Guard chief describes Katrina response operations

  • Published
  • By Rudi Williams
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The chief of the National Guard Bureau declared the National Guard's role in Hurricane Katrina response operations "a great success story," after a recent trip to the Gulf Coast where he saw guardsmen providing almost three-quarters of the military's uniformed response.

General Blum said he was amazed to watch the wide range of National Guard support taking place simultaneously. Support ranged from Texas National Guard UH-60 helicopters dropping 7,500-pound sand bags to plug a football-field-sized gap in the flood wall in New Orleans, to guardsmen rescuing hundreds of people from attics and rooftops and taking them to safety.

"Saving lives," General Blum said of their efforts.

The general made his assessment during what National Guard Bureau officials are calling the largest and most comprehensive National Guard response to a natural disaster in recent history. Previously, the largest had been for the 1989 California Lomo Prieta earthquake, during which 32,000 California guardsmen were mobilized, officials said.

Almost 27,000 guardsmen are providing security, assisting with food and water distribution, and conducting search-and-rescue missions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, National Guard officials said.

That number is expected to rise to nearly 40,000 over the coming days, representing the Guard forces of 40 U.S. states. The Air National Guard flew 721 sorties in the past few days, evacuating more than 11,000 people to safety and delivering 3,600 tons of life-saving supplies and equipment into the devastated area, National Guard Bureau officials said.

In addition, National Guard helicopters have evacuated more than 2,000 sick and injured people out of the New Orleans area as of Sept. 4, and are flying 300 missions a day along the Mississippi coast delivering critical supplies.

Guardsmen also have delivered almost 1,600 truckloads of water and more than 1,000 truckloads of ice to citizens throughout the afflicted four-state region, and guardsmen helped put in place massive sand bags to secure a levee breech in Louisiana, officials said.

Specialized engineers were determining large generator requirements and assessments for fuel pumping lines and the New Orleans dewatering pump system.

In New Orleans, guardsmen moved 20,000 people out of the Superdome and provided sufficient food and water for them.

General Blum graphically described the operation in which more than 1,000 Guard military police arrived at the convention center Sept. 2 to thwart a potentially dangerous situation. Tourists and local residents as well as street thugs shared limited space in the center.

The guardsmen encountered "complete cooperation" as they executed their plan "with great military precision," General Blum said. Not a shot was fired during the effort, and no guardsmen were injured, he said.

While commending progress so far, General Blum acknowledged that "a great task lies ahead of us."

Army and Air National Guardsmen are conducting security work, supporting civilian law enforcement, and providing food, water, medicine, shelter, transportation, vital communications and other emergency support functions supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said.