy and into the darkest secrets of a respected physician described as 'a murder waiting to happen.”

Brian D. Perry Sr., was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He joined the New Orleans Police Department, obtained a Bachelor's Degree, and upon graduation with a Juris Doctor Degree, the Mayor of New Orleans selected him as the New Orleans Police Attorney. Activated during Desert Storm, he served as the Commandant of a large logistics command. Before redeploying back to the United States he was offered a position by a major oil company in Saudi Arabia to head their investigations unit. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve and was the Executive Officer for a Joint Command in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The American Community elected him to the School Board. After seven years in the Middle East, he returned to New Orleans to practice law.

His first novel is “Algiers Point.” According to the book description, “Nick Charbonnet is an honest cop with a beautiful wife and a seductive partner. He struggles with law school and his adulterous feelings. Then his world is shattered by a single phone call. The meeting that follows is the beginning of his involvement in a world he knows nothing about. Nick must make choices. Life changing choices. Good and evil live side by side and nowhere is it more apparent than in the Big Easy.”

Born and raised in Connecticut, James Hurley is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and a 10-year veteran narcotics agent of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. After moving to Florida, he worked in the financial industry for ten years as a stockbroker for 3 major wire houses. He currently lives in Cape Coral, Florida, where he spends most of his free time writing or on the golf course. In his 2004 book title “Gone,” “Former narcotics agent Sean Flynn must find Marcus Lowell, a professional money launderer and drug dealer under U.S. government protection. While making final preparations for one last drug deal, Lowell and his associates brutally murder a close friend of Flynn's on a remote Bahamian island and set into motion a number of events that will change Flynn's life forever. Flynn must return to the underworld of drug dealers and killers he left behind years ago. Its familiar territory, only this time the stakes are higher. His life is on the line-and he is no longer a cop.”


James Colbert served in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1971. After his honorable discharge (E4), he would ultimately find his way to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office where he would serve as a Deputy Sheriff from 1976 to 1978. He has a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Arkansas, and a BA from Louisiana State University. He is the author of five books. In his novel Skinny Man, Skinny “Skinny is a New Orleans police detective who is on suspension after wrecking yet another police car. While working an interim job as security policeman for his apartment complex, he becomes involved in an arson plot involving his sexy neighbor, unscrupulous real estate developers, and an intriguing woman named Ruth. Skinny is a quirky guy with a sense of humor and a habit of referring to himself in the third person.” Colbert’s other books are “Profit and Sheen,” “No Special Hurry,” “All I Have is Blue” and “God Bless The Child.”

Both Colbert and Perry were also added to www.military-writers.com, a website that lists current, retired and former military personnel who have written books. Police-Writers.com now hosts 263 police officers (representing over 70 police departments) and their 667 books in six categories, there are also listings of United States federal law enforcement employees turned authors and international police officers who have written books.