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Army, Air Force pounce into action on Gustav

Army medium tactical trucks are hauling food, water and supplies to Gustav-damaged areas. Black Hawk and Kiowa Warrior helicopters are patrolling from the skies on search-and-rescue missions looking for victims. And Air Force planes have evacuated up to 16,000 residents — all as the U.S. military draws upon its home-stationed assets to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency respond to Hurricane Gustav, a Category 2 storm that rocked the Gulf coast of Louisiana on Monday.

The Army National Guard has been called upon by the governors of four states, sending more than 10,000 troops to Gustav-impacted areas. Deployments include 3,400 troops in Louisiana, up to 5,000 in Texas, and 3,000 in Alabama.

Overall, the National Guard has twice as much of the needed equipment to respond to hurricanes along the Gulf Coast compared with three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, said Maj. Gen. William Etter, the director of domestic operations for the National Guard Bureau, at a FEMA briefing Friday.

Army helicopters on patrol include UH-60 Black Hawks, OH-58 Kiowa Warriors and UH-72A Lakotas.

In addition, U.S. Army North has set up a 70-person mobile command center in Alexandria, La., to help Gustav-damaged areas weather the storm.

U.S. Army North, DoD's geographic combatant commander for North America for homeland defense and civil support operations, moved four emergency response vehicles and one emergency command and control utility vehicle called the Sentinel.

“The vehicles have been monitoring the storm and also getting a good feel for what things might be required for support,” said U.S. Army North spokeswoman Patti Bielling. “They can provide the communications through telephone, computer, Internet and radio capability. The radio can operate across multiple frequencies, so we can patch different first responders into each other.”

The forward command post includes medical planners, logistics specialists and liaison officers set up to coordinate with FEMA.

“We've worked hard after Katrina to ensure that we have worked with federal state local officials to determine what unique DoD capabilities can be brought to assist in a national disaster,” Bielling said. “We are in the middle of the storm. Our teams have been pre-staged because you are already behind the eight ball if you start to learn about this after the storm hits.”

Air Force C-17s, C-5s, C-130s and commercial aircraft from willing airlines such as Northwest have airlifted more than 15,000 people since Saturday. Residents from southern Louisiana were flown from New Orleans to Nashville, Tenn.; San Antonio; Louisville, Ky.; and Fort Smith, Ark.

“Over the course of two days, we put together an aggressive effort to move as many people as possible,” said Lt. Cmdr. Gary Ross, spokesman for U.S. Northern Command, adding that a Canadian CC-177 Globemaster aircraft has also helped with the evacuations.

The Air Force deployed at least eight WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., to fly into the storm and report back to state and federal authorities.

In addition, about 1,000 medical evacuees were taken to hospitals from Gustav-impacted areas, Ross said.

NorthCom has set up medical evacuation points in Lakefront and Chennault, La., and Beaumont, Texas, where medical patients have been treated.

Working closely with FEMA, NorthCom has set up logistics staging areas for disaster relief at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; Fort Rucker, Ala.; and Fort Benning, Ga.