Transcript

The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

From Stuff You Should Know · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 39 min · 7,203 words · 120 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW", an episode of Stuff You Should Know published February 7, 2026 (39 min, about 7,203 words). It mentions 23 people, works and ideas, including Cajun Navy, Stuff You Should Know, Hurricane Katrina, United Cajun Navy, Todd Terrell.

What this episode is about

This content discusses the Cajun Navy, an informal group of volunteers who provide rescue and relief efforts during natural disasters, examining their role as both heroes and potential liabilities within emergency response scenarios. The dialogue also touches on personal anecdotes from recent performances, highlighting interactions with notable figures in the entertainment industry.

Key takeaways

  • When disaster strikes, sometimes it's not FEMA but the 'Cinjun Navy' that comes to the rescue, proving community matters.
  • The Cinjun Navy showcases how grassroots efforts can fill government gaps, transforming strangers into lifesavers during crises.
  • Surprising origin: the Cinjun Navy's roots trace back to Hurricane Katrina, epitomizing community resilience amid governmental failures.
  • Amid chaos, humor and camaraderie blossom; comedians networking can spark transformative moments, even outside the spotlight.
  • Politics aside, the Cinjun Navy embodies altruism—proving that even the toughest critics can honor selfless heroes.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Dave Foley, Cajun Navy, Stuff You Should Know, Bruce McCulloch
  2. – 10:00: Cajun Navy, FEMA, Todd Terrell, United Cajun Navy
  3. – 15:00: Cajun Navy, Hurricane Harvey, Zello
  4. – 20:00: Donald Trump, Cajun Navy, Brian Trasher
  5. – 25:00: Cajun Navy, Cinjun Navy Relief
  6. – 30:00: Cajun Navy, Todd Terrell, GoFundMe
  7. – 35:00: Cajun Navy, United Cajun Navy
  8. – 38:41: Stuff You Should Know, Cajun Navy, United Cajun Navy, Cinjun Navy Relief

Notable quotes from "The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

  • Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio.
    about Stuff You Should Know · at
  • Dave Foley was the nicest guy you could ever imagine.
    about Dave Foley · at
  • That's right. the guy who would later become one of the founders of the United Cinjun Navy and like we said there's a I think close to 30 or more people or groups organizations who have dubbed.
    about Todd Terrell · at
  • Definitely the most professionalized, and they are a 501c3 nonprofit. but the Cinjun Navy moniker itself is shared by a number of different groups, like you said. and there's…
    about Cajun Navy · at
  • So basically Zello turns a cell phone into a walkie-talkie. Even if you barely have a signal, you can use it like in with a low enough signal that you couldn't make a call. You can still use.
    about Zello · at
  • People a lot quicker. a very great example of this was Hurricane Harvey. the category 4 that dumped 60 inches of rain in Texas over a course of 4 days.
    about Hurricane Harvey · at
  • President of United Cage and Navy, another group, Brian Trasher said, Katrina is what ultimately showed us in the world that really people even in the richest country in the…
    about Hurricane Katrina · at
  • These groups really started to emerge, in particular Kinjun Navy Relief and United Kinjun Navy, they started to organize, they started to form 501c3s and accept donations and…
    about Cinjun Navy Relief · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Todd Terrell — Person · Referenced organizer / founder figure · 2 mentions · first at
    Presented as a key early figure who helped lead rescues post-Katrina and later became a founder of the United Cajun Navy.
  • Dave Foley — Person · Referenced celebrity / anecdote subject · 3 mentions · first at
    Comedian/actor referenced in Chuck’s tour story; his presence connects to Kids in the Hall members and a Brain Candy screening.
  • Dana Gould — Person · Referenced performer / show creator · 2 mentions · first at
    Creator/host of the comedy show 'Hanging with Dr. Z' where Chuck performed; establishes the tour anecdote context.
    Oh yeah. We I got tabbed to perform in the Hanging with Dr. Z show, which if you don't know, it is comedian Dana Gould has a professional Dr. Zas, a Planet of the Apes costume.
  • Bruce McCulloch — Person · Referenced celebrity / anecdote subject · 2 mentions · first at
    Kids in the Hall member appearing in Chuck’s story; delivers a memorable joke line illustrating camaraderie among the troupe.
    And we're sitting there having a conversation and all of a sudden I look up and it's Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulla and Kevin McDonald, man.
  • Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political figure · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as an example of how the Cajun Navy became politicized—both praised publicly and criticized in other remarks.
    Invited him to the State of the Union address in 2018. Had him up there. when the Houston Astros visited the White House after they won the World Series, he called out the incredible.
  • Brian Trasher — Person · Referenced organizational spokesperson · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted as vice president of United Cajun Navy, articulating distrust in government disaster response and the need for citizen action.
    Here's a quote from the vice president of United Cage and Navy, another group, Brian Trasher said, Katrina is what ultimately showed us in the world that really people even in.
  • Scott Thompson — Person · Referenced celebrity / anecdote subject · 2 mentions · first at
    Kids in the Hall member referenced as part of the reunion moment and storytelling with Dave Foley.
    They all busted out laughing and it was I got to you know I got to kind of eaves drop on their stories and then the next night Scott Thompson telling stories to Dave Foley. I'm…
  • Kathleen Blanco — Person · Referenced government leader / quoted authority · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted to characterize the volunteer response as 'Louisiana people helping Louisiana people' in Katrina’s aftermath.
    Later said when she was kind of talking about this retrospectively, she said it was Louisiana people helping Louisiana people.
  • Nick Gautreaux — Person · Referenced public official (Katrina context) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as a Louisiana state senator who publicly called for boat owners to help during Hurricane Katrina, catalyzing volunteer response.
    Yeah, for sure. there were some asks and calls for help. there was a Louisiana state senator named Nick Gautro and he went on the TV and the radio during Katrina and he said, Hey, if you've got a boat, we need your help.
  • Kevin McDonald — Person · Referenced celebrity / anecdote subject · 2 mentions · first at
    Kids in the Hall member referenced as part of the group that joined Dave Foley during the hotel-lobby encounter.
    And we're sitting there having a conversation and all of a sudden I look up and it's Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulla and Kevin McDonald, man.
  • Andy Daly — Person · Referenced comedian/performer · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the lineup/participants around 'Hanging with Dr. Z' during Chuck’s tour story.
    Talk show as Dr. Zas. That's the only sort of wrinkle to it. And it's it's a lot of fun. And I was on as kind of a straight guy, clearly wasn't the improvising comedian, but I did an okay job.
  • Janet Barney — Person · Referenced performer (unclear identity) · 1 mention · first at
    Named as being present on the 'Hanging with Dr. Z' bill; not otherwise discussed, and identity is ambiguous from transcript alone.
    But Dave Foley of the Kids in the Hall was there.

