(I haven't seen this in a diary. I searched, so if I dup'ed someone, I'll delete. Thanks)
I am an ex-Coast Guard petty officer, 1970-1976. The Coast Guard changed my life. I still act in emergency with skill and speed, due to my training. I get shivers when I see the CG heli fly by. So all this bullshit from the White House, FEMA, and especially the Dept. Homeland Security has pissed me off.
If you go to the Coast Guard's Katrina web page, you will see that the CG was in action on Aug 29, flying supplies into staging areas and flying search and rescue missions. They started flying and rescuing as soon as the wind was low enough to fly and get the boats underway.
The Coast Guard continued to perform around the clock with every service member and equipment that could be called in.
They didn't wait for an official call. The CG never waits for an official call. We are trained to do one thing first: save lives NOW. When a distress call comes in, we go as fast as possible to the site and save those lives. That's our number one mission. We work around the clock doing whatever needs doing to complete that mission.
All this crap about official requests and who's in charge and so on is just, well, crap. If an organization is charged with a mission to save and support people in a disaster, they must train to do so and be ready to go at a moments notice. Any excuses for not performing that mission are grounds for review and for firing.
And as far as the Army and National Guard waiting for permission or leadership or whatever to enter the area in force: the Coast Guard is a U.S. Military agency. They went in and did the job.
I was once served on a cutter (interestingly, the USCGC Pontchartrain!) that ran aground at Dutch Harbor in Alaska due to the captain's error. The Coast Guard command flew in a new captain and relieved the old one of command in 24 hours. The bozo was investigated and retired. THAT'S the way to run an organization.
Anyone in Congress or the press who hears this song-and-dance about delays due to the right requests or papers or availability or any other reason--just look to the Coast Guard to see that one federal orgainzation got it right.
Here it is from the CG's web site:
More than 2,400 Coast Guard personnel from Florida to Louisiana are continuing to conduct search, rescue, response, waterway reconstitution and environmental impact assessment operations today.
To date, the Coast Guard has used air and boat crews to rescue more than 22,000 people and has assisted with the joint-agency evacuation of an additional 9,400 patients and medical personnel from hospitals in the Gulf coast region. More than 11,000 of the rescues were made via air and almost 11,000 rescues were made via boat operations, and hundreds of people are continuing to be rescued daily by Coast Guard crews.
In total, the Coast Guard has 43 helicopters, eight fixed-wing aircraft and 14 Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft supporting the operations. In addition, there are more than 25 cutters and hundreds of small boats continuing to assist in the ongoing rescue and recovery operations.