Mississippi National Guard distributes food, assists with high-water rescues in Isaac’s aftermath

By Army Sgt. Scott Tynes

102nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

GULFPORT, Miss. - The storm surge and rising flood waters of a lingering Hurricane Isaac have had a telling effect on those along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and more than 1500 Mississippi National Guard members have assisting local and state agencies presence patrols, search, food and water distribution and search and rescue operations.

That includes rescuing residents from high water and flooded areas.

“Our search and rescue teams have been extremely effective,” said Army Brig. Gen. Robert Thomas, commander of Joint Task Force Magnolia. “Our force has rescued approximately 50 individuals in Hancock County and numerous pets that were stranded in flooded areas. Mississippi National Guard search and rescue efforts have also expanded into Jackson County. The need to help residents there is present as well.”

On Wednesday, members of the Mississippi Guard assisted the American Red Cross with distributing food, water and other items in areas affected by the storm. 

“Many of the shelters began running out of food early this morning,” said Tech. Sgt. Domingo Rodriguez of the 47th Civil Support Team. “The American Red Cross called the National Guard for help in transporting food from storage areas out to where they needed most in the shelters.”

Mississippi Guard elements positioned along the coast sent convoys through the swirling winds and deluge of rain to Red Cross distribution centers to pick up food for delivery to shelters in their area of operation.

“We have more than 2,000 residents in our shelters now and more than 36,000 meals on hand,” said Jay Huffstatler, chapter executive for the South Mississippi Chapter of the Red Cross. “The Guard is helping us to get those out to the three coastal counties.”

Mississippi Guard members used high-clearance trucks to navigated flooded roadways and other areas to get to areas to distribute the food items to the shelters in need.

“Right now, people need food and that is what we are doing,” Army 1st Lt. Jessica Lee, of Company E, 106th Brigade Support Battalion.

 Many of the relief efforts would not be possible without the assistance of the Mississippi Guard, said Windy Swetman, Harrison County District 1 supervisor, adding that he appreciated the efforts of the Soldiers and Airmen.

“We know you have families and we appreciate the sacrifices being made,” he said.

 The Mississippi Guard will continue to provide additional support to local agencies through presence patrols and with search and rescue and other operations as needed.

VR-57 Conquistadors Provide Support for Hurricane Isaac Relief Efforts

By Lt. j. g. Wesley Holzapfel, Commander Fleet Logistics Support Wing Public Affairs

NAVAL AIR STATION OCEANA, Va. (NNS) -- Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VR) 57 at Naval Air Station Oceana provided support for Hurricane Isaac relief efforts, Aug. 29.

A crew of the VR-57 'Conquistadors,' with their C-40A Clipper, quickly, and in the middle of their own mission, jumped into the support for Hurricane Isaac relief efforts by transporting a group of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9 aircrew and maintenance personnel from Norfolk to Dothan Regional Airport, in Alabama. This last-minute transport gave HSC-9 some much-needed manpower to begin preparations for the NORTHCOM-tasked Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief missions along the Gulf Coast.

The Conquistador crew was preparing to return to its home base at Naval Air Station North Island, in San Diego, when the Navy Air Logistics Office (NALO) scheduled the support.

"NALO and the VR-57 crew easily coordinated the no-notice mission which allowed for same-day execution and completion," said Cmdr. Tim Rascoll, transport aircraft requirements officer for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

VR-57 is one of 15 squadrons within Fleet Logistics Support Wing (FLSW) headquartered at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Fort Worth, Texas. FLSW, the largest functioning air wing in the Navy, was established to operate Navy-unique essential airlift aircraft on a worldwide basis. Its mission is to provide responsive, flexible, and rapid deployable air logistics support.

Thousands of Guardsmen Available to Governors in Isaac’s Path

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2012 – More than 33,500 National Guard personnel and nearly 100 aircraft are available to the governors of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, as Tropical Storm Isaac threatens states along the Gulf of Mexico, Defense Department officials said today.

Army Maj. Gen. Augustus L. Collins, Mississippi’s adjutant general, called about 1,500 National Guard personnel to state active duty this morning in support of emergency operations in anticipation of the storm’s potential landfall on or near the Mississippi Gulf Coast later this week. Guard soldiers and airmen will begin arriving today in coastal counties, preparing to support security operations, search and rescue, debris removal and commodity distribution, officials said.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal has activated 4,126 National Guard personnel to assist with evacuation and logistics.

Defense Department facilities near Isaac's projected path are taking actions to alert, prepare and secure their equipment, facility and personnel for the storm. Homestead Air Reserve Base, MacDill Air Force Base, Tyndall Air Force Base, Duke Field and Hurlburt Field in Florida, as well as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, La., have relocated their aircraft, or have evacuations in progress, officials said.

In a conference call with reporters today, Rick Knabb, director of the National Hurricane Center, said people should not take the storm lightly.

“In this case we have a tropical storm that we’re forecasting to become a hurricane,” he said, “and it certainly concerns me that people don’t take it seriously, because right now they see it as a tropical storm and may not believe that it’s going to strengthen.

“We cannot guarantee 100 percent how much it’s going to strengthen,” he continued. “We’re forecasting Category 1. It could end up being a little stronger than that, perhaps a 2, [or] it could end up being a little weaker than that, perhaps a tropical storm. That’s strong enough, in any of those cases, to produce problems with regard to wind and wind damage.”

A tropical storm packs winds up to 74 mph. A Category 1 hurricane has winds up to 95 mph andA Category 2 storm’s winds are in the 96 to 110 mph range. U.S. Northern Command is coordinating the Defense Department’s support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local response activities.