Companies & orgs

  • Stuff You Should Know — Company · Host · 4 mentions · first at
    The podcast hosting the discussion about the Cajun Navy.
  • United Cajun Navy — Company · Referenced organization · 3 mentions · first at
    One of the main groups operating under the Cajun Navy moniker, a nonprofit organization.
    Yeah. And the United Cajun Navy is one of the big ones. maybe the biggest, definitely the most professionalized, and they are a 501c3 nonprofit. but the Cinjun Navy.
  • FEMA — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at
    Government agency criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina, contrasted with the Cajun Navy's efforts.
    Katrina is what ultimately showed us in the world that really people even in the richest country in the world, people cannot rely on their government to save them from the…
  • Cinjun Navy Relief — Company · Referenced organization · 2 mentions · first at
    Another group operating under the Cajun Navy moniker, involved in disaster relief.
  • iHeart Radio — Company · Producer · 2 mentions · first at
    The production company behind the podcast.
    Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
  • CBS News — Company · Referenced media · 1 mention · first at
    News outlet that reported on the Cajun Navy's rescue efforts.
    People show up showed up and they ended up forming an 8 mile convoy of trucks and boats and in the end CBS News reports that they rescued 10,000 people during Katrina alone.
  • GoFundMe — Company · Referenced platform · 1 mention · first at
    A platform mentioned in the context of funding disaster relief efforts.
    Large scale and systemic heroism can't be the exception in a civilized society and it shouldn't be financed by micro donations through GoFundMe campaigns we pay taxes for…

Products & tech

  • Zello — Product · Referenced tool · 1 mention · first at
    An app used by the Cajun Navy for communication during rescue operations.

Concepts & topics

  • Cajun Navy — Concept · Core topic · 16 mentions · first at
    Alternative name for the Cajun Navy, a volunteer rescue group.

Places & events

  • Hurricane Katrina — Event · Historical context · 1 mention · first at
    The disaster that led to the formation of the Cajun Navy.
  • Hurricane Harvey — Event · Historical context · 1 mention · first at
    A hurricane where the Cajun Navy's efforts were highlighted.

Full transcript with timestamps

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too. And we are saving the day here on Stuff You Should Know.

That's right. U Chuck, I guess I just said that we're here to save the day and we are. We're going to talk about the Cinjun Navy in a second, but before we do, we just got back from tour and um you did something that I didn't do and I want to hear about it.

Oh yeah. We uh I got tabbed to perform in the um Hanging with Dr. Z show, which if you don't know, it is comedian Dana Gould has a professional Dr. Zas, a Planet of the Apes costume.

Nice. And he just does a straightup late night talk show as Dr. Zas. That's the only sort of uh uh wrinkle to it. And it's it's a lot of fun. And I was on um as kind of a straight guy, you know, clearly wasn't the improvising comedian, but I did an okay job.

Mhm. Um but Dave Foley of the Kids in the Hall was there. Yeah. And uh Janet Barney, uh the great Andy Daly. And I just got to tell you quickly about uh the night before in the hotel.

