Retired Army logistics officer compares government’s responses to Katrina and Helene
Cynical Publius is one of the contributing authors for The Federalist. He’s a retired Army officer, having specialized in logistics during his career. When Hurricane Katrina hit, he was a U.S. Army colonel serving at the Pentagon. He was tasked as a shift officer for the National Military Command Center (NMCC) for hurricane support. He played a role in the military’s response to Katrina. Publius spells out clear differences between the federal government’s responses to these hurricanes and their aftermath.
From The Federalist:
Let’s compare Katrina with Helene. In Katrina, a three-star general was placed in command, along with the two-star commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, with a full Airborne Infantry Brigade task force of the 82nd, a corps-support logistics command of thousands of soldiers, a signal battalion, a combat support hospital, robust Army engineer assets, and countless other support units. All of these units were on standby orders days before Katrina hit.
In contrast, a week after Helene hit, a tiny 1,000-troop Airborne Infantry Battalion task force of the 82nd (one-third the size of a brigade) was given a warning order under the ground command of a mere one-star general. These forces are without the medical, engineer, corps-level logistics, signal/communications, and Division/Army HQ command and control capabilities that defined Katrina support.
How about the Marines? In Katrina, they sent 2,600 Marines, under the command of a two-star Marine Division commanding general. For Helene, near as I can tell after extensive web research and quizzing my followers on X, the USMC has not been tasked to send a single damned Marine.
The Navy is probably not a fair comparison since New Orleans is an ocean port and the mountains of North Carolina are not, but after Katrina, the Navy sent a carrier task force and a hospital ship, along with 63 aircraft. For Helene, the Navy has sent 10 helicopters.
Coast Guard? Yes, they are a blue-water force, but they have riverine capabilities that would make a huge difference in the hills of North Carolina. In 2005, they sent 43 aircraft that conducted search and rescue operations almost immediately after Katrina made landfall. In Helene, the Coast Guard disestablished its area command, but it did find time to help a handful a people and rescue five pets.
The Air Force’s airlift capabilities are largely strategic, but in Katrina, they were busy evacuating thousands of injured and displaced people. After Helene, it seems they are mostly busy repairing their own airfields and not much else. This is curious, seeing as their C-130s could be working closely with the parachute riggers on Fort Liberty to prepare essential supplies for airdrop. Guess not.
The folks trapped in the hollows of North Carolina’s mountains need helicopter support most of all, to receive essential food, water, and construction and medical supplies, and to evacuate the stranded, the elderly, the sick, and the injured. If you review the links I included above, you’ll see that hundreds of active-duty helicopters were involved in Katrina. As for Helene, if you look at the DOD’s press releases, it looks like 28 active-duty helicopters are thinking about maybe getting involved as of Sept. 30.
Additional Reading:
Publius, C. (2024, October 4). Comparing Helene to Katrina suggests Americans are left to die because Democrats run the White House. The Federalist. Link.
Category: 2024 Election, Government Incompetence, Military issues, Society
Where are Michael Moore and Sean Penn when America needs them?
America doesn’t need them. Ever.
Katrina? You mean that hurricane that W was publicly pilloried over? That’s a hell of a lot of federal support for a “failed mission”. Joe, Kamala, wherefore art thou? And has anyone seen Pete Bootykeg recently? This is what we get when we place DEI over skill and capability. I’m gonna sat it again, for the people in the back:
FUCK JOE BIDEN!
Katrina took place under a Republican; Helene under a Democrat.
Oh, wait…was that the part that we don’t say out loud?
Gotta go; I hear black helicopters in the distance…and my coffee tastes like almonds for some reason…
That’s what Herr Herman Goerring said. Sorry, the capsule was given to him in his valise by a friendly guard.
Always nice when a buddy surprises you with a ‘ gift ‘ capsule 😅
I am so confused. I thought Katrina was a disaster, or so all the media said.
Wait, are you telling me that the media gaslighted an entire country to make us believe Katrina was far worse managed than it actually was?
To paraphrase the great G.W. McClintock, “Are you going to believe your eyes, or what they tell you?”
