Flight Pundit

The Pentagon is ordering upwards of 20,000 troops to be deployed to New Orleans and the surrounding areas. I’m sorry about the length of this, but I think it’s important to know this and take some pride in our men and women of the military.

An additional 10,000 National Guard troops from across the country began pouring into the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, adding new soldiers and airmen to shore up security, rescue and relief operations in the region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The new units brought the number of troops dedicated to the effort to more than 28,000, in what may be the largest military response to a natural disaster.

Fully one-third of the 21,000 National Guard troops descending on the Gulf Coast from across the country will be used for security, to prevent looting, enforce curfews and enhance local law and order, said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, commander of National Guard forces.

In a massive response that was still unfolding Wednesday, the Pentagon was sending a broad contingent of ships, aircraft, trucks, medical support and other personnel to support federal agencies already providing aid to the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

And Kos and company said we don’t have any troops left in America for this stuff.

The Pentagon has sent in about 60 helicopters, which will be used for search and rescue operations, damage assessment flights, and the distribution of supplies throughout the region.

“Clearly this is the biggest natural disaster to hit the nation in my lifetime,” said Blum, “and it would require the largest national response.”

Late Wednesday, the Air Force was coordinating medical evacuation flights out of New Orleans International Airport, and special operations forces were bringing in battery-powered runway lights so flights could continue through the night. Hundreds of patients — one flight included dozens of expectant mothers — were being flown to hospitals in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Shreveport, La., said Col. Jeff Franklin, who is coordinating the Air Force and Air National Guard and Reserve airlift flights.

“We’re making every effort to carry patients out every time a plane leaves there,” said Franklin, who is based at the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

He said tents will be set up at the airport to house patients until they are flown out.

Little MASH units are being set up. The American military rocks. When they take control, things get done and done fast.

According to the Pentagon, 7,200 active duty military troops, mainly Navy crews on ships that were headed to the Gulf Coast from Virginia, were responding to the disaster. Brig. Gen. Terry Scherling said more could be sent in coming days. Included in that number were several hundred from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Military officials said major goals include getting ports open and clearing roads so that rescue personnel can get to people in need. Truck units from across the country were en route, providing hundreds of vehicles, including five-ton trucks that can move through the deep water. And the Idaho National Guard was sending portable radios to shore up the ragged communications in the region.

The military is also preparing to provide mobile and shipboard hospital beds, including the hospital ship USNS Comfort, which was leaving Baltimore on its way to the Gulf region. In addition, eight water rescue SEAL teams from California were on the way to Lafayette, La., with small, rigid hulled boats that can work in shallow water to pull stranded residents from their flooded homes and neighborhoods. They were expected to arrive Wednesday.

A key priority Wednesday was developing a plan for the massive evacuation of the Superdome in New Orleans, which has become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people.

This is a medical concern- that many people located this close together, with no water, no working toilets and no way to keep clean is being considered an emergency. Disease will take root very quickly if this situation isn’t fixed ASAP.

As of mid-afternoon, Coast Guard air and boat crews had rescued 1,259 people across the region and recovery teams were delivering food, water, medical equipment and other supplies, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Carter.

Five offshore Louisiana oil rigs were missing and two more adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, Carter said. Another submergible rig was grounded. Additionally, the Coast Guard station in Gulfport, Miss., was destroyed while another in Venice, La., is partially under water. Two other Coast Guard stations — in New Orleans and Grand Isle, La. — have sustained slight or little damage, Carter said.

All Gulf of Mexico ports remained closed, Carter said. He added that four Coast Guard personnel from the Mobile, Ala., area are missing.

The massive military response is being coordinated by a newly created military Joint Task Force Katrina, based at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. The head of the task force, Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, was meeting with other military commanders and FEMA officials and flying over the ravaged New Orleans region Wednesday afternoon to assess the damage.

Every American should be proud of this. I don’t think I have ever heard of such a response from our military; not on this scale. Even during those awful days right after September 11th we didn’t see this. It’s an example of what makes this country so great.

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