Yeah. I was hanging out in the lobby with a friend of the show, Adam Pranica, and friend in real life.

And our good friend and booking agent, Josh Lingren, having some drinks, and all of a sudden, uh, Cole, uh, co-founder of Sketchfest, walks over with Dave Foley, and they all sit down and Dave Foley sits next to me, and we have like a 30-minute conversation.

That's so cool. And this is the night before. So when you guys were on stage together, you were like old pals.

Oh, it there was a familiarity built in. Uh, Dave Foley was the nicest guy you could ever imagine.

That's so great. He asked, he clearly had listened to stuff you should know because he said something about, "Is Josh here?"

So, he knows your name. Pretty cool. And we're sitting there having a conversation and all of a sudden I look up and it's Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulla and Kevin McDonald,

man. And they all see Dave and come over and this is the first time they'd seen each other. Uh I I mean I don't know how long, but you know they were doing a screening of Brain Candy the next night.

Oh, cool. And so they were all just seeing each other for the first time that weekend and they it it warmed your heart so much seeing how much these guys liked each other and how they like seeing each other.

Yeah, that I mean that makes me really happy to hear that they're as great as as they seem.

Yeah, it was incredible. They were just they were hugging and laughing and I'm looking across at Lingren and and and Adam and we're both have looks on our faces like what is happening right now? And Bruce McCulla had the f one of the funniest lines I've ever seen. You know how you just bag on friends as as a as a rule.

Mhm. They're all standing around and laughing and Bruce McCulla goes, "Isn't it great that Mark isn't here?"

Poor Mark. It was so funny, man. It was like the perfect line at the perfect time and they all busted out laughing and it was I got to you know I got to kind of eaves drop on their stories and then the next night Scott Thompson telling stories to Dave Foley. I'm just like a fly on the wall trying to be invisible just trying to soak in these stories about Lauren Michaels in the early days and like trashing hotel rooms and it was it was just great.

That's really cool, man. I wish you could have been there. That was the only thing missing was you.

I wish I could have too and thank you for saying that. That's nice. But thanks for telling me all about it and congrats on a great showing at the what is it? Hanging with Dr. Z.

Hanging with Dr. Z. Dana's the best. He's so funny. Is it anywhere like somebody can see it online?

I don't know if they I don't think they shot video for this. I'm I'm curious. But go watch ex episodes of Hanging with Dr. C. It's a lot of fun.

Okay, cool. Cool. Um well, that was great. Thank you for telling everybody about it. Uh and I guess now let's You want to start the uh episode about the Cinjun Navy?

Yeah, for sure. Um, not too long ago in an episode, we had a listener mail that referenced the Cinjun Navy. It is not something that I had heard of. Uh, even though it has been sort of all over the news, but I don't watch news uh with my eyes and ears. I I generally read stuff. And I guess I just had never read anything about this, even though the Cajun Navy it seems like have done a lot of great things. Um, but there's also some criticism. Yeah, it's a good example of how absolutely everything in the United States can become politicized.

Yeah, a good point. Uh, and it is like I get criticisms. I also get the praise as well. Like at the end of the day, these these dudes, as you'll see, are putting their lives on the line to help other people.

That's right. Um, what we're talking about is a group of men and women. Now, there are many different groups. Uh but it's been dubbed the cinjun navy and it sprang from uh Hurricane Katrina when they were like, "Hey, we we need more help. We need help beyond FEMA in this case. It's so devastating. We know that you've got boats, you got airboats, and you have the will people of Louisiana." And the call went out and they people um came to help and helped a lot. And they were dubbed the Cinjun Navy.

Yeah. So um although the cinjun navy as we'll see like as we understand it today really kind of developed in 2016 basically all the origin stories all competing origin stories trace their themselves back to Katrina and that is a good place to start because that is one of the best examples of government failing its people that that has happened in recent history um the Bush administration FEMA like they just botched helping people and so there was really big vacuum that other people who are just basically moved to go help people who just been left behind like, "Hey, good luck on your roof. Um, hopefully everything works out." People got their own boats. They got their own trailers. They drove to New Orleans and got as close as they could. They put their boats in when they hit the water and they went and rescued those people themselves. No one paid them. No one even really asked them to do this. They

just knew that people were in trouble. they knew that they could help them. And so I think as Governor Kathleen Blanco later said uh when she was kind of talking about this retrospectively, she said it was Louisiana people helping Louisiana people.

Yeah, for sure. Um there there were some asks and calls for help. Uh there was a Louisiana state senator named Nick uh Gautro and he went on the TV and the radio during Katrina and he said, "Hey, if you've got a boat, we need your help. uh there's a there's a mall outside um of New Orleans in Lafayette about 150 miles away and we could use some some people and he thought maybe you know 20 30 people might show up. Close to 400 people show up showed up and they ended up forming an 8 mile convoy of trucks and boats and in the end um CBS News reports that they rescued 10,000 people uh during Katrina alone.