We’d like to think that the difference is the shear incompetence of the current (mis)administration. Others are of the opinion that the puppets ARE incompetent, but the handlers are cold and calculating in their denial of services to “Red State” America. Re-name the mountains of WNC/ETN to the “9th Ward”, raise the ‘krain, pali, and lesbanese flags and the aid will flow.
No one is ever coming to save you. It will be up to you, and those like you, to save yourselves.
Prepare
They didn’t vote right way, comrade– like Ukraine kulaks in famine under Stalin!
Hmm…And Bush gets a bad rap for Katrina. His response and the following criticism are small potatoes compared to the Biden response to Helene.
Yep.
At least in Louisiana, the response during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was largely a failure because of that city’s mayor (Ray Nagin (D)), who was later convicted of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering). It was a failure at the state level because of Kathleen Blanco (also (D)). Then there was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, who was also caught flat-footed after FEMA’s (Michael Brown, who later resigned) poor management, planning, and response.
The “chocolate city” full of nuts…
That and San Foo-foo are like granola, get rid of the fruits and nuts, and all you’ll have left is flakes!
I’ll just stick this right here…
Imma gonna go out on a limb and say, no they’re not…
130s and C-17s can be utilized on unimproved fields. The C-130 in particular can get in and out of incredibly tight places.
That we have abundant resources at the ready is not in question. Look what they deployed to get (most, not all) of the people out of A-stan. We can mobilize enormous airlift and helicopter capacity.
The big issue is getting the locals and the feds to talk together. Nobody plays well with each other. FEMA in particular is less a first response organization and more large, long term relief. Even within a state you have issues. In Mpls, with the mayor calling for help during the fiery, but mostly peaceful riots, the governor (Walz) denied the requests for days. At least once the request was denied because there wasn’t a plan in place for how the NG would be utilized.
Governor Walz said the Minnesota National Guard was full of cooks with no training to quell mostly peaceful riots. Wasn’t Governor Walz a member of the Minnesota National Guard?
Mmmmyeah, you’d think he once claimed he was a CSM in that outfit!
“The C-130 in particular can get in and out of incredibly tight places.”
You mean like…an Aircraft Carrier?
Hurricanes Katrina and Helene are a terrible calamity for those affected. Hurricane HARRIS is waiting in the wings, waiting to strike at the center of America. We don’t have enough resources to weather a storm of this proportion. Americans should start preparing for the disaster that’s coming Nov 5th. And remember only Americans can prevent this Tragedy from happening. Get out and VOTE!
Those in Florida need to prepare for this next hurricane too.
If you read through the comments, somebody has some good ideas on where to get water, sanitizing it, and how to dispose of bodily waste. Other links in there as well some may find interesting like ham radio links etc.
Some of this might be helpful to those that don’t know, or may be in the path of the next one.
https://www.captainsjournal.com/2024/10/04/some-things-being-done-right-in-the-hurricane-helene-reponse/
On a shoestring budget, with little red tape these veterans are out working a multi-billion dollar agency without bitching about not having enough billions.
https://nypost.com/2024/10/07/us-news/redneck-air-force-is-bringing-aid-to-nc-when-fema-came-up-short/
Donald Trump and Dolly Parton have already contributed far more than Biden has; Dolly has donated a million of her own money!
But Dolly is a National Treasure. Biden is a disgrace.
Late but:
Special ops vets form ‘Redneck Air Force’ to ferry aid into NC mountains after feds come up short: ‘Who’s FEMA?’
https://nypost.com/2024/10/07/us-news/redneck-air-force-is-bringing-aid-to-nc-when-fema-came-up-short/
My sister is there and works at that HD Dealership.
I’m incredibly proud of all of them.🥹🥰
8 years ago today, Eggs was on a C-17 loaded with ATVs, PJ gear, a quad cab 4×4 and ISUs full of tools and parts pre-deploying in anticipation of Hurricane Matthew hitting the east coast. We had sent two Pave Hawks the day before to forward deploy to Moody AFB (we went to Keesler). Fortunately we were recalled as Matthew didn’t hit nearly as hard as it could have and we were recalled.
I would have just transferred from Oki to Quantico for Matthew, but I don’t remember it, specifically. I guess N.VA wasn’t too badly hit (except for the two fatalities who probably thought it was pretty bad). Of course, we had just moved from 4 years in Oki and had spent 8 years in Lejeune so we were no stranger to storms.
