Air Force support to FEMA led relief efforts in New Orleans continue

Members of the 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery Regiment of the Vermont National Guard aboard prepare to leave Burlington International Airport, Burlington, Vt., Sept. 4, 2005, heading toward New Orleans, La., to provide security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The C-130 is assigned to the Sioux City, Iowa, Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Trubia) (Released)

Blackanthem.com, WASHINGTON, D.C., September 05, 2005

In the last 24 hours 103 Air Force aircraft flew more than 537 missions. To date, 963 missions have been flown.

Those missions have moved more than 15,000 passengers and 4613 tons of supplies and equipment.

In addition, Air Force helicopter crews have saved more than 2000 people and an Air Force Expeditionary Medical Squadron located at Louis Armstrong International Airport has treated more than 5000 people.

America's Air Force is answering the call for emergency assistance in this crisis. Our total force - active, Air Guard and Air Force Reserve units -- using a mix of air support, transportable hospitals, logistics and vital services [such as civil engineering] will remain engaged as long as needed


Hurricane relief efforts underway at Keesler Air Force Base


KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. - Hurricane Katrina tried to give Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., a knockout blow. But though it left a huge path of destruction in its wake -- it did not succeed.

The massive storm devastated the base. No doubt about that, base officials said. And it claimed the base's once vibrant training mission. But while staggered, Keesler still stands.

"We're in survival mode right now," said Staff Sgt. Chris Galletto, a command post controller. His job -- made even more critical by the circumstances -- is to pass and receive information. "So we can't really look forward to, or anticipate, what's to come."
 

But whatever the future holds for the Gulf Coast, he said, things "will not be the same here."

Fortunately, Keesler was more prepared than some for the hurricane. The base practiced hurricane evacuations and the Keesler community made it to shelters. Then the storm's winds and tidal surge took most of their homes. Many remain in shelters. There are few places on the base that did not sustain some kind of damage.

Afterward, the base breathed a collective sigh of relief, said Brig. Gen. William T. Lord, the 81st Training Wing commander. Still, he said, there is apprehension in the air. People are asking "what are we supposed to do next?"

"There are a lot questions, and we're attempting, with the help of a lot of folks, to answer those questions," the general said.

But with the Air Force mobilized to help in rescue and relief efforts, the answers may take some time.

One thing is for sure, now the base has a new mission. It is to safely recover and evacuate its people and then bed down the follow-on forces that will help the region recover, the general said.

"The main mission now is the recovery of our people," the general said. Even with its limited communications, the base has accounted for "approximately 98 percent" of its people, he said. Out of the 16,000 at the base before the storm, by Sept. 2, only 127 remain unaccounted for.

"We believe those are people who got out of the local area" before the storm, the general said.

During the storm, 6,006 people were in base shelters.

The general said the base is evacuating people who no longer have a mission at the base, "since we can't do technical training in facilities that are destroyed." Earlier in the week, Air Force transport aircraft landed at the base's damaged runway and took critical hospital patients to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

At Air Education and Training Command Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, Col. Susan Helms said, "Training at Keesler Air Force Base is suspended for the foreseeable future."

General Lord put that more into perspective, saying training at the base might not start again until March, "and it may be longer" than that.

And as far as what will happen at Keesler, Colonel Helms said, "It's too soon to know the exact recovery plan for all Keesler Air Force Base technical training programs, or how long students will have to remain at their new training locations."

What is clear is that everyone at Keesler must move somewhere else. The Air Force is evacuating students to other bases. And the evacuation of the rest of the people at the base has already started.

Students are leaving aboard Air Force cargo planes for other bases. More than 1,000 Airmen fresh out of basic training, or in their first few weeks of technical training, left for Sheppard AFB, Texas, on Sept. 1. There, personnel officials will decide their future. General Lord said some may receive their Air Force specialty if they were within a few days of graduating.

If not, he said, "They may be reclassified and go to other places to train."

At Sheppard, another huge technical training base, the evacuated students might just wait for another assignment. The commander of the 82nd Training Wing, Brig. Gen. James A. Whitmore, said his people are trying to make their transition as seamless as possible.