Yeah. And this is where they they were dubbed the Cinjun Navy later on. Um, but th like this is just it's astounding like from the outset it was just just amazing like just the number of people who showed up, the number of people they saved and this is exactly the kind of thing that people love to read about, hear about, see about um because it's like yes, people are still basically good. And then on the other hand, we also as a country in particular love to start picking apart everybody including heroes who selflessly act.

That's right. Uh the guy who would later become one of the founders of the United Cinjun Navy and like we said there's a I think close to 30 or more people or groups organizations who have dubbed themselves some version of a Cinjun Navy like this.

Yeah. Uh well, we should point out that only three of those are nonprofits. Yeah, that's a big big deal.

Yeah, it's it's a it's a red flag in some cases. Uh but this guy's name was Todd Terrell, and he owned a seafood business that was completely um devastated during the first few days of uh Katrina.

So, he lost everything. And after that, he didn't take his shrimp net and go home.

He said, "I'm going to help rescue people." And so, he kind of headed up a lot of this and ended up one of the actual founders of the United Cajun Navy, like I said.

Yeah. And the United Cajun Navy is one of the big ones. maybe the biggest, definitely the most professionalized, and they are a 501c3 nonprofit. Um, but the the Cinjun Navy moniker itself is shared by a number of different groups, like you said. Um, and there's something about these people in particular that make them uh they have a very specific set of skills, I guess you could say. Um, one, a lot of them are cinjun and grew up spent their whole lives and still spend a lot of their time out on the bayou in boats that are designed to navigate uh obstacles in very shallow water.

Um, that is to say, airboats. Airboats. Uh, progues. Okay. Um, yeah, that's well those two. Um, bass I think bass boats also. They use a lot of bass boats. Um, so not only are their boats designed for this, they have a lot of experience, say getting around a dumpster, but say in the form of like a cypress tree and all of the knees, like they know what they're doing. They're expert boatmen and boat women, boat people. How about that?

Yeah. And um, so there's a there's a really like big incentive to for these to welcome these people because they know what they're doing. The the issue is, as we'll see again and again, they are expert boat people. they don't necessarily have search and rescue training. And that's one of the probably the biggest most legitimate criticisms of the whole thing.

Yeah, for sure. Um, even though it was born in Katrina, I believe he kind of hinted that 2016 during the thousand-year flood of Louisiana when 31 ines of rain fell on Baton Rouge over the course of 24 hours.

Insane. Uh, it was an incredible amount of rain. Um, completely devastating. uh the first uh you know when Katrina happened that was pre-smartphone um 2016 the that was the difference was all of a sudden you had 56 of Louisiana's 64 parishes uh were declared federal disaster areas and you had a cajun Navy at work with smartphones and social media that could triangulate and who could post like we need people here we need people there it became much more organized much more cohesive in 2016 thanks to you know social media and smartphones.

Yeah. And in particular an app called Zello. Um this this sounds cool. I'm gonna try this out with the family.

Dude, you should go check out their the website for the app. Like just their you know all the different bells and whistles it has. It is nuts.

So basically Zello turns a cell phone into a walkie-talkie. Even if you barely have a signal, you can use it like in with with a low enough signal that you couldn't make a call. You can still use your phone as a Zello walkie-talkie. So cool.

There it gets even better. It um translates. You can speak and it will translate into another language that you select. So you can coordinate with people uh who speak different languages. Um

and all of a sudden now all of these people who only had cell phones can now coordinate and organize and um be much more effective than just like say two guys in a boat and there's two other guys in a boat here. Now they're saying, "Well, this is where people need the most help. Let's send these guys out here because they're closest to go get those people. Like it there was a completely different level of coordination and organization than in Katrina.

Does it translate the Cinjun accent? I I'm not going to say it, but yes, it does.

Okay. I I will I will I give you full reassurance. You know who could help us with that is our old buddy Doug, right?

Doug Shasher. Yeah, Shasher. We I've met him backstage at our two New Orleans shows. What a good guy.

He treats us so well. Well, he brought us budan. Mhm. And we just went to town on those things.

Yeah. So good. Sausage balls, right? Uh yeah, that's what it is, right? Ready gravy sausage balls. They're amazing.

So good. Uh the Cajun Navy these days though is is a big deal. Um like you said, like the the the three like super legitimate, and I'm not saying that none others are doing good work, but the three nonprofits are like big big time. They have multi-million dollar budgets now. They have chapters all like even in Hawaii. They have them all over the country and they are funded by charitable donations. They're staffed by volunteers. And that seems like a good time for a break. Good intro.

I agree. All right. It's an early break, but we'll be right back. All right, we're back and we're going to talk about the credo of the Cinjun Navy because if they're known for one thing that is like don't wait around and just save people, just get things done. And their credo is uh it's unofficial but it seems pretty official is act first and deal with the consequences later,

right? Which on one hand is like yep if you are stuck on your roof that is the kind of person you want to come get you. You don't want them to filling out forms to get permission to come rescue you from your roof. Right.

