Reservists mobilize for Katrina relief efforts Published Sept. 7, 2005 By Army Capt. Steve Alvarez American Forces Press Service MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- Some Airmen with the 908th Airlift Wing here returned to their home base Sept. 6 after participating in an overseas deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before they even returned, however, their commander said they were ready to serve again, only this time for disaster-relief operations."A lot of folks have been chomping at the bit to help," said Lt. Col. John Stokes, 357th Airlift Squadron commander. He said that his crews sent him e-mails that said, "As soon as we get back, we're ready to turn around and do hurricane-support missions."The 908th, an Air Force Reserve Command unit, was put into action soon after Hurricane Katrina left the Gulf Coast in ruins Aug. 29."They call us up and ask us to do things, and we just do it," said Maj. Jerry Lobb of the 908th AW. "We get a phone call, and four hours later we're gone."The wing was tasked by U.S. Northern Command, the lead command element for military disaster-relief operations, to fly airlift missions supporting the disaster area. The wing provided aircraft, aircrews and aeromedical personnel. About 60 Airmen from the wing have been called up to support hurricane-relief missions, including security forces and aerial port squadron Airmen.The 357th AS is just one of many squadrons from the 908th supporting Katrina efforts. The 908th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron is also supporting disaster recovery."Our personnel are mostly serving in Louisiana and the coast," said Lt. Col. Ronnie Roberts, 908th AES commander. "They have been flying civilian personnel evacuation."Colonel Roberts, a nurse when he is not in uniform, said most Airmen in his squadron provide health care aboard aircraft."The needs are unbelievable," Colonel Roberts said of the disaster conditions. "I'm very proud of our crews. They've stepped right up."Airmen from these units have evacuated about 60 military-affiliated evacuees from the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss., to here and later on to Andrews Air Force Base, Md.Many of the elderly passengers had been awake for more than three days and were extremely frail, Major Lobb said."Most of these folks weren't mobile, and they were in their upper 80s," said Maj. Steve Catchings, a C-130 Hercules pilot. "It took two to three hours just to get them off the buses."Major Catchings said that while some were suffering from mental and physical exhaustion, one man asked a pilot if they were flying in a C-130. When the pilot answered that it was a C-130, the man said, "I've jumped out of those before."A common thread among military responders to Katrina's aftermath is a knack for improvising. The magnitude of the situation has required an extraordinary amount of flexibility from servicemembers.Airmen with the 25th Aerial Port Squadron displayed such flexibility when they were tasked to load generators bound for Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., which sustained a direct hit by Katrina.The configuration of the generators made them too large for transportation by aircraft. Undeterred, the Airmen allocated trucks and drove the generators to Keesler so Airmen there could have power.Crews have been flying steadily for the past week, flying a truck and 10 disaster-relief responders to Mississippi from Wyoming, and evacuating the elderly from the Gulfport military retirement home to Maryland. They have also moved 10 chaplains from Georgia to the disaster zone, and flew aeromedical "shuttle" flights around the disaster area out of San Antonio where most of the medical-evacuation activities are being staged.Before the hurricane made landfall, the 357th was ready."If any taskings came down, we had two crews ready to go," Major Catchings said.But Colonel Roberts admits his crews have seen things in the last week they ordinarily do not experience on military medical flights, including an attack when a dog bit a nurse while providing care to a patient."We're professionals," Colonel Roberts said. "We're out here, in natural disasters and combat."Colonel Stokes said he has more volunteers than he does tasks."Something you see particularly in the Guard and Reserve is that they should have a chapter of 'overachievers anonymous,'" he said. "They're very active across the gamut of what they do for the Guard, Reserve and their communities. You wonder when they have time to do the normal things in life."Major Catchings summed up the squadron's current emotional state."We wish we could do more," he said. "It's a huge logistical undertaking. We just let them know we're here and we're ready."