"We all need to be very sensitive to the fact that these are very young Airmen new to our Air Force," General Whitmore said. "We need to provide comfort for them."

Other students at Keesler are also leaving. About half of the nearly 1,300 there on temporary duty for upgrade training have already left the base. Most in their own vehicles. The rest, General Lord said, will go to Maxwell AFB, Ala.

"We need to evacuate them so they can get back with their families," General Lord said.

Also, more than 40 international students and some 30 of their family members have already evacuated to Maxwell so they can return to their home countries, the general said.
 

That leaves people assigned to Keesler who live on and off the base. The general said base officials are handling their cases individually.

Those with no damage to their homes may elect to stay at the base until they receive an assignment. Or they may elect to go to an AETC base that can lodge them -- like Maxwell -- to await reassignment. People with destroyed homes are living in Keesler temporary lodging while they wait to resolve their situation. They, too, will then evacuate to an interim base. And in some cases people who lost their homes may elect to return to their home of records to await resolution of their status, the general said.

The Air Force has cancelled all assignments to Keesler, the general said. And, he said, people assigned to the base -- who have not returned -- should not return. Instead, they should call the number to the Air Force Personnel Center Personnel readiness center for instructions at (800) 435-9941.
 

Members of the 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery Regiment of the Vermont National Guard get off a bus on the flightline to board a KC-135 aircraft out of Sioux City, Iowa, Air National Guard, Sept. 4, 2005, to head towards New Orleans, La., to provide security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The C-130 is assigned to the Sioux City, Iowa, Air National Guard. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Trubia) (Released)

The general said base officials are being sensitive to the immediate needs of Airmen and their families. The main goal, he said, is to ensure Airmen have a say in their future and on how to best take care of their families as "we get them back into the mainstream of our Air Force."

Sergeant Galletto said the strategy works. Before the hurricane, he sent his wife and two children to stay with friends at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The Gallettos had packed their belongings and were ready to move. But he fears all his household goods are lost in the storm. The stress of not knowing is something many at the base are experiencing. But he said all is not lost.

"I've gotten whatever I've needed in support to take care of my family," he said. "Everybody has worked their butts off to help us."

Since his family is already at Eglin, the sergeant hopes to get an assignment there.

As the base comes back to life, outside the base gates -- what's left of them -- there is disorder like never before. In many places along the ravaged Gulf Coast, chaos and anarchy are the rule. Armed looters pillage at will and snipers take shots at rescue crews. Keesler did not escape that reality and, at one time, Airmen had to stop looters from getting on the base.

People are talking of leveling New Orleans. And the city of Biloxi, for decades the partner that helped the base, now relies on its uniformed neighbors for the sustenance of life.

But as the people at the Gulf Coast base try to recover from the horrors brought by the storm, they are already moving on. General Lord, who lost all his belongings when a 22-foot wall of water smashed through his on-base home, said Keesler will recover. And it is because of the people and their extraordinary resiliency.

"Keesler will rebound. I'm not certain what Keesler's mission will be," General Lord said. "But certainly the people here are prepared to plan it to be better and stronger that we ever were."

At the moment, Sergeant Galletto said, Keesler is just working to take care of its own. And until that's done, he said, "I'm glad I'm here and not outside the gate." But in a couple of days, "we can reach out to the people outside the gate," he said.

General Lord said Biloxi and other communities close to the base are already getting help from the base. The hurricane hit the communities hard and some do not have electricity and clean water. The base has little reserves to give.

"But we're taking what little we have and sharing it with our friends," he said.

The general said the base is planning to divert the water from one of its main water towers into the city. And it is providing the fire department the diesel fuel needed to keep its emergency generators running. And a major telecommunications provider is building a cellular telephone system on the base to restore some communications.

Because "the strength of our Air Force is clearly in the fine people that are in it, Keesler will rebound," the general said.

And with help from Airmen at the base, so will the surrounding communities.
 

