Sgt. Fadra Brown, 31st Chemical Brigade, Northport, Ala., assists the Wooley family sort through the remnants of their home in the Crescent Ridge area in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Their home is one of many throughout the state of Alabama that was destroyed by the tornado that swept through Wednesday. Photo by Spc. Katherine Dowd

About 3,000 National Guard members were responding to weather-related domestic disasters in 11 states on Friday (April 29), the majority in tornado-ravaged Alabama, while hundreds still tackled rising waters in North Dakota, epicenter of flooding challenging seven states.

In Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi, tornadoes killed and injured people and destroyed property; in Texas, drought fueled wildland fires; in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and Tennessee, swollen rivers either escaped their banks or threatened to do so.

The rash of domestic weather-related responses seemed unlikely to abate any time soon: Officials are watching the Mississippi River and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned of potential major flooding.

More than 300 are dead after more than 160 tornadoes swept through seven Southern states midweek in the worst natural disaster to hit the nation since Hurricane Katrina.

Thousands were injured, many more rendered homeless and at one point at least a million were without power after the tornado swarm inflicted damages estimated in the billions of dollars, according to news reports.

It was the deadliest tornado swarm since 310 people were killed in 1974.

About 1,100 Guard members were on duty in Alabama today, and the governor has authorized up to 2,000. The president – who on Friday declared a major disaster in Alabama – was visiting damaged areas today. Guard missions included search and rescue, security, transportation and road clearing, National Guard Bureau officials reported.

The National Weather Service today reported that it rated one 205 mph, half-mile wide tornado that struck Mississippi on Wednesday that state’s first EF-5 tornado since 1966 and predicted many more of the tornadoes that struck the South will receive the same damage rating, the highest.

About 40 Guard members were providing traffic control points, security assistance and communications support in Mississippi.

More than 50 Citizen-Airmen were among the 72 Guard members helping Arkansas residents recovering from tornado damage, providing security, patrolling roads, delivering water and performing search and rescue functions.

“We’re doing all of this while we’re also deploying Airmen to support the overseas war effort, while our day-to-day … mission continues uninterrupted,” said Air Force Col. Jim Summers, 189th Airlift Wing commander.

“This is a prime example of how flexible our Air National Guard is, but it takes the support of … employers and a Guardsman’s family for it to continue to work. I can’t say enough about how employers and families have stepped up.”

A handful of Tennessee Guard members were providing aerial damage reconnaissance. In that state, Guard officials said the tornadoes had contributed to Mississippi River flooding. Tennessee Air National Guard aircraft were damaged by hail and wind Thursday, Guard officials reported.

High Red River levels affected North Dakota, where some Guard members have been on duty for more than three weeks and 311 remained on duty today.

North Dakota Guard quick reaction forces placed thousands of sandbags to protect homes. Guard members also patrolled dikes and staffed traffic control points.

Working with the Guard “has been nothing but positive,” Rick Schock, a city contractor, told a North Dakota Guard member. “They’ve been a great assistance to us.”

Some 680 Guard members were on duty in Missouri, including 563 sandbagging, monitoring levees and roads, assisting evacuees and supporting law enforcement and 115 responding to damage that hit especially close to Guard members: An estimated $10 million or more in tornado damage to Missouri Air National Guard facilities at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

About 377 Illinois Guard members were assisting civilian authorities with route reconnaissance, levee surveillance, water deliveries and maintenance.

“In addition to their military responsibilities, our Soldiers and Airmen are also committed to their careers and families, so I am impressed with their rapid response to the governor’s call,” said Army Maj. Gen. William Enyart, Illinois’ adjutant general.

Another 213 were on duty in flood-related operations in Indiana and 15 in Minnesota.

About 128 Kentucky Guard members tackled Ohio River flooding, building barriers, filling sandbags and supporting civilian law enforcement authorities.

“I want to express my appreciation for what the Guard does,” farmer Mike Gustafson told a North Dakota Guard member. “The effort makes it comfortable for people who are dealing with the stress and the issues that could result from a catastrophic problem.

“It’s sometimes so easy to take for granted what they do, not only throughout the world for security, freedom of the lifestyle we live, but those things they do at the community level … and the presence of them here is extremely appreciated.”

By Army Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau

An Airman with the 118th Civil Engineering Squadron, gives candy to a child at the New Life Children's Home in Port au Prince, Haiti, March 12, 2010. Members of the squadron have been working at the home, a local orphanage that has also taken in many children injured by the January earthquake, building cabinets, storage areas and a medical clinic. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

The U.S. military response to the January earthquake in Haiti was almost immediate.

