STORM SURGE

Guardsmen battled worst hurricane season in years despite the largest overseas deployments in generations

Twelve years ago, southern Florida was struck and nearly destroyed by the fury of a Category 5 hurricane named Andrew that killed 65 people and caused $25 billion in damage. Shortly after Andrew, a slew of smaller Gregory 1 and 2 hurricanes followed suite.

This year a brutal succession of hurricanes similar to those of years past battered Florida alone and the rest of the Southeast, causing at least 135 deaths in florida and close to $26 billion in damage. By the end of October, hurricane disaster assistance reached nearly $2.1 billion.

The National Guard has always been America's first line of defense and support after natural disasters, but with 100,000 Guardsmen deployed overseas supporting missions from Alghanistan and Iraq to the Balkans, its disaster-relief force is smaller.

Though the majority of states say they can handle grand-scale natural disasters, hundreds of volunteers are needed during recovery efforts. That was proven this summer in the Southeast.

On Friday, Aug. 13, Hurricane Charley, a Category-4 storm, made landfall at Cayo Coast, Fla., a little north of Captiva Island. Winds were estimated at speeds greater than 145 mph. The death toll was 33 at Charley's end, and damages were estimated at $7 billion.

According to National Geographic News Online, Charley was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. since Andrew. It's likely to be ranked among the 20 most powerful hurricanes to touch down since the 1900s.

Unfortunately, Charley was not the worst of the storms.

Frances, a Category 2 hurricane, arrived just three weeks alter Charley. She was responsible for at least 30 deaths and $4 billion in damages. Hurricane Ivan, another Category 4, appeared two weeks after Frances on Sept. 16 and struck Gull Shores, Ala., with 130 mph winds.

The heavy rain, tornadoes and storm surge on the northeast edge of the storm left Pensacola, and most of the Florida panhandle in ruins.

The hurricane killed at least 70 people in the Caribbean and 52 in the United States. Early damage estimates in the United States are as high as $15 billion.

Jeanne, a Category 3 storm, which made landfall near Fort Pierce, Fla., on Sept. 26, was responsible for more than 1,000 deaths in Haiti. She was Florida's fourth major storm of the year and caused at least six deaths in the state.

The Florida National Guard activated more than 5,000 soldiers and airmen to assist with recovery efforts during and after the storms.

Troops patrolled damaged areas, supplied water and ice to victims, removed debris and also provided vehicles designed to gain access to flood zones. Others supplied victims and workers with equipment such as flashlights and batteries.

Soldiers spent most nights and days as part of search and rescue teams looking for the dead and injured and provided aviation support to local, state and federal officials who needed to assess damages in dangerous areas.

Guardsmen also helped local enforcement agencies defend against looters, cordon dangerous areas and direct traffic.

Many had only returned recently from a year of combat in Iraq.

No one was shooting at the soldiers, but the skills they employed in places like Baghdad and Balad, Iraq served them well.

"Having served in Iraq gives us a lot more confidence to do this job here at home," Sgt. Jonathan O'Connorwho served in Iraq from May 2003 until last February with the 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry told the National Guard Bureau. "It's not nearly as dangerous and everyone speaks the same language."

Lt. Col. Sean Ward, commander of the 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry that reported for duty in mid-August because of Hurricane Charley, said the work they did in Florida was very similar to that in Iraq.

"Over there these guys handed out leaflets and asked people for information about suspected terrorists and their activities," he said in an interview with NGB reporter Master Sgt. Bob Haskell. "Here they're telling people about food and water distribution points and seeking information about victims of the storm. They use the same tactics, techniques and procedures in both places."

Remarkably, the soldiers do all of this without any formal natural disaster training, according to National Guard Bureau spokeswoman, Dalena Kanouse.

"There is no specialized training per say when it comes to natural disasters," she says. "The Guardsmen use their military skills to assist where they are needed."

This includes engineers who rebuild bridges, medics who provide emergency care and military police who control traffic and enforce curfews.

"With this said, there may be specialized training when it comes to assisting with the fires in the Midwest, or other emergencies that are common to a local area, i.e. hurricanes, heavy snow, etc," she says.

Maj. Les' Melnyk, NGB Army National Guard historian, says the Guard typically uses one drill period to cover civil disturbance training but it does not usually include a natural disaster component.

