Military Better Prepared Than Ever for Disaster Relief, Official Says

By Charlie

Interesting assertion, with the high unit deployment turnover:

The Defense Department and U.S. military are better prepared than ever to aid disaster-relief efforts, and have improved measures for tracking military families affected by catastrophe, a top Pentagon official said yesterday.

Among other services, department entities are poised to assist with evacuations, emergency transportation and search-and-rescue missions as the nation braces for the hurricane season that starts June 1, Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs, said.

“Today, the Department of Defense -- active, reserve and National Guard -- is better prepared to assist civil authorities than at any other time in our nation's history,” McHale said at a Hurricane Awareness Day news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency here.

However, the thoroughly debunked media template of "the military response to Katrina was botched" is replayed again here:

The Defense Department also is working with U.S. Northern Command to implement a system to track and account for troops and military families evacuated or displaced as a result of natural or man-made calamity. The effort has been spurred on by the chaos that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, McHale said.

From that Popular Mechanics article:

Bumbling by top disaster-management officials fueled a perception of general inaction, one that was compounded by impassioned news anchors. In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest--and fastest-rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm's landfall.

Dozens of National Guard and Coast Guard helicopters flew rescue operations that first day--some just 2 hours after Katrina hit the coast. Hoistless Army helicopters improvised rescues, carefully hovering on rooftops to pick up survivors. On the ground, "guardsmen had to chop their way through, moving trees and recreating roadways," says Jack Harrison of the National Guard. By the end of the week, 50,000 National Guard troops in the Gulf Coast region had saved 17,000 people; 4000 Coast Guard personnel saved more than 33,000.

I was there, I know...Will this media template ever be put to bed??

May 27, 2008 04:32 PM Homeland Security

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Comments

I would just like to point out that these articles never seem to mention the men and women of the Civil Air Patrol - the Civilian Auxiliary of the USAF - who responded to Katrina, and who stand ready to respond to any other domestic natural disaster. All for free, in fact they generally take the same kind of leave from their "day jobs" without the same kinds of "protections" as their Guard and Reserve cousins.

I was there also - I know.

Scott Murphy · May 27, 2008 07:56 PM

How about 500,000 North Koreans invading the south again. JC...get some focus.

Seg · May 27, 2008 08:08 PM

Apparently the media template is alive and well. Just go on over to Foxnews.com and read what the former press secratary spews out about Katrina.

I wasn't there, so I can't speak with firsthand knowledge, but my take is that everything that could be done in the first 48 hours was done. As you indicated, this is yet another media anti-Bush spin. Believe me, if Billy/Hillary were the ones in office during Katrina it would be portrayed as a magnificent response.

GregS

GregS · May 28, 2008 04:22 AM