I found this post on another site...thought you all should read it:
Been working 14-16 hour days and finally a minor break...
I'm working in the middle of all this at our NG State HQ with my Army/Navy/AF/Coast Guard counterparts getting things flowing down range. Coordination of all the necessary items is immense. If you haven't seen daily requests by the tonnage to sustain thousands of survivors as well as our thousands being sent in to save them everyday, then you are merely a spectator watching CNN, Fox I hope... "Why don't they do this, how about that!" Not easy solutions as everyone seems to have I can guarantee!
Responding on behalf of the folks working hard/relentlessly in the great state of Mississippi. Not only our own Air and Army National Guard, but the FEMA, MEMA, Red Cross, HHS, adjoining ANG units from Delaware, NY, AZ, Ohio, TN, Texas, GA, etc. who are here with aircraft, assets, & manpower - as well as the countless others(units) I recieve phone calls from everyday with triage units, generators, med teams, SAR folks, humanitarian assistance, chaplains, you name it they all have it. This is not some small remote area. This is vast devastation.
On that note, only the Army and NG within each state can provide the unique one on one support with their own communities. Having your own townsmen Army NG and Air policing their own communities has helped tremendously since they know their own areas having lived here all their lives. The AD presence we have(YES we have many active duty personnel with us in Jackson - SAR units as an example) has been exceptional and are living in our hangars, etc. With hundreds of helo and airlift operations within our state it has been pure chaos with no sky control. Things have become tolerable now since ATC is up and running in many areas. See and avoid for the past few days has been a concern, but the job must get done and it is.
Water, Ice, Meds, Electricity, Food, fuel of all kinds, transportation - you name it has been of the utmost priority! Just remember we're always talking thousands and the hundreds are in outlying areas unaccessible at times... Hence the several hundred distribution points.
Easy for everyone to play Tuesday Morning Quarterback (in this case), but unless you're here working it or even just flying it - you cannot imagine the logistical nightmare this is! Media is correct in many cases and completely backwards on others. There are many reasons things are being done the way they are. Plenty of Red Tape that goes on which we need to fix, but we work thru it!
As for Lousiana, we've gained some opportunity to help out there as well as rendering assistance with some C-17 lift which actually belongs to the AD since we're activated. Being on AD has been a nightmare since we can't help our own state outright with our former assets. We have other missions to perform, but after much contention we have met in the middle with Higher Air Force and have been allowed some support missions into the effected mission areas. Imagine having a few lifters an hour away from the devastation that could fly into a few areas with supplies and not being able to... We just want to help our own of course, but the 130 guys are doing a grand job for us!!! We're all working thru this although we had to wait a few days to work around this in a different manner. AD met us halfway and things are going much better. This is the kind of crap that goes on, but it's the LAW if you understand it.
Once again, New Orleans is a different ball game and that is a complete mess in many ways - it seems things may be getting better there a little. Very unfortunate issues going on there. I'm sure they're doing the best they can, even if it's less than half of what we're able to do right now! Our flow has been going rather well despite all these media rumors. This is devastation with thousands displaced and we appreciate all the assistance we are receiving. I can't believe I'm doing all this paperwork for it. Someone just give me a blank check with no questions - but as an overall assessment this can't be done any faster folks even with 100 billion on our doorstep...
Mike
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