Officials: Guard Deployment Hurt Response

[Eugene]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5266868,00.html

Officials: Guard Deployment Hurt Response


Friday September 9, 2005 6:31 PM

By ROBERT BURNS

Associated Press Writer

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) - The deployment of thousands of National
Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane
Katrina struck hindered those states' initial storm response, military
and civilian officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that
"arguably" a day or so of response time was lost due to the absence
of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and
Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops
in Iraq.

Blum said that to replace those units' command and control equipment,
he dispatched personnel from Guard division headquarters from Kansas
and Minnesota shortly after the storm struck.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., whose waterfront home here was washed away
in the storm, told reporters that the absence of the deployed
Mississippi Guard units made it harder for local officials to
coordinate their initial response.

more...

[Rose Siding]

1. Wow- I wonder if those were "approved" remarks

:wow:

[krkaufman]

2. I certainly think NOT.

That's been another nit of mine needed picking.

Given the massive depletion of Nat'l Guard forces due to Iraq, shouldn't the Bush Admin, Defense Dept. & National Guard have determined rapid failover deployments in order to account for these kinds of situations?

A major failure of planning.

[lateo]

3. Gene Taylor is an awesome Democrat.

Love that guy.

[yellowcanine]

4. ""arguably" a day or so of response time was lost

I don't think there is any arguably about it at all. Except that it was more like two days, since LA guards don't have to drive anywhere to get to LA.

[LisaM]

5. All the more reason failures were clearly at the Federal level

I have heard that up to 50% of Louisiana's National Guard was unavailable. So the Governor didn't have half the resources that should have been available to her. I'm glad this is being brought up again.

[FloridaPat]

11. About 25% of LA NG units were in Iraq. However, 70% of their ACTIVE

units were in Iraq. More numbers games from *. Also at least half their equipment - like helicopters. Don't remember hearing about any LA NG helicopters.

Glad to see some real truth. Wish they had names though. I'm am getting real tired of unnamed sources.

[Lindacooks]

6. And once again, the truth is in a London paper.

While the media have been a little better these past two weeks, it's not enough. THIS story needs to make headlines in papers all over the country.

[confludemocrat]

7. We've got to withdraw from Iraq, this whole thing is still untenable

Its' gonna devastate everything. This is another part of the sick messed up response of Bush: the bizarre fiction that we can rebuild one of our greatest cities here in your own backyard and help its people while expensively destroying another country 8,000 miles away.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. Gosh, ya think?

You mean Michael Moore was right? :eyes:

My heart goes out to those guardsmen who are returning to find their own state...their own neighborhood...in such mayhem.

How many of them must be thinking, "If only I'd been here..."

[cmd]

9. Just listening to NPR

The problem that stuck out was the the guard deployment took Louisiana's communication generators to Iraq. Those on the ground had no way to communicate. Land lines were down, cell phone towers toppled and radio batteries wore out after a few hours. The generators needed to power the radios were in Iraq.
In addition to that, the rescue equipment that they needed was on the other side of the world. New Mexico stood ready to bring in their equipment, but Washington would not give the ok.

Now, just where does that buck stop. On 2/15/03 I stood in front of the Coshocton County courthouse and predicted that deploying the Guard to Iraq would cause a national emergency. Once again, I was right; Bush was dead wrong.

[BootinUp]

10. You're shittin me.

I would never have guessed. :eyes:

They can only hush these kind of facts up for so long. This ain't some super spy CIA shit as was the case with 911.

[geek tragedy]

12. Iraq hurt Katrina response, general says (BLAST THIS)

<snip>
The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states' initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that "arguably" a day or so of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq.

"Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear," said Blum.

Blum said that to replace those units' command and control equipment, he dispatched personnel from Guard division headquarters from Kansas and Minnesota shortly after the storm struck.
<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/09/katrina.natguard.ap/

[cmd]

13. kicking

[EVDebs]

14. Not to mention the buses FEMA contracted for from out of state !

[Sgent]

15. (WP)Officials: Guard Deployment Hurt Response (Says Lt. Gen Blum)

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states' initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that "arguably" a day at most of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq.

"Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear," said Blum.

Blum said that to replace those units' command and control equipment, he dispatched personnel from Guard division headquarters from Kansas and Minnesota shortly after the storm struck.

Wash Post Article

[ShockediSay]

16. This guy Blum is not only talking out of both sides of his mouth

but you can add whatever other orfices you like.

He must be thinking of being some kind of politician, with that kind of double talking nonsense IMHO.

[leesa]

20. Are you referring to anything in particular?

[pippin]

17. Iraq Hurt Katrina Rresponse General Says

"The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those states' initial storm response, military and civilian officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that "arguably" a day or so of response time was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq.

"Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear," said Blum."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/09/katrina.natguard.ap/index.html

[jhain]

18. thanks for this

Is anyone else feeling as if they are reading alot of (to them) NON news?

How long do you think we will be seeing these types of stories as the media (hopefuly) comes out of hibernation??

And how long will it take the public to get up to speed?

[JoFerret]

19. It hurt

...but it was not the reason for the incompetent response.