CAP helps hurricane relief efforts

Civil Air Patrol Col. Rock Palermo discusses Hurricane Rita relief operations in Lake Charles, La., with Chuck Kleckley, Louisiana state representative; Hal McMillin, Calcasieu Parish police jury president; Ronnie Johns, Louisiana state representative; and David Vitter, U.S. senator from Louisiana. Colonel Palermo spent nearly three weeks directing local emergency operations in his hometown of Lake Charles. He was drafted as operations section chief and later deputy director because of his past disaster management experience. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tom R. Malmay Jr.)

Texas National Guard relief mission begins drawing down

CLEVELAND, Texas -- Texas National Guard vehicles line up in front of a local high school in preparation for departure Oct. 5. Three hundred guardsmen with Task Force-Seguin staged out of the school to assist with food and water distribution in surrounding counties after Hurricane Rita. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Mike Arellano)

Hurricane Rita

050927-F-1415J-001 ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas -- Airman 1st Class Ilias Simpson washes dishes after serving lunch to permanent party and deployed servicemembers here. He is with the 136th Services Flight that arrived here Sept. 24 from Fort Worth, Texas, to help out with hurricane-relief efforts. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Danielle Johnson)

Rita support

BEAUMONT, Texas -- Critical Care Air Transport Teams from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas and the Mississippi Air National Guard along with Contingency Response Group Element personnel, work together at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport Sept. 23 to strap down patients’ wheelchairs in a C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Hurricane Rita relief efforts. The aircraft is from Mississippi ANG’s 172nd Airlift Wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)

Task Force Compassion

ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas -- Second Lt. Rose Russ (right) and Senior Airman Kelly Smith sort and stock medical supplies here while transforming an abandoned base exchange facility and Toy Land into a 10-bed medical treatment facility. Both are members of Task Force Compassion established in support of the Hurricane Rita relief effort. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lee Roberts)1)

Civil Air Patrol responds

OVER SABINE LAKE, Texas -- During photo reconnaissance missions flown by the Civil Air Patrol, aircrews photograph possible signs of pollution that may have resulted from Hurricane Rita. A refinery on Sabine Lake is photographed and recorded for state and local authorities to assess. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)