Posted on 07/13/2005 5:20:28 PM PDT by SandRat
ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, July 13, 2005) – More than 5,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from four states rolled out or stood by to help when the hurricane season began earlier than usual this year.
Hurricane Dennis battered Pensacola and the surrounding Florida Panhandle July 10, a Sunday afternoon and evening, with 120-mph winds, and cut a northwest track into Alabama before quickly losing steam.
It was the first major hurricane in seven decades to hit the United States in July and one of only seven major hurricanes to occur in July during 150 years that records have been kept, The Washington Post reported.
Some 2,600 Florida National Guard troops turned out for the Category 3 blow that, according to initial estimates, caused between $1 billion and $2.5 billion in insured damage in this country. The Associated Press reported the storm left more than 550,000 customers in four states without power.
A couple of thousand Florida Guard troops supported law enforcement and civil relief efforts in the stricken western part of the state.
“Our troops were distributing food, water and ice to people at 31 distribution points in Florida’s four western-most counties the day after the storm,” said Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, a Florida National Guard spokesman. “That was cut back to 21 distribution points in three counties by Tuesday,” he added.
Members of the 3rd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group supported search and rescue operations conducted by state and local agencies. Other Guard members helped police provide security at traffic control points and patrolled neighborhoods.
Three battalions from the 265th Air Defense Artillery formed the main Guard force in the panhandle, Tittle said. The 2nd Battalion of the 265th had returned from a 12-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in April and was pressed into state active duty to deal with one of the hurricanes that Florida Guard troops have come to know all to well.
A total of 7,000 Army and Air Guard troops responded to the four storms that ripped into their state last August and September, Tittle said.
Some who turned out for Dennis were still recovering from the wrath of 2004.
“I hope that Dennis moves farther west and doesn’t touch the state,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeffery Sargent of Vero Beach. “I’m still working with my insurance company and contractors to complete repairs from damage to my home from last year’s hurricanes.”
Still, the Guard troops turned out because they knew they had the skills and the training to help their community.
“Our troops are packed and ready to go,” said Lt. Col. Troy Ratliff, the 2nd Battalion’s commander. “Many of these Soldiers recently returned from Afghanistan and have skills in conducting security missions over there that will be important in this state mission.”
Ratliff also promised that his Soldiers will be ready to deal with the future emergencies that afflict Florida, especially since weather forecasters are concerned that this could be another active hurricane season.
“If there are more storms, we’ll be ready for them,” the battalion commander vowed. “These guys have been through a lot. We’ll just [regroup] and do it again.”
Meanwhile, Air National Guard people in that region flew fighter, transport and air refueling planes from bases threatened by the storm to locations out of harm’s way. They also made sure remaining aircraft were safely protected in hangers.
Elsewhere, 1,100 Guard troops were immediately available for duty in Louisiana because it was a monthly training weekend; 780 were available for emergency relief operations in Alabama, and about 600 were placed on state active duty in Mississippi, according Guard spokesmen in those states.
Guard members stood up joint operations centers. Engineer teams were pre-positioned and prepared to help with dump trucks, Humvees and road-clearing equipment. Military police patrols were primed to help local and state police.
Most of those troops did not have to swing into action because Dennis did not hit those states as hard as originally feared.
“We didn’t get the bad weather we thought we were going to get,” said Lt. Col. Tim Powell in Mississippi where Guard people set up a forward operations center at Camp Shelby, about 50 miles north of the state’s Gulf coast. “It seemed like 1995 when we went forward four or five times but didn’t have to do anything.
“But you can’t wait. You have to be ready,” Powell added. “It gives the public a feeling of comfort that the Guard is ready to go.”
(Editor’s note: Master Sgt. Bob Haskell writes for the National Guard Bureau. Jon Myatt, Florida Department of Military Affairs, contributed to this report.)
Air and Army Guard Help at home too!
I love the Warriors.........
I just love these young Warriors that came after me. They make me proud.
Hubba-hubba!!!!!
God Bless these men and women. Helping others while they themselves are still dealing with their own situations from last years storm. WOW.
I was the maintenance warrant with the 227th General Supply Company, 129th Corps Support Battalion out of Ft. Campbell when Hurricane Andrew hit- we were the first active duty unit on the ground in Florida City...high adventure, and yes, I do have a tee shirt...
Ditto! :-))
Apparently a well deserved T-shirt.
I can see you steaming from here.
LOL! So does this mean you're hoping for another hurricane and power outage, so they'll send in the soldiers?
I still have my Andrew nursing t-shirt too! Worked and stayed in Tent City. So many stories...the MPs had the best coffee, shared before dawn while learning about the overnight excitement. High excitement is a good description.
it was my favorite deployment...we spent two weeks in Florida City, and then relocated to Cutler Ridge, up by the zoo, next to the Gold Coast Railroad museum...18 wheelers, with every good imaginable would offload at night at our huge portable warehouse (the clam), and during the day, 10th Mountain Division redistributed everything to the neighborhoods...I never had so much fun...(well, except for that second tour in Korea, but that's another story)
Almost...those handsome young men would definitely bring a smile to my face, disaster or not.
Bless you.
They bring a smile to my face - but I would rather run into them in the local saloon as opposed to a disaster relief site.
BTTT!!!!!!!
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