Vinni Jacques: Mayor of New Orleans

Tonight I received a wonderful note from Harry Mallory, one of the Bravo Company soldiers I lived with at the Seminary in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina's wake. Here is what he said:

Hello John,

 

I can't remember if I've sent this off to you earlier, but its a fun picture of Vinni as the "mayor of New Orleans". This was taken while we were deployed for Katrina, inside the Seminary main facility. This pic, I think, illustrates why Vinni is such a personality with the 2/162. I think it belongs on your site. What do you think?

 

 

Harry, I think you are absolutely correct. Vinni got this insane suit from Mark Ditzel before we left Portland and swore he would wear it in New Orleans. Late in the deployment, he put it on and posed as the mayor of New Orleans, complete with palm-waving entourage and security detail composed of other members of Bravo Company. He walked over to the battalion TOC, which was in the student union, periodically yelling, "Wipe!" to his entourage. One of his "minions" would then scramble to dab his forehead with a baby wipe. He needed it, too. In that heat and humidity, Vinni sweated profusely in that ridiculous ensemble.

 

Inside the TOC, Vinni approached each officer on the battalion staff and personally thanked them for coming to the rescue of his city. He then made some truly hilarious remarks that left the officers laughing and are most certainly not fit to print here.

 

The point was, morale was starting to sag. We'd been without showers for ten days at least, and nobody had eaten anything aside from MRE's since we got into the city. It was hot, and Mayor Nagin was nowhere to be seen. The last I'd heard from him, he had been on the radio vowing to stay in New Orleans despite the fact that the CIA was out to get him.

 

Earlier that day, Sean Conners suffered a serious abdominal injury that resulted in him being medevac'd out in a Blackhawk.

 

Vinni decided we all needed a little VIP comic relief. It was much needed, and symbolized why he was so loved within the unit. He always had the company's pulse and sensed when something needed to be done to give everyone a lift.

 

Besides, it was just plain funny as hell.  After what we'd all seen on the streets of Mayor Nagin's city, we all needed a good laugh. 

Comments

[MD Sumner]

God this is great! Vinni has got to wear that outfit one more time for a photo op with Bruning.

MD Sumner