The explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010 was by many measurements the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. After one month, over 45,000 square miles of Gulf of Mexico waters were affected by oil and began to wash ashore. Estimates of damages and clean-up costs after two months totaled more than $3 billion.

Our task was to provide over 1,000 men and women to work in teams to patrol and clean the oil contaminated beaches. This process was repeated over and over as each tide brought more oil ashore. Special strike force teams were assembled to respond to immediate threats to avoid additional contamination to “critical” areas of the coastline (i.e. harbors, food processing areas). Our efforts included providing all manners of logistical support from transportation, meals and Personal Protective Equipment for these men and women over 200 miles of coastline.