Instead, Guard units that correspond to the necessary military specialties for the mission are called up.

"For instance, they might call an engineer unit to help with clearing roads," Melnyk says. "But other than that, not a lot of training is necessary to know how to fill sandbags to make a levy. "

As Ivan's fury moved north, severe flash floods covered eight West Virginia counties. Damage in Ohio County alone was so great that more than 400 soldiers were needed to help with recovery efforts.

Spc. Charles Robinson was sworn in to the West Virginia Guard only two weeks before being called up and was one of approximately 1,500 soldiers called to assist. Though the majority ol them were from West Virginia, many were volunteers from Guard units in border states Kentucky and Virginia.

The state found it challenging to manage the floods with 1,300 of its 6,200 soldiers and airmen on federal active duty supporting the war on terror.

Typically in time of emergency, states will use the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) to call upon Guard units in neighboring states for extra help, supplies and volunteers.

Florida used back-up lorces from the Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana Guards and several non-neighboring states as well, including Alaska, New York, Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Staff Sgt. Stephen Hudson, a Florida Guard spokesman, says that all the states have signed the EMAC and everyone is "always really great about helping out." He added that in the instance where outside help is needed, the governor makes the call.

"It relieves a lot of pressure related to being activated to state active duty," says Maj. Todd Harrell, spokesman for the West Virginia Guard.

But EMAC isn't the only thing that has helped West Virginia stay afloat.

"We have optimized the way we responded to these natural disasters," Harrell says. "Now within our organization we are a little more proactive, rather than waiting until after."

These days the West Virginia Guard keeps a sharp eye on The Weather Channel.

"We monitor the weather constantly, and when we see the potential of flooding, even the most remote, we contact our liaison teams who are most likely to be affected so that we can already get people on the ground and in place," Harrell says.

They also gather everything they can possibly use, bring in all the personnel and equipment they need before a disaster gets out of hand, he added.

Though there has been some apprehension about having too few Guardsmen on the home front to handle such disasters, Harrell says the problem is definitely not a shortage of Guardsmen.

"People ask, why don't we just get more soldiers?" he says. "We're one of the only states that right now has a 100 percent strength in air and Army and have met recruiting goals for the year. We're not starting out at deficit levels. It's just a busy time."

But others remain skeptical.

"There is some concern," says Kill Sutey, military adviser to Sen. Rill Nelson, D-Fla. "The issue is availability, not utilization."

The Florida National Guard currently has more than 2,000 deployed around the world in support of the war on terror and in general, the "large, long deployments hand state governors significant risk in dealing with emergencies at home," he says.

He added that Florida was at greater risk last year when three battalions from the 53rd Infantry Brigade were deployed.

"Disaster response can be labor intensive," Sutey says. "It's the availability ol bodies; it's also the availability of some special bodies: MPs. medical, engineers, aviation, can all have an impact."

Fortunately Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett, Florida's adjutant general, crafted contingency plans that would have met the state's requirements and mitigated risk, Sutey says.

However, those plans, which were executed during Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricanes Charley, Ivan and Jeanne, depended on the availability of help from units of other states, which were not under Florida's direct control, creating an additional risk, he says.

Even though most states still function well with the numbers they have, the risk of running low on manpower remains a looming threat.

"How large a problem is it? I can't really say with certainty but it absolutely represents increased risk lor states with higher probabilities of natural disasters-hurricanes, tornados, floods, forest fires, etc.-that the Guard responds to in their Title 32 [state] role," Sutey says.

"We are led to believe that DoD/DA is managing unit mobilization of reserve-component folks to minimize over-mobilization. We have to watch this very, very, very closely. "

Serving the country by helping with recovery efforts after a natural disaster is a huge part of the Guard's long history.

"It's been part of the Guard's role even before it was a federal reserve force," Melnyk says.

"The initial role of the Guard was first and foremost homeland defense," he says. "We guarded the communities that we came from; the militia was commanded by neighbors, primarily for local defense, but it could be used to go on the attack."

Melnyk says back then communities organized in this way to defend themselves against enemies like the Native Americans or the French.

Today in the face of some of the most ruthless storms America has seen in 10 years, the Guard continues to be America's primary local defense force.

Copyright National Guard Association of the United States Nov 2004
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