That's right. On the other hand, um there's reasons for regulations and safety for everybody. Um there there's reasons for government in that sense, right? This is where the this is where the kind of breakdown starts to occur.

Yeah. Let's start with uh with the good of acting first. Um you're going to rescue a lot more people a lot quicker. You're going to get food and aid um to people a lot quicker. Uh a very great example of this was Hurricane Harvey. Uh the category 4 that dumped 60 inches of rain in Texas over a course of 4 days. It was completely devastating. Apparently the wetest uh costliest hurricane in US history. And because of what happened in 2016, uh I think they felt like, hey, the call is coming now from Texas. Um there was a call specifically in one case that was a nursing home in Port Arthur that was underwater. Cinjun Navy volunteers rushed out there. They got there. They found uh you know people not able to get out of their wheelchair stuck up to their knees in sewage water.

Uh they hadn't eaten since at least the day before. They were hydrated. Many of them were confused and it kind of came literally to blows when a Navy volunteer named Ben Huster went to get these people out and the director was like our our corporate policy sir says it has to be a National Guard evacuating us.

Right. And so Ben Huster said that he beat the hell out of this guy. He drew his gun on him at one point to basically say, "You need to get out of my way because we're evacuating these elderly patients who you're clearly neglecting." And they did. They ended up they ended up um evacuating this this this group of nursing home patients. uh got them to I think a bowling alley or a movie theater both which were turned into basically emergency centers for people shelters and this was like this story is tailor made for social media right

oh yeah one of the reasons why it's tailor made for social media is because it only presents one side and it it presents like what seems like a the morally correct approach to this situation just like anything there's another side nothing is black and fight. And so this nursing home director in one sense, yes, he was he was following his corporate orders that he was not supposed to let anybody else evacuate the patients, but he was responsible for these patients. On top of that, um there are studies that show that evacuating elderly and medically frail people can actually be deadlier than having them shelter in place.

That's even if you're evacuating them ahead of a storm. This was in the middle of a storm that these elderly and medically frail people were evacuated. And then thirdly, these Cajun Navy guys showed up. They don't have like ID cards that say Kinjun Navy signed by the governor of Louisiana. They're just some dudes that showed up. One of which pulled a gun on the director of the nursing home and said, "We're getting these old people who you're responsible for out of here. Get out of our way or we're gonna beat you up and shoot you."

So like it it to this is the Cinjun Navy is just such a great flash point because it's so easy to to almost cartoonize what they're doing for for better or worse and just completely ignore the reality of the situation. And I think in that sense it's just so worth talking about because it's it's an exercise in how how much emotion and just dumbness we put into evaluating stuff and how tribal that stuff makes us and that this is a great example of saying here's something people are doing. Here's the problems with it. let's figure out how to work everything out together so that they can still save lives without the downsides that are clearly inherently posed in this.

That's that's why this Kinjun Navy story is so I find um important. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and you know, as far as kind of seeing it both ways, that that happened all the way up to the top of the ladder. Uh, Donald Trump became very um sort of I guess briefly attached to um John Brides, a founder of the Kinjun Navy. Um, specifically Kinjun Navy 2016, which is its own group,

right? Invited him to the State of the Union address in 2018. Had him up there. uh when the Houston Astros visited the White House after they won the World Series, he called out the incredible Cinjun Navy. Uh and then, you know, on the other hand was quoted as as sort of saying like, "Hey, uh you know, stay in your boats. Like these guys are out here trying to impress their wives and what let the professionals do their work." And I think that just kind of illustrates how how each side has a leg to stand on, you know? Like sure, you want to you want to rescue people, but as we'll see, you know, there rules and regulations are there for a reason, but sometimes it's just dumb red tape. It's like it's hard to kind of come down for me on hard on one side or the other because on one hand, you have a group that uh a a lot of this comes from sort of an anti-government um sentiment. Uh if not anti-government,

maybe be very distrustful uh of the response to natural disasters. But then when you see botched responses, you can see where they're coming from.

Yeah. I mean, as as far as how these people's direct experience with FEMA was in Katrina, I think George W. Bush put it best when he said, "Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, you can't get fooled again." And that's essentially what happened. FEMA fooled them once and they have never forgotten it.

I thought that was Roger Daltry. No, no, no. That was pretty good. filled again.

No. Uh here's a quote from the vice president of United Cage and Navy, another group, uh Brian Trasher said, Katrina is what ultimately showed us in the world that really people uh even in the richest country in the world, people cannot rely on their government to save them from the weather. If a flash flood hits your house and all of a sudden you're on a roof, you're not looking around for FEMA because they're nowhere around. And a lot of this goes back to not just a distrust of the official systems, but sort of the the shame of a n a nation. Like you got the richest country in the world that's not able to save their citizens from a flood or people that need to rely on the donations of their friends and neighbors to get over cancer without bankruptting them, you know?

