Since people have been speculating on the logistical problems involved in the response, I’ll quote the husband of an acquaintance of mine (I have his permission) who posted the following on another messageboard on Sept. 1:
[quote]
Responding to your question about why with technology the military cannot help more.
Quick answer: The military is made to kill people and destroy things, not to rescue them.
Long Answer:
The job of assisting people in distress belongs to the Fire Department, EMS, Police Department and othe civil authorities. In times of disaster, the military augments (assists) civilian forces in dealing with disaster. Civilian authorities are the experts. The problem here is that there is no Civilian Infrastructure to augment. There is nothing.
Already, this is the largest committment of military forces for humanitarian relief in US History. The Coast Guard has boats and ships out rescuing people, the Air Force has mobilized its search and rescue teams, the Marine Corps has forces in theater, and the Army is responding with the Corps of Engineers, water sanitation teams, and other assets.
One factor is time and distance. The military is set up to rapidly move troops around the world. To do this, they move combat (trigger pulling) forces first, and then plan to build the supply chain to support them. Thus, support units (like water purification teams) are on a longer alert to deployment cycle than the combat forces. Most support units are also Reserves or National Guard units, so they need to be called up, mobililed, equipment found and shipped, and then they can arrive in theater.
Already, military rations (Meals Ready to Eat) are fast becoming the food staple of those stranded, so there is one way they are helping.
I guess the question is, “What more do you want done?” We have not yet found a way to push back waters, we don’t know how to stop crocodiles from swimming in the swamp, and we don’t know how to stop a hurricane from destroying a city lying below sea level on the coast.
The military is also pretty well tapped out with commitments in Korea, Germany, Bosnia, Africa, Afganistan, and Iraq, all of which reduce the available manpower. Already, 1400 National Guardsmen are being sent in per day, with more on the way. National Guardsmen are you neighbors who are being yanked out of their regular jobs, and sent to help. This takes time to fully mobilize. The Louisianna National Guard is most likely devestated, with their alert rosters non functional, so help has to be authorized by the neighboring states’ governors.
Regularly, the military mobilizes soldier to fight the California wildfires, help with mudslides, and the like. Here, we have a disaster whose level is unprecidented. Rather ask, “Why was the city of New Orleans so unprepared for a Hurricane?” (Something whose presence is not exactly unknown on the Gulf Coast.
FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers have the same trouble that most government agencies have. Very little communication. Probably, no one at FEMA thought to ask, and the CoE assummed that FEMA knew.
As far as were we prepared, no. I think it is foolish to blame anyone for the lack of response, or failure in efficiency. This is just huge. If it were an Earthquake, then the environment would at least be safe afterwards. But with the Hurricane and aftermath, you’re talking about trying to conduct rescue operations in an unsafe enviroment with limited assets. I seriously doubt that anyone ever considered this BAD of a scenario where vehicles cannot even travel through the city.
After looking things over, the biggest problem seems to be the same one involved whenever state and federal forces are involved. Who’s in charge. This is compounded by the number of federal agencies, and the presence of multiple civilian agencies (Red Cross and such.) This has been, and always will be an issue. We even had a war in 1861-1865 to determine just how much freedom states had to make their own decisions. Normally in this situation, there would be a state disaster coordinator who would request assets from FEMA or , through the State’s Adjutant General, the Military, or other federal agencies. That person would then assign those assets to where they are needed and they would be subordinate. Now, however, there is no one in charge (although from reading the earlier posts, it looks like the make a Lt. Gen. the event commander) and multiple agencies who all have their own specialties all trying to do their best.
Quite honestly, there’s not a whole lot people can do. In a year, we’ll still be going and talking about it. The important thing, in my opinion, is not to concentrate on what went wrong, as we have years to do that, but rather to concentrate on how we can make it better. Clamoring for information now only distracts from the issue at hand, which is trying to take care of people in need.
One thing to remember is that hindsite is 20/20. It is easy to blame the President or the Governor of Louisiana for failing to be fully prepared. However, how would you have felt three years ago if money had been diverted from Education to build up the levees in New Orleans which held the last time a Hurricane came through 40 years ago? Would you have supported that? Or would you have called it pork? I know I would have thought that the Louisiana senators were getting one heck of a kickback if they had spent a great deal of Federal money on improving the Levees and dikes.
Wendy’s Husband
West Point '95
CPT(ret), US Army