Eighty percent of New Orleans lay submerged beneath floodwater. From above, the Big Easy stretched like a dark mirror, broken only by rooftops where desperate citizens waited for help.

"It broke my heart," Lt. General Russel Honoré would later recall of that sight. He didn't arrive until September 2nd, four days after Katrina made landfall, when thousands had already suffered or died due to a sluggish response from authorities. But at least he understood the brutal mathematics of disaster. That every hour of bureaucratic delay meant more preventable suffering.

General Honoré dove straight into the crisis. He assessed the situation as "a major logistics operation" and demanded boots on the ground. His first order as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina set the tone. They came to rescue, to serve, to save.