It don't cost too much in Afghanistan. It don't cost too much in Iraq. Why is it costing too much when we need it in the United States?" Russel Honore
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 clearly illustrated how federal military forces can be sent to help states respond to disasters. Navy warships were berthed at New Orleans' riverfront, while 82nd Airborne soldiers plied flooded Lakeview in small boats and Marines navigated inundated St. Bernard Parish streets in armored amphibious vehicles they otherwise use to storm enemy beaches.
So the Defense Department's dispatching reservists to help civilian officials respond to emergencies is hardly new. However, Superstorm Sandy, which wrecked northeast coastal communities and claimed more than 250 lives in October, marked the first time military reservists were used to help local and state authorities under a new federal law.
The new law, included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2012, streamlined the limited process federal troops can be dispatched to help local civil authorities, in that governors can request federal reservists, Maj. Gen. Luis Visot, the Army Reserve's deputy commander for operations, told emergency planners meeting in New Orleans this week at the International Disaster Conference and Expo.
"It gives you access to those Title 10, federal forces," Visit said, referring to the federal law overseeing active duty forces.
Visot, who until last year commanded the Army Reserve's 377th Theater Sustainment Command, whose headquarters is in Belle Chasse, was one of four serving or retired military flag officers on a panel discussing military support of civil authorities at the conference, held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center this week.
Others on the panel included Louisiana National Guard adjutant Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis; retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Joel Whitehead, who was stationed in New Orleans as 8th District commander; and retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who commanded the Defense Department's response to Katrina.
Governors already have authority to mobilize their National Guard forces - Gov. Bobby Jindal most recently activated as many as 8,000 soldiers and airmen for Hurricane Isaac. States also join in an emergency mutual aid compact through which governors can send their troops to other states. About 50,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were sent to the Gulf Coast after Katrina through such agreements.
Under the new federal law, governors directly ask the president for reservists, from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps or Navy, who can be mobilized for up to 120 days, Visot said.
The new federal law was in place for Isaac, which made landfall in August, but the event was not large enough of an event to require a federal response. Sandy was, and northeastern governors asked President Barrack Obama for help. The Army Reserve, which has 205,000 soldiers with 148 military occupational specialties, dispatched soldiers equipped with pumps used to drain flooded areas, aviation support and liaisons, and were staging engineers, Visot said.
He said the Army Reserve could partner and augment the National Guard, which in Louisiana is staffed heavily with engineers, infantrymen who can be used for security and helicopters.
Clarifying the often-misunderstood role National Guard forces play in state emergencies, Curtis, Louisiana's adjutant since 2011, said the National Guard augments and reports to civilian authorities such as parish presidents or mayors, who under state law request National Guard help through the governor's office.
"I haven't seen any one of them give up their authority, and they're not going to," he said.
After Katrina, he said the Louisiana National Guard developed detailed emergency response plans that even identify which units go where and when, and those commanders are provided with two-page information sheets describing their areas and providing local contact information. Should Louisiana use up troops, the state has agreements with other states to supply troops, he said. For instance, Arkansas would be ready to provide 2,200 soldiers and airmen, he said.
"Go big early," Curtis said of emergency response. "You can always pull back. Get out there, get yourself set and get ready to go. Anybody can do recovery operations. The key is response. You got to go big. You got to go early."
Unlike federal military forces, the Coast Guard can police civilians, said Whitehead, who spent five years stationed in New Orleans before leaving in 2009. In the Katrina response, every Coast Guard air station in the United States sent a helicopter to the New Orleans, he said. The agency's air station at Cape Cod, Mass., sent all its copters to the South, because of an agreement the Coast Guard has with its Canadian counterparts, who took over the search-and-rescue mission there.
Whitehead's New Orleans tour included the July 2008 ship collision on the Mississippi River at Gretna that shut down the Port of New Orleans for days and caused 410,000 gallons to spill. Citing keeping good relations with news media, he recounted how The Times-Picayune became critical of the slow response to reopen the river.
He said the Coast Guard engaged the newspaper, and the result was a report, complete with a graphic illustration under the headline "Raising the Barge," that explained the salvage operation to lift a sunken barge from beneath the Crescent City Connection. Whitehead cited other examples of maintain relations with news media.
"Keep repeating to yourself: The media is my friend," Whitehead told the audience, which responded with some grumbling.
Honore, the career soldier and Louisiana native who held the national spotlight after Katrina, indicated that the nation can't rely on the military solely. He said the United States has about 310 million people and about 30 million first responders - a disparity he said calls for the nation to create "a culture of preparedness."
"We don't have enough assets to protect everybody from every potential disaster," Honore said, advising people to purchase weather radios and to keep a 3- to 5-day supply of food and water.
"I don't think we're even close to where we need to be when it comes to preparedness," Honore said. "As you saw in Sandy, we experienced many of the same issues we saw in Katrina," including hospitals with generators that flooded because they were in basements.
Honore was critical of some elements of the military's response to Sandy. He cited Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport airplanes used to fly civilian utility trucks to the northeast, at a cost of $500,000 to $750,000 per trip, to help restore electricity.
"That's pretty stupid," Honore said. "It was symbolic. It looked like we were doing something. But it was stupid."
Yet Honore also was critical of concerns over reigning in military spending in responding to disasters on the homefront.
"It don't cost too much in Afghanistan," he said, drawing applause from the audience. "It don't cost too much in Iraq. Why is it costing too much when we need it in the United States?"
Source: http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2013/01/new_federal_law_first_used_in.html
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