Team Rubicon spends Veterans Day Weekend helping after Hurricane Sandy

Hundreds of vets lend a hand in Sandy relief
By LEO SHANE III
Stars and Stripes
Published: November 10, 2012

The official New York City Veterans Day festivities take place Sunday in Manhattan, but members of Team Rubicon have been holding their own parade in Queens for the last week.

These volunteers — all skilled U.S. veterans — have been walking the main routes of the Rockaways, having traded their camouflage for uniforms of dirty jeans and group-issued T-shirts. The streets are clogged for their procession — but with storm surge sand and downed tree limbs, the remnants of SuperStorm Sandy and the nor’easter that arrived a week later.

Almost 400 veterans have joined the disaster relief organization’s efforts in the region, helping with search and rescue, shelter setup, aid logistics and basic cleanup.

“It’s our biggest effort to date,” said William McNulty, co-founder of Team Rubicon.

“The size and the scale of the damage down there is so huge. There are still blocks down there that haven’t seen much help. So we’re doing all we can to get to them.”

The group formed in 2010, with the goal of creating a rapid-response disaster relief team of U.S. veterans. They’ve sent volunteers to Haiti to work alongside Marines in earthquake recovery efforts; cleanup crews to Missouri and Texas after tornadoes; and evacuation teams to Louisiana after several hurricane landings.
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Clay Hunt