Right. Yeah. And that's definitely a a supported and supportable viewpoint for sure. How about this? We'll take a break and we'll come back and we'll talk some more about the Cajun Navy.

Let's do it. Uh so Chuck um I think you mentioned that 2016 was a really pivotal time those floods in Baton Rouge. Yeah. um where a bunch of different groups that that um present themselves as Cinjun Navy groups um formed. And as some of these groups really started to emerge, in particular Kinjun Navy Relief and United Kinjun Navy, uh they started to organize, they started to form 501c3s and accept donations and show up more and more uh frequently at natural disasters. Um they started to get more push back. It went from just some guys with boats to this is an actual organization showing up right

and what they're you know they're organizing they're helping but there's still as far as we the the people who are professionals at this stuff are concerned just some guys with boats and there was you know I guess tension that started to arise.

Yeah for sure. Uh Amanda Falner um was a spokesperson uh for the Coast Guard, I believe, that said, you know, we have we have plenty of boats. We don't need more boats. The Coast Guard has all the boats that we need. Uh we know when it's safe to get them out in the water. Uh at one point, um do you become a liability is basically what people started asking. Or when are you in the way? When are you creating an unsafe situation? Or like you said with the people in the retirement home, like maybe you know if there were 15 of them, maybe 13 of them, it was great to get them out of there, but what if two of them had very adverse health outcomes because of that rescue,

right? And and also you you have not received medical training to evacuate people, the National Guard who are supposed to evacuate these people do get medical training. Like there's just a lot of arguments that you can make against it. And some government agencies have started to make those arguments against it. And you can say, well, yeah, these guys are upset that their turf is being stepped on. And even worse, they're being made to look ineffective, uncaring,

um, and just basically concerned with bureaucracy, not saving people's lives, which is what the Cinjun Navy is all about.

Well, yeah. And especially if it's a a situation where you're rescuing people in Louisiana and a group of Cinjun on an airboat show up, uh they may be just innately more trusting of them than when the FEMA truck pulls up, you know?

Uh yeah, for sure. Like they're locals. Uh and you know, conspiracy started springing up that like FEMA was actually I think this was in uh

Helen. Yeah. and Helen uh in 2024 started in Florida, went up through the east coast into the Appalachian Mountains. Killed a lot of people, 250 people, and I think it was the deadliest hurricane since Katrina. And this is when conspiracy started to spring up and words getting around that FEMA is using the government's using this as a chance to seize your property.

So, so they can have and own your land, right? And just like how in 2016 social media helped a lot of the Cajun Navy organize and be more effective, this is a great example of how social media helped the whole system just break down all the more completely because if if you have people who actually believe that these government agents who are now there, like I saw a FEMA truck, FEMA's here, that they're actually going to try to steal your land, maybe kill you. um like and you're already under the stress of your house is underwater because of the natural disaster. That's going to create a climate that you you don't really need. That's not the Cajun Navy's fault.

You can't really lay that on them. The point is that in that kind of climate, they become all the more vital, but at the same time, them pointing out the failures of the government just by them existing becomes all the more pronounced as well.

Yeah. And boy, I hope what doesn't happen is that the cage of Navy doesn't roll in here and disparage uh or more organized governmental efforts at the same time, you know.

Uh the ones that I saw, the ones that like you could feel comfortable donating to or good about donating to, don't

Okay. No, that's actually a pretty good sign. I think if you actually are are looking at a Cajun Navy to donate to and they do that, then you should probably keep walking.

Yeah. And and if you look at the, you know, the sort of more official organized ones, they they do try to work with FEMA. They're not combative. Um sometimes they they do work around FEMA if they think that it is holding up a legitimate rescue or aid coming to someone,

but uh Todd Terrell said, you know, we try to work with the government as best we can. Um but the government can't do what we do. FEMA is not designed to do what the Cinjun Navy does. And that's, you know, that's a fact. It's it's a quicker moving, quicker operating. You know, they make the point that um somebody with a laptop or a or a satellite phone in the Cinjun Navy can get supplies there a lot quicker than going the official route, you know?

Yeah. Like you you could say, "Hey, we have a whole bunch of bottled water we want you to take with you when you take your boat to go rescue people." And that aid that you sent to those people in need could get to them in a few hours rather than having to go to a warehouse, be put on a truck, and then the truck has to deliver supplies. Like it's it is agile as they say in like the project management world.

And that's a huge bonus. I mean, in addition to the fact that these these people are risking their lives to save other people for no no uh compensation whatsoever.

Yeah. There's a uh article in GQ um by Miriam Marowitz who kind of affirmed what we were saying about you know it just shows like people people love to have faith in like regular people and they love the hero stories um but points out uh I think the quote is for our efforts to be effective they need to be large scale and um systemic

uh heroism can't be the exception in a civilized society and it shouldn't be financed by micro donations through GoFundMe campaigns uh we pay taxes for firefighters and police because we can't bank on the whims of our neighbors to save us. Uh and it's these institutions that that have cracks uh that need to be shored up along with some other some local volunteer efforts I think you know.

