A wind-shredded American flag still hangs on the front of a home on 4th Street in Chalmette -- one Arnold Crabtree has struggled to rebuild.

Crabtree was deployed for a year of duty in Afghanistan a couple months ago,  but in the time since he's been gone, the soldier says FEMA came by and took the trailer he had been living in.

Friend and neighbor Kathy Hernandez says Crabtree was shocked when she delivered the news.

"Just freaked out...freaked out, worried," Hernandez said. "He had his sergeant contact FEMA to secure the trailer being there when he arrives home in a year, so you know, he thought he had taken care of everything he needed to before he left."

Hernandez, who has been looking after Crabtree's property since his deployment, says FEMA left his possessions outside the home, before taking the trailer.

Then, last week, St. Bernard Sheriff's officials confirmed Crabtree's damaged home was burglarized. Deputies arrested a married couple, Jason and Christy Cain in the crime.

The couple lives just around the corner.

Hernandez says the problems keep piling up and taking a toll on Crabtree.

"Well he's dealing with having to be over there, and you know, worrying about things over here," she said.

FEMA officials didn't comment on the specific case -- citing privacy issues -- but, they say a trailer is removed only if the agency can't contact someone over the course of several weeks. Then, they would deem the trailer abandoned, and remove it.

Officials say they always box up a person's belongings, and store them in a secure location. Hernandez isn’t buying it, however, and says her friend deserves better.

"This man is away in another country fighting a war for us and he has to be concerned with, you know, having his roof over his head taken away," she said. "No one should go through that, and its just not fair for this man to have to be worrying, 'Am I going to have a roof over my head when I get back home?'"