Texas National Guard Supports Texans, Neighbors
By Capt. Steve Alvarez, USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2005 -- As Hurricane Rita gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico, 3,600 Texas National Guard soldiers and airmen were mobilizing and readying to assist Texans in the aftermath of the storm. By Sept. 20, four days before the storm made landfall, guardsmen were already in place along Interstate 35 and moving into the storm as it neared the Texas coast.
A slice of that 3,600-person force, about 1,500 airmen and soldiers, was reassigned from duties in New Orleans. They were refitted with fresh gear and supplies and redeployed to a forward staging area near Beaumont, Texas.
Texas Guard security forces were the first to arrive at the Superdome in New Orleans and start to restore order to the city following Hurricane Katrina, Army Maj. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez, adjutant general of the Texas National Guard, said.
"We drove in with Texas flags flying on our Humvees, and we were cheered," Rodriguez said. Now, Rodriguez and his troops are cheered as they drive into and fly over the many cities along the Louisiana-Texas border, which was hardest hit by Hurricane Rita Sept. 24 when it came ashore with sustained winds of 120 mph.
"Fortunately, it's not so bad here. And as we recover, we can send resources where they're needed more," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez leads a force of about 16,000 Army National Guardsmen and 3,000 Air National Guardsmen. They are working in the affected areas providing search and rescue, humanitarian relief, security, transportation, communications, medical assistance and debris removal.
According to officials at Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office, the National Guard has helped provide 167 water trucks containing nearly 8.5 million half-liter bottles of water, 60 ice trucks, and 17 refrigerated trucks are staging in Beaumont have been or are being dispatched to impacted areas. More than 500,000 gallons of fuel have been delivered to impacted areas since Sept. 22, including more than 25,000 gallons dispensed directly to over 5,000 stranded motorists, and 154 generators have been delivered to communities suffering power losses, with a priority given to hospitals and medical facilities.
"When it came time for the hurricane to hit, we were here," Rodriguez said. "We were poised, we were ready."
Rodriguez is clear to point out that the National Guard system is effective because they are an entity accustomed to working regularly with civilian authorities at all levels.
"It's a great relationship. It works. We rehearse and practice periodically together," Rodriguez said. "The Texas National Guard has decades of experience working with the governor's Division of Emergency Management. We take their 'taskers,' and we help them define their needs." And, Rodriguez said, "We know how to say 'Yes, sir' to a county mayor or judge."
The Texas National Guard's philosophy on disaster response is based on one premise: speed.
"You have to be there early, and you have to be there with enough," Rodriguez said. "You have to be there right at the edge of the problem, get in there, get in there strong."
Rodriguez is already looking at ways even good execution can be improved.
"We can always do better," Rodriguez said. "We can always refine it."
No larger evacuation effort has ever been accomplished, Texas officials said. Texas safely evacuated approximately 2.7 million people in 36 hours. By comparison, the Berlin Airlift evacuated 177,000 people and officials evacuated 200,000 and 135,000 respectively following the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear disasters.
But he said, one thing remains true, "The Army has a role, the Air Force has a role, but the Guard has a lead in this."
Only 34 percent of the Guard's equipment is available for use in the United States, they said, adding that the president should spend the money to re-equip the Guard.
So the National Guard is going to use M-1's and Bradley's to relieve New Orleans?
The fact is that Katrina was so powerful and frightening that many police and rescuers fled faster than Katrina's winds blew. No slam on the many brave souls who did help, and no real slam on those who ran; that's the power of nature over man.
As some people discovered, there is no power equal to nature and men can do nothing to prevent a natural disaster and little to help while it rages. All of which makes me wonder how many people prayed a little extra right before Katrina hit land, as opposed to those who figured Uncle Sam would take care of everything?
This sentence is all we need to see of the Capital Times article.
The guards should be returned to their pre GHW Bush posture and mission scope. IOW they belong here at home to be used by states for disasters or in event we are attacked within our on borders. True as some say an M-1 may not be helpfull in some places but then again it very well may especially tracks.
A Duce & half, 5 ton, and hummer, are great utility work horses that would be highly usable along with such others things as the water buffalo.
National Guards serve under the orders of their state governor and as such the oath to that fact is included in enlistment. I honestly don't believe too many persons understand the make up of NG units namely Army NG's. At least 50% are prior service vets from either the Navy or Air Force. IOW they have had zero field combat training. A person can be a Staff Sergent or even TOP without having ever served on active duty in the army. They were never intended to be a rotation replacement to foreign deployments but rather one to fill deployed active duty functions inside the CONUS. There are exceptions but what is going on now will ultimately destroy the State National Guard Programs.
Add to this many members of the state NG's are also your local deputies, volunteer firemen. parimedics, rescue squad members as well. Placing them on a one year active duty foreign deployment half way around the world takes that many of such out of the local community. Keeping the NG's stateside makes them more aviable for domestic emergencies which they have by tradition handled.
I think there should be a Naval National Guard as well for coastal states. Think about it. The Navy decommissions such ships as LST's and troop carriers along with it's landing craft. They would have been usable especially in the last two hurricanes.
Now to the Air National Guards. Choppers anyone? Enough said as we have seen what they can do.
Congress and our POTUS seriously needs to address the ongoing End Troop Strength crisis of which is the same number as at the end of Slick Willies first term. This was one of the poorest policies Clinton concieved yet the current GOP Congress and POTUS have failed to do anything about it except use our state National Guards as a stop gap measure. Good well trained guards are going to start leaving the service as their employers will not be able to have their companies futures placed on hold each time they are deployed. Family minded NG's will take care of family first as well. I would say this number may possibly reach up to 50% of the ranks and higher in the officer ranks which usually are college grads and take high cuts in pay on these deployments.
I think 5 years into someones tenure as Sec of Def is long enough to study on the matter and I think congress needs to take action. Yes their is a war going on. But Yes our congress and POTUS have had since 9/11 to make provisions for allowing sufficent full time active duty service members to be recruited and trained. Just think a person joining by November 1, 2001 would have nearly 4 years behind them as of November. They would be seasoned troops. Four years after 9/11 and we still have NG's deployed on foreign soil when they should have had replacements trained three years ago.
The Bush idea of using the active duty military as federal responders is not needed IF they would simply use the National Guards for what used to be their main mission. Also deploying guards and their equipments makes our home front a bit less defenseless.