The reason we put more troops on the ground in Katrina because social order collapsed.
Helene’s storm surge was 15 feet. Most areas had 10 feet.
Katrina was 20-28 feet across much of the impacted coast.
And calling out the administration is bullshit. Biden has literally provided every thing that was asked for and is trying to get more. Mike Johnson refuses to allow the house to consider hurricane funding. By the way, Trump’s hurricane response was far less that what Biden is doing. Including the immediate aide funding of $750. Trump cut it to $400.
You guys opportunistically spread lies and misinformation about disaster assistance. Literally causing some people to not seek aid because right wing blogs are saying the admin took the money and has none left.
Such bullshit.
“Hill people are more civilized than folx like me: city-dwellers.” –The Commie Mollusk
Asking for government to do what it tasks itself to do is a basic function of citizenship.
Do even question [the intent and efficacy of government], bro?
FEMA never had so many fans before Biden screwed it up and had them give money away to house illegals.
Mayorkas himself said FEMA lacks the funds to make it through hurricane season.
https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-helene-congress-fema-funding-5be4f18e00ce2b509d6830410cf2c1cb
The Biden administration propaganda queen has spun herself into yarn trying to cover it up. This administration has failed to act in a timely fashion. There is no legitimate reason troops should be waiting for orders 7 to 10 days after a disaster of this magnitude. FEMA can’t organize anything beyond a small circle-jerk. Now, if you could, I’d like you to review every post in this thread, point out the lies, and deliver (with empiric data, of course) the truth. I don’t think you can do it. Why, you may ask? I’ll gladly tell you. Because you’re a fraud. A phony, spewing exactly what you’re told to spew. If you can’t blame Trump, you have nothing.
You may go now.
Greedy for attention again, I see. As I see it, you’re projecting once again because you know for sure that you and your crowd can’t handle shit by yourselves even in calm times while we will always prevail. Just look at what a couple of hours without electricity does to a major city, rioting and looting occurs while we can be without it much longer and will do fine and look out for each other. You’re jealous as shit of us! 😀😀😀😀
I am willing to bet the storm surge in the Appalachians was around zero. Not sure what the fuck that has to do with anything.
Also Mike Johnson isn’t doing shit. The president tried to order him to put Congress back in session and he didn’t answer. I’m sure Biden would love to bring the majority R Congress back in to DC three weeks before the election so that his opposition candidates can run roughshod over them on the trail while they are working. If that isn’t such a sweet deal for the Dems I don’t know what is.
I know you are stupid enough to believe that people aren’t applying for aid because of the Internet bloggers. There is a little plot hole. There ain’t no Internet to be had, so how the hell would they even know? They are still dragging bodies out of the drink and collapsed houses. Roads are closed and people can’t get anywhere to apply for aid either. Your stupid shit is wildly disrespectful and disgusting behavior towards the victims here. So stop your stupid victim blaming and run down to Walmart and buy yourself a clue, Dumbass.
If this were Katrina we would just call you a racist and it would be good. But let me make it clear, you give zero fucks about people.
You’re such a dipshit.
“Biden has literally provided everything that was asked for and is trying to get more.”
Yeah, and Russian collusion was real and January 6th was worse than 9/11, Biden is fit for office, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was a success, the economy is fine and unemployment is down, more jobs are being created and no terrorists have been admitted through the Southern border.
On September 29th, before boarding a plane to return to vacation, a reporter asked Biden “Do you have any words to the victims of the hurricane?”
Biden said “We’ve given everything we have.”
The follow-up question was “Are there any more resources the federal government could be giving them?”
Biden said “No.”
Perhaps this is more to your liking.
Now we have an answer to the rotor wash incident. The Nasty Girls got lost again.
https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-carolina-news/nc-national-guard-black-hawk-crew-grounded-after-rotor-wash-incident-over-helene-aid/
“the aid organization at the scene”
If the idiots in charge of that so-called aid “organization” want the NG and its helicopters to move their aid to where it is needed they need to organize a place for them to land near the aid supplies and, if possible, refuel. I think the NG and FEMA also need to send more personnel to the Pathfinder school for occasions like this.