U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Paul LeClair drives a fork lift filled with backpacks while Master Sgt. David Wheeler directs him at the Burlington International Airport, Burlington, Vt, on Sept. 4, 2005. Both are members of the Vermont Air National Guard who were called in to load the supplies of the 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery Regiment of the Vermont ANG onto a KC-135 aircraft out of Sioux City, Iowa, ANG. The Vermont Guard members are headed down to New Orleans, La., to provide security in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Trubia) (Released)

Air Force MASF is last stop for some hurricane victims in New Orleans


LOUIS ARMSTRONG NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, La. - Usually, this airport is pretty sterile. With waxed floors and fresh air, everybody moves through quickly and nobody plans staying long.

That was before Hurricane Katrina. Now, instead of businessmen and vacationers, a different kind of traveler packs the airport -- evacuees trying to catch a plane out. Among them are many people who are sick or injured during the hurricane.

But a total force team of Airmen are helping get the sick and injured out of the airport at a steady clip of about 1,500 every 24 hours.

"I have made two trips to Iraq," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Wayne Olsen of the 433rd Air Evacuation Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. "The mass casualties here are worse than I've ever seen. Worse than Iraq.

"I don't know how many people are here, but for every 100 people I move, another 200 show up," he said.

To keep up with the numbers, an Air Force medical rapid response force is operating a 25-bed hospital with emergency and surgical capabilities. There is also a mental health team and a dental team operating at the airport.

Plus, there is a 60-person mobile aeromedical staging facility from Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland set up in an airport concourse and providing support and medical care to patients awaiting evacuation. This is the last stop for patients -- many on stretchers -- before they board a plane, Dr. Olsen said.

"We're staging patients and taking them out of this concourse to the C-130 (Hercules)," he said.

Capt. Edward Greer, a flight nurse, said a team of medics provides patients last-minute care. They tend to their needs, provide fluids and keep them company.

"We provide medical intervention and stabilization," Dr. Olsen said. "And we have been moving large loads of people."

Then specialists from several civilian agencies move patients to the aircraft.

Patients come from multiple areas outside the airport. The people arrive by bus and ambulance and go through a triage procedure before being sent to the staging facility. Then they get a flight to a hospital.

"And there are lines and lines of helicopters coming in," to help fly them out, Dr. Olson said.

Just outside one of the terminals, in a place where most common people never get to venture, there are more helicopters lined up than most people will ever see in a lifetime. Some are from Air Force Special Operations Command, and there are many Navy and Army helicopters. Also on the busy tarmac are Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard aircraft and civilian helicopters.

They line up after having been to New Orleans. Each helicopter brings patients plucked from a staging area inside the city. As soon as they unload them -- families, nursing home patients, children and even a dog or two -- they leap into the air and head back to perhaps the worst natural disaster area the United States has seen.

The helicopters have been rotating in and out of the city nonstop since Aug. 30, and they will not stop until the relief operation is over.

"Once they get off the helicopter, they are triaged," Dr. Olsen said. "That is happening downstairs in the baggage claim area."

Dr. Olsen said sometimes there are about 500 people in the triage area at one time.

The worst of the patients make their way through triage and into the staging facility, in preparation for departure via airplane to any number of hospitals in the United States.

Most of the patients are from nursing homes and hospitals and are in dire straits.

"We are clearing out the nursing homes," the doctor said. "Those patients are extremely ill. Many haven't had water or food. Some are on dialysis and haven't had treatment for days. We are seeing the results of that."

One of the friendly Airmen some patients see before their medevac flight is that of flight nurse Maj. Stacia Belyeu. On Aug. 30, Major Belyeu, of the 452nd Air Medical Evacuation Squadron at March Air Reserve Base, Calif., got her call to duty.

"I saw it on the news and wondered if we'd get a call, and we did. And I was ready," she said.

The major has family and friends in New Orleans, and she lived there for three years. So the job is more personal.

"What happened to the people of New Orleans, I think, is horrendous and sad," she said. "I still know people who live here, but they were able to leave."

Major Belyeu will take some of the elderly and infirm on stretchers out of New Orleans. It will be a relatively short flight, to Ellington Field, Texas, which is near Houston. Hundreds of evacuees are already there.