Within hours, equipment, supplies and personnel began to arrive in Haiti to assist those affected by the earthquake and its aftershocks.

Many Air National Guard units and personnel were among the first to respond to the disaster.

For some, it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Air Force Staff Sgt. Oscar Trevino of the 190th Civil Engineering Squadron of the Kansas Air National Guard was with his unit in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of its two weeks of annual training.

“People said they felt the earthquake,” said Trevino. “I grew up in Southern California, and I didn’t feel anything. I just rolled over and went to bed. Sure enough, we found out the next day they had a massive earthquake over here.”

Trevino’s unit arrived here a week later.

“We waited for a week to get transportation,” he said. “Really, they needed us as soon as they could so we could get the camp going and get the other people housed.”

When Trevino first arrived in Haiti, service members were sleeping wherever space was available.

“The first week I slept on some lumber, because I didn’t want to sleep on the ground,” he said.

Building a tent city is a bit more involved than simply erecting a few tents. It means leveling ground and setting up living, shower and laundry areas.

“We initially brought in what is called a ’550 kit,’ which consists of tents and will house roughly 550 personnel,” said Trevino. “We were at the north end of the airport, and it was nothing but tall grass. And we came in with our heavy equipment and leveled the place. We put up tents and then our shower and laundry and built it up to as you see it today.”

These operations are all part of what a civil engineering squadron does.

“When we hit the ground in an expeditionary or contingency environment, our job is to set up a bare base,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Craig Bradford, commander of the 118th CES in Nashville, Tenn., and commander of the 24th Expeditionary CES in Port au Prince, Haiti. “So, if we have a water source and an airfield, we’ll come in and bring in all the material to build a tent city.”

But that still means hitting the ground running.

“We got here Jan. 29, and I haven’t had a day off since then,” said Bradford. “But we’ve been working hard to build a tent city for all the joint members in the task force.”

Members of Bradford’s squadron have been responsible for building more than a tent city. They worked on other projects around the airport and were directly involved with getting it re-opened to commercial traffic on Feb. 19.

“We built a diversionary road around the airport, otherwise traffic would be worse than what it already is,” said Bradford. “We also fixed a water leak that was just outside the major terminal that was going to be used for the commercial re-opening. Without our work, that terminal would not have opened at all.”

They also fixed the landing lights on the runway.

“The airfield lighting has gone down multiple times while we’ve been here,” said Bradford. “The first night it happened, the president of Haiti couldn’t even make it in. They had to divert his flight to another Caribbean island and our folks stayed up until that system was working and ready to go and he landed in the morning.”

The squadron’s ability to get the airfield lights back up and operational came about, in part, because of the civilian backgrounds of many of the squadron members.

“From the civil engineering standpoint, most of our folks are craftsmen on the outside,” said Bradford. “They have the abilities and they are working in the crafts. They’re carpenters, they’re electricians. Those are some of the unique qualities that the active duty force doesn’t have that we bring in our squadron.”

Because many buildings within the city have been destroyed or damaged by the earthquake, local residents have been wary of returning to their homes or entering various structures, said Bradford.

So, the squadron provided structural assessments of those properties “to give people the warm and fuzzy that they can go back and live where they lived before and that’s just as important as providing food and water,” said Bradford.

Providing these services is what makes the mission worthwhile. “Morale has been fantastic,” said Bradford. “This is a different sort of mission than going to Iraq or Afghanistan. If the shops can afford to lose a few folks during the week, then we go ahead and send them out on a mission to help an orphanage or work in the clinic or wherever we can.”

And that’s all part of the squadron’s mission.

“There was a humanitarian mission before the earthquake and there will be one long after,” said Bradford. “At most, we can put a dent in it. We’re here to help as much as we can.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Jon Soucy

Capt. Lisa Causey cares for a litter patient on board a C-130 Hercules April 2 in Southwest Asia. She and four other medics and the C-130 aircrew made a 15-hour flight to four cities in Iraq and one air base in the Middle East. They airlifted 19 patients, 16 of whom were ambulatory, to the Persian Gulf, where most of the patients were transferred to a C-17 Globemaster III headed for Germany. Captain Causey is a 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron second flight nurse. She is an Air National Guard member deployed from the 183rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron from Jackson, Miss. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Carolyn Viss)