Yeah. But those institutions that we pay for through our taxes like we're owed them to be effective in response. But at the same time when those things work correctly that is something that can give the entire nation a sense of pride. In just the same way that stories about everyday people joining the Cajun Navy, saving other everyday people, saving their lives, literally that they give you like a reaffirming faith in humanity. If FEMA had showed up and saved everyone in Katrina, that would have given everybody a reaffirmed faith in like the collective good of say like a organized government. Right.

Right. Or maybe even like a sense of patriotism. That's not what's been happening, right? So that's where the breakdown is, I think, that Marowitz is saying, is that our government's failing and then the presence of the the Cajun Navy is just pointing this out even worse. And then worse than that, if we come to rely on essentially um crowdsourced or vigilante forms of um like supportive efforts, whether it be say a fire department, you know, that just basically is a bunch of guys who who come out on Saturday nights but not on Tuesday night if your house is on fire to say like the cinjun navy who may or may not make it out to the natural disaster in your neck of the woods. like we you just can't you can't rely on people. They're not these people have jobs. They have they have families. They have stuff they have to do. They're not getting paid for this. So, you inherently can't rely on them. Even

though they they are reliable people, you can't rely on them in every situation. That's why we have these institutions. That's why these institutions have to be like you said shored up and step up so that we don't need the cinjun navy.

Yeah. I mean, one of the criticisms or potential criticisms is that it might discourage evacuation, uh, if the storm is impending and people knew from the news or social media that like, hey man, the you're on the your roof, the Cinjun Navy will be there to sweet and get you out of there with a bottle of water in their hand.

Uh, a lot of people might like not follow evacuation orders because they're relying on something that may happen,

but it may not. But you could also say the same for for the government institutions, you know.

Yeah. Apparently, uh you really as a a government spokesperson shouldn't say like it's going to be worse than this last storm or it's as bad as say this last hurricane because people will be like, "Oh, well, I didn't evacuate for that and that made it through fine, you know." So, yeah, you can definitely miss that. That's I think getting people to evacuate got to be one of the harder things you could possibly do.

Oh, yeah. Uh, another um criticism is that, you know, when you've got people in there, all of a sudden there's more people on the scene, it could create confusion and maybe even hazardous situations and perhaps even a situation where you're needing to then rescue people from the Cinjun Navy.

Uh, who have run ashore or whatever happened that was, you know, bad for their efforts.

Yeah. There's a a a rumor that's it's not true that some cinjun Navy people showed up to help after or during even Hurricane Michael and got stranded in a hotel and had to be rescued and they did have to ride out some of the storm in the hotel but they didn't need to be rescued and they left from the hotel to go help people. So it seems I couldn't find any instance where somebody who was in the Cinjun Navy needed to be rescued themselves.

Mhm. And that seems like the kind of thing that would have made news everywhere if that had happened. So it seems to be like a theoretical issue that hasn't pro happened but could.

Yeah. But it's also like hey we rescued 10,000 people in Katrina but this group of six needed some help themselves. It it it's sort of a flimsy argument you know. Yeah. It's not like every every part of the cinjun navy all of a sudden all needs rescue as well. you know, like may that kind of thing could happen, but on a pretty small scale.

Agreed. Um, another one is that it just straight up encourages vigilantism or vigilantism.

Um, and you know, on the one hand, if the government institutions were there, the cinjun navy wouldn't necessarily be there because they wouldn't be needed. So there's, you know, there is a a a place for this. But on the other hand, even if it's morally correct in an instance, you don't you do not want to encourage vigilantism in any form whatsoever because that is a major facet of mob rule and you don't want mob rule. So even though this is this makes a lot of sense, you can make a really good argument that

if you look far enough down the road, it's not because how long would it be potentially again theoretically before say a Cajun Navy guy takes it on himself to start looking for looters and he starts patrolling things with looters and he starts shooting at looters.

This is not this guy's place to shoot at looters and yet he's taking it upon himself. Like again this hasn't happened. It's theoretical, but the point of is is that encouraging any form of vigilantism can have these knock-on effects that says, "Well, if you're willing to let people do this, this makes sense, too. So, let's start doing this as well."

Yeah. I mean, that that sort of I could see that happening because we've seen it happen with the the strapped neighborhood watch situation.

Sure. Uh and it's not hard to draw a line there. So, yeah, I see where you're coming from. U my big thing is like to think about the legal liabilities. Uh I don't know how it how it works when you're an official nonprofit, you know, with multi-million dollar budgets. you're way more official. But um what if you're just one of these other sort of uh startup cinjun navies and something happens where you cause the loss of life or you cause something terrible to happen like the the liability the legal liability and the just the sort of ethical and moral liabilities there are pretty tremendous.