"This is what I've trained to do, and this is what I like to do," said the major, a reservist who is a nurse in civilian life. "For me, the flight nurse is a different kind of nurse and it is something I really cherish and enjoy doing."

She will get many chances to do her job before the Air Force ends its support to the region.

 

Members from the 147th Fighter Wing onboard a C-130 H2 aircraft from the 181st Airlift Squadron, Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas, prepare to depart for Louisiana from the Texas Air National Guard, Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, on Sept. 3, 2005, in support of Hurricane Katrina relief operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Patrick Nugent) (Released)

Air Force BEAR Base Deploys in Support of JTF Katrina


HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M - Airmen from the 49th Materiel Maintenance Group are deploying in support of Joint Task Force Katrina, the massive relief effort directed at providing humanitarian aid to Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Category 4 hurricane that hit Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and west Florida Aug. 29.

The 49th MMG, the only Basic Expeditionary Airfield Resources Base group in the Air Force, is deploying four BEAR Base sets and approximately 50 personnel by air to oversee setup operations.

The 49th MMG received the deployment tasking Friday. As of 2 p.m. Sunday, four C-5 Galaxy cargo planes and approximately 30 personnel had left and another six to 10 cargo aircraft were expected to arrive, said the 49th Fighter Wing Disaster Control Center. Each C-5 Galaxy aircraft has a cargo capacity of approximately six Greyhound buses and each BEAR Base set fills three or four C-5s.

The BEAR Base sets are being airlifted primarily to Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. Some BEAR Base assets are being sent by truck to Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, La. and may be diverted to Keesler Air Force Base near Biloxi, Miss., said Lt. Col. Steven F. Peters, 49th MMG deputy commander.

"Right now, one kit is being sent to New Orleans International Airport, one set is being sent to Barksdale, and we're not sure where the other two are going right now," Colonel Peters said. "The rumblings we've heard is that the final destination for one of the kits is Keesler."

Each set can provide the basic needs for approximately 500 people -- all the camp needs is a place to set up and a source of water, said Col. Michael Arnold, 49th MMG commander.

"We're shipping it by trucks, we're shipping it by airplane -- we're shipping it by anything we can get out of Holloman," Colonel Arnold said. "As soon as we have a site we can set up on, we go in over a day or two and have it set up in a week or two."

BEAR Base sets include tents, kitchens, dining facilities, shower and latrine facilities, power generators and reverse osmosis water purification systems.

BEAR Base expects to be providing facilities for approximately 2,000 people. The facilities will be most likely used by relief workers, but may be used by hurricane refugees if necessary, Colonel Arnold said.

"This [BEAR Base] is primarily set up for supporting combat operations," Colonel Arnold said. "In this case, this base is perfect for humanitarian needs because it has the basic needs."

One of the most important functions of BEAR Base is its reverse osmosis water purification units, which can take most non-potable water and turn it into water that is safe to drink. Reverse osmosis units are being concentrated at the New Orleans airport because there is no source of drinkable water anywhere in the city, Colonel Arnold said.

"One reverse osmosis unit can make 600 gallons of water an hour," he said.

BEAR Base personnel began preparing the assets for the deployment Thursday, just after receiving indication that a tasking was being prepared.

"The equipment is being prepped right now," said Master Sgt. Tom Wickre, 49th Material Maintenance Squadron yardmaster, while watching large pallets of cargo being moved by forklift Thursday. "We're making sure the property gets there all right. A 550-[man] set takes up approximately 72 palletized positions."

Approximately 14 personnel are deploying with each set, and will meet up with Civil Engineer units deployed from other locations, which will help BEAR Base personnel set up the facilities, Colonel Peters said.

"Our 14-person team will link up with a Civil Engineer team. Depending on the size of the team . and depending on the conditions, it's going to take a week or more to get the structures up. Between getting the generators up and running the power cables -- we hope we can do that concurrently."

The MMG is currently expected to remain deployed for approximately 30 days.

