Green is a relief ace

The honor overwhelmed him: ``It's something special. I was very surprised."

So did the ordeal, even in retrospect: ``I still get emotional about it."

When Katrina destroyed swaths of his native New Orleans area, Green did not jump into action. He couldn't. After witnessing the horror on TV while watching with his wife, he tried in vain for seven days to phone his relatives within the storm's tumultuous reach. Nothing.

``Three aunties and four uncles," he said. ``I had no idea whether they were all right."

They were, Green discovered when he finally could make contact. Their homes were not; nothing was left of them, and in despair, his family decided to resettle from Donaldson, 24 miles west of New Orleans, to Baton Rouge. ``They'd had enough," said Green.

His Katrina experience was only beginning. Advised of the carnage, he threw himself into the relief rubble with a vengeance. He and four fellow Louisianan teammates -- Bethel Johnson, Eric Alexander, Kevin Faulk, and Daniel Graham -- joined assistant strength and conditioning coach Harold Nash at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod to deliver T-shirts and toys and individual attention to 700 victims who had been evacuated to the installation. He launched a foundation to recognize the efforts of natives who assisted in Louisiana, and to raise funds for those still struggling. Run by family members still in the area, Green's foundation also held free breakfasts at local churches.

His personal exposure to the tumult was delayed by his football commitments, and even then -- as much as he'd heard from relatives and seen on the news -- he wasn't ready for it. During the Patriots' bye week, he gained access to New Orleans through the efforts of his father-in-law, an ex-Marine. He did not recognize the scene of his youth.

Traffic was crammed everywhere, putting even Boston's to shame. Once clear of the ganglia, Green and his father approached downtown. They were overcome by the stench.

``I've never experienced anything like it," Green said. ``It wasn't like bad food. It was like bodies."

Because it was bodies.