Yeah. I think people who are like say working for a state agency or a government agency or like the National Guard, they are immunized from civil lawsuits for like if they if somebody gets injured while they're rescuing them, you can't sue that person. That's not true for the Cinjun Navy. And that's actually one argument um for solving a lot of these problems is enticing them to kind of become more part of the larger search and rescue community that responds to natural disasters to coordinate more with them. Still, yeah,

be a Cajun Navy, but come here and get training. Come here and figure out how you can coordinate with us to for all of us to be the most effective. And in return, we'll extend this legal immunity to you uh when you're operating in these natural disaster areas.

Yeah. But then the headline is uh government ruins Kinjun Navy, right? I think that's why there's some resistance to it. But the the um I believe both the Kinjun Navy Relief and the United Cajun Navy both require their members to undergo training.

Yeah. Like official training I believe. And they they do, like you said, tend to coordinate with um responders more than just like go out and say, "The hell with you. I'm I'm going," you know.

Yeah. And I'm sure as they I mean, this was not that long ago that all this started up. I'm sure as it grows, if it's allowed to grow, it will become more rigorous in the training and, you know, cuz they're they're out to do good. They want to do good things and they want to solve problems on the ground. So they're not like, "Yeah, we don't need no training, you know, like I'm sure given time and, you know, the donation of funds coming in, they're they're trying to do just that, I imagine."

Right. Um, so there are, again, I think you said most of them are forprofit. There's some that are nonprofit and two rise to the top again, United Cajun Navy and Cinjun Navy Relief. On Charity Navigator, they have a 85 and a 87 rating respectively, which is pretty good. Charity Navigator says you can give you can donate to this these groups with confidence, right? That they're going to use your your money wisely. Um I didn't see on um Kinjun Navy Relief, but I'm guessing it's the same. United uh Cinjun Navy their officers, the people who run the show, get zero dollar compensation.

Wow. So you don't like there's there there are groups of these people who are genuinely dedicated to this who are doing it right. Then there are others who are like getting arrested for fraud. So do your homework before you you like make a donation. But if you feel moved to donate, go donate. But just do a little bit of of research first. Don't listen to somebody on the internet who says, you know, stay away from this group because this group's better. Go do your own research. And Charity Navigator is usually a pretty good place to start.

Yeah totally. You got anything else? I got nothing else. This is a a rare shortish long or a extra size short.

Nice. Well put, Chuck. Yeah, since Chuck said what he just said, I think it's time for listener mail.

Uh yeah, we're going to forego listener mail this week just cuz we uh I wanted to take a quick moment. We just got back from our first tour in a year and a half.

Mhm. uh back out on the road doing shows in Denver and Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California. And

great just want to thank everybody at the the Paramount Theater in Denver, the Paramount in Seattle and the Sydney Goldstein and SF Sketchfest who always does such a great job. Just I feel like we don't often thank the people there that put these shows on and the crews were all great. The people that came out to see us, thank you so much. It's hard to part with a dollar these days. I know times are tight. So, we really really really um means a lot that you would spend some of your money to come out and hear us talk for a couple of hours.

Yeah. And your time and yeah, just leaving your house is ordeal these days anyway. So, yeah, we genuinely appreciate everybody who came out and like that was really a great way to get back on the road after 18 months. You know, it was a great welcome back. So, thank you guys.

It was a lot of fun. The show was really fun and great. Uh, and we say this also as a reminder that we'll be doing shows in Madison, Wisconsin, Chicago, and Akran Ohio

before hitting the road for um Canada this summer. And there are still plenty of great seats. And like I said, it's a fun show. The there's a lot of bad stuff in the news going on. And it's it's nice to go sit around for a couple of hours with a bunch of curious uh smart, compassionate people, which is the stuff you should know, Army.

That's right. Well put, Chuck. Yeah. Uh, if you want to get tickets or whatever, I think we basically have like a clearing house on stuff.com and you just click on the on tour tab and it will take you to heaven. Yay. Uh, if you want to get in touch with us in the meantime, you can send us an email. We always love it when you send us an email. Send it off to stuffodcast@ iheartradio.com.

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Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Josh Clark (Host), Chuck Bryant (Host), Dana Gould (Guest), Dave Foley (Guest), Todd Terrell (Guest), Brian Trasher (Guest).

What is "The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

This content discusses the Cajun Navy, an informal group of volunteers who provide rescue and relief efforts during natural disasters, examining their role as both heroes and potential liabilities within emergency response scenarios. The dialogue also touches on personal anecdotes from recent performances, highlighting interactions with notable figures in the entertainment industry.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

23 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Cajun Navy, Stuff You Should Know, Hurricane Katrina, United Cajun Navy, Todd Terrell, FEMA. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 39 min; the transcript is about 7,203 words in 120 timestamped sections.

More from Stuff You Should Know

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 7, 2026.