Holloman has also deployed one chaplain's assistant with the MMG personnel. Tasking for other Holloman personnel is anticipated but has not been finalized, according to Maj. John Bryan, 49th Fighter Wing public affairs director.

The 49th MMG has participated in other humanitarian aid missions in the past, including a deployment in 1991 in support of Operation Provide Comfort in Turkey and a humanitarian aid mission for victims of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
 

U.S. Navy Sailors from NATTC and MATSG-21 on Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., load emergency supplies onto helicopters, Sept. 4, 2005, which will deliver the supplies to survivors and evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The Navy's involvement in the humanitarian assistance operations is being led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in conjunction with the Department of Defense. (U.S. Navy photo by Gary Nichols) (Released)

Keesler Air Force Base sends aid to Biloxi Community


KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. - About 30 U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force volunteers from Keesler Air Force Base will bring much needed food and water to Biloxi's hurricane battered community.

A 40-foot trailer loaded with meals ready-to-eat (MREs) and bottled water arrived at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's distribution center located at the 1st Baptist Church on Popps Ferry Road in Biloxi.

Recovery efforts at Keesler are ongoing, but as personnel continue to arrive and the base's infrastructure is rebuilt, the base can provide additional to the local community.

"We're still trying to get our facilities up and running on the base, but this is just one way we can do something for our local community, which has done so much for us over the years," said Brig. Gen. William Lord, 81st Training Wing commander.


Air Force provides broad-based hurricane relief effort


PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo - More than 193 people from the Air Force Space Command began deploying in support of Joint Task Force Katrina, Sept. 2, 2005.
 

Sgt. Scott Kennedy, assigned to the 2228th Military Police Company, Army National Guard, secures a landing zone for the the aircrew of the Oklahoma Army National Guard delivering medical supplies to a New Orleans hospital during hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana, on Sept 4, 2005. The humanitarian assistance operations is a joint effort led by the Department of Defense in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class (AW/SW) Robert McRill) (Released)

AFSPC members from Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.; F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.; Malmstrom AFB, Mont.; Minot AFB, N.D.; Patrick AFB, Fla.; Vandenberg AFB, Calif.; and Peterson AFB, are converging on 10 duty locations currently participating in disaster relief efforts, said Maj. Randy Olsen, AFSPC Space Operations Squadron operations flight commander.

Columbus AFB, Miss.; Keesler AFB, Miss.; Camp Shelby, Miss.; Gulfport, Miss.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; Tyndall AFB, Fla.; Maxwell AFB, Ala.; Lackland AFB, Tex.; the city of New Orleans, La.; and Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans will receive assistance from AFSPC Airmen and civilian employees who work in 13 specialized job categories, said Technical Sgt. Dan Rosera, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of AFSPC Space Operations Squadron communications flight.

Staff officers, civil engineers, communications, contracting, logistics plans, manpower, personnel, power pro, public affairs, services, security forces, transportation, helicopter maintenance people and aircrews are providing much-needed aid to those affected by the hurricane, Sergeant Rosera added. However, security forces and civil engineer people make up the bulk of those deploying.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency submitted a request for assistance to U.S. Northern Command, who, in turn, started the request for forces process. NORTHCOM coordinated with 1st Air Force to identify unique resources and an approximate number of people needed to support the effort. First Air Force then contacted the AFSPC Air Expeditionary Force Center, who worked with the AFSPC AEF deployment section. Deployment staffers worked with individual AFSPC functional managers to select those who would deploy to JTF Katrina, said Colonel Bill Kreighbaum, AFSPC chief of AEF deployment readiness.

"The men and women of Air Force Space Command are supporting humanitarian requirements as directed by Headquarters Air Force and the commander of Air Force Forces Joint Task Force Katrina," said Maj. Gen. Doug Fraser, AFSPC director of air and space operations.

AFSPC people will be deployed for 30- to 120-day rotations, with 45- to 60-day rotations being standard, said Capt. Jill Ortiz, AFSPC chief of AEF deployment readiness. Length of deployments vary by job specialty and will be determined by 1st Air Force.

Source : Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Public Affairs