The command has activated portions of its Region 6 Defense Coordinating Office and Defense Coordinating Element to Baton Rouge, La., to validate, plan and coordinate potential DOD support of FEMA's hurricane response operations and to facilitate DOD's support of potential life-saving and response operations, Northcom officials said in a news release.

Northcom also has deployed portions of its Region 1 DCO and DCE to Clanton, Ala., and its Region 7 DCO and DCE to Pearl, Miss., to backfill the Region 4 DCO and DCE members, who are deployed to the Florida Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.

Additionally, the command has designated Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., and Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., as incident support bases.

(Claudette Roulo of American Forces Press Service contributed to this report.)

National Guard units in Southeast on alert for Isaac's impact

By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy

National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. (8/2712) - Army and Air National Guard elements throughout the southeastern United States are preparing for Tropical Storm Isaac, which is making its way past the Florida Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict that as the storm moves through the Gulf it will grow to hurricane strength by the time it makes landfall on the northern Gulf coast sometime Tuesday.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency and has activated 30 National Guard personnel. About 5,800 personnel are available in Florida if needed.

A state of emergency has also been declared by the governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in advance of the storm. There are approximately 10 Alabama National Guard personnel that have been activated with another 70 Soldiers and Airmen set to be called up for a state mission today.

In Mississippi, Army Maj. Gen. Augustus L. Collins, the adjutant general of the Mississippi National Guard, has called approximately 1,500 Guard personnel to state active duty in support of emergency operations in anticipation of Isaac’s landfall on or near the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Soldiers and Airmen will begin arriving today in the coastal counties preparing to support security operations, search and rescue, debris removal and water and ice distribution.

The Louisiana National Guard has called up on state active duty orders approximately 4100 Soldiers and Airmen in preparation of the storm making landfall.    

In Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee officials have identified National Guard units that may be needed. Those Soldiers and Airmen are on a heightened state of awareness.

Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Army National Guard had approximately 50 Soldiers from the 190th Engineer Battalion on duty in response to the storm. Generator repair technicians from the unit repaired four generators at a nearby fire station.

 And at the National Guard Bureau elements have been on duty monitoring the storm.

"The National Guard Bureau's Crisis Management Element has been alerted to work 24/7 to assist affected states in positioning people and equipment to facilitate the most effective response to the storm," National Guard Bureau officials said.

‘Hurricane Hunters’ Track Isaac as Southcom, Northcom Prepare

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2012 – With Tropical Storm Isaac bearing down on the Dominican Republic and Haiti and threatening to strengthen over the eastern Caribbean, the “Hurricane Hunters” from the Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron are in the air, relaying critical data to National Weather Service forecasters in Miami.

Meanwhile, staffs at both the U.S. Southern and Northern Commands are monitoring the storm closely and ensuring they are ready to provide support to civilian authorities, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Three six-person crews from the 53rd WRS and their maintainers and support staff deployed to St. Croix from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., last weekend, Air Force Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, the squadron’s chief meteorologist, told American Forces Press Service. Operating out of the international airport there, they began flying their specially equipped C-130J Hercules aircraft through the storm Aug. 21.

On a typical mission that can run up to 12 hours, the aircrews crisscross the storm in what the teams call an “alpha pattern,” he explained. Sophisticated onboard instruments and small canisters dropped by parachute to the ocean’s surface collect accurate measurements of the storm’s location and intensity.

That information is fed continuously to the National Hurricane Center via an onboard satellite link. In addition, the aircraft sends automated messages every 10 minutes, relaying barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, and other measurements.

“The reason this data is critical is because, with satellites, you can track where storms are and get a general picture, but you can’t peer into the storm and physically measure what is happening at the ocean’s surface,” Talbot said. “That is the important piece of information you need to know when it comes to providing warnings to the public. The emergency management community needs to know what is going on near the surface of the ocean, because those are the winds that are going to come ashore.”

With about six missions already under their belts during the past three days, Talbot said, the pace will pick up considerably as Isaac moves west toward the United States. “Currently, we are doing about three missions a day, but that will go up to four or five when the storm comes within 300 miles of the U.S. coastline,” he said.

The Hurricane Hunters expect to move west along with the storm, redeploying to Keesler Air Force Base to resume those missions beginning this weekend. In the event that the crews have to evacuate Keesler, Talbot said, they already have alternate operating sites lined up. “We track these things pretty closely, because if we end up having to jump from here, we still have to continue flying and providing that data while we are evacuating our own resources,” he said. “It becomes a big, tangled web, but it always works out pretty well.”

As a precaution, aircraft and ships are being moved out of the storm’s possible path and other assets are being secured, according to Southcom spokesman Army Lt. Col. Darryl Wright. Planning teams are busy running rehearsal meetings and preparing to verify personnel and resource requests, if USAID issues them, he said.

Wright emphasized that military support, if provided, would be part of a coordinated U.S. response led by civilian authorities. “We conduct close coordination and planning and provide DOD support to relief efforts upon request,” he said. “Through this close coordination, we ensure that we respond with the most efficient means available to the U.S. government.”

In terms of disaster response, Wright said efficiency is typically more important than speed in reducing suffering and saving lives.

Northcom, too, is in a monitoring mode. But with the storm expected to intensify late this weekend when it hits the Atlantic and the Florida Straits, the command deployed a defense coordinating officer and element to Puerto Rico on Aug. 20 to support FEMA, John Cornelio, Northcom’s media operations chief, told American Forces Press Service.

The element of about 20 people is assessing the situation and standing ready to provide assistance, if requested. “We have learned the value of being forward enough to cut down on the response time, if required,” Cornelio said.

With Isaac’s path still anyone’s guess, officials say it’s too soon to know whether it will hit Tampa, site of next week’s Republican National Convention. Northcom has a team deployed there to support the Secret Service during the convention, Cornelio reported.