I received this on my VFP list. This is from one of the founding members of VFP chapter 72 (reorganized) who has since moved to Florida. She was on General Schwarztkof's staff (Central Command) during Desert Storm.
All names have been removed.
Her email
From: Name removed
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 6:17 AM
Subject: Keesler AFB Runways Open - But No Airlift???
Dear Tax-Paying Veterans--
For 25 years, I was of the belief that my USAF uniform was worn for the people who were paying me - Mr and Mrs American taxpayer.
Just as you did, I watched in horror, day after day, the tax-paying citizens of New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport and communities in between, begging for any help they could get. BEGGING FOR THEIR LIVES.
Keesler AFB was in Katrina's bullseye, taking a major hit - EXCEPT FOR THE RUNWAY. Check out the Keesler report below.
So all last week I am having flashbacks of my time in the USAF blue uniform.
Between wars, I was in command and control units in the Air National Guard. MOBILITY was my middle name. Every year we practiced instant mobilizations, where we had to deploy our radar site in Air Force aircraft - get this - IN 2 DAYS from the time of notification.
Before and after Desert Storm, I was in an Air Force Reserve search and rescue unit in Portland, Oregon. MOBILITY was my middle name. This was a full time mission assigned to the Air Force Reserve. Our helicopter and C-130 crews deployed on A MOMENT'S NOTICE to pluck people off mountains, out of swollen rivers, out of the forests - some injured, some not, some dead. Lives were risked to go into the blast zone to save people from the errupting Mt. St. Helens. We flew para-rescuers to Homestead, FL to save victims of Hurricane Andrew. We flew rescuers to San Francisco after the killer earthquakes in Oakland. None of these people had to asked to be saved. THIS WAS OUR JOB. We mobilized on A MOMENT'S NOTICE. That was the name of our unit's newspaper. I was the PAO that produced it and worked with the media who covered the courageous deeds of my colleagues.
I spent my last 6 years working full time for the USAFR in California airlift units. MOBILITY was my middle name. The aircraft in my units flew HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFT missions. We flew water purifications systems and medical help to refugees in Rwanda. We flew water delivery systems and medical help to the refugees in Somalia. We flew canine search teams to Oklahoma City after the bombings. We airlifted and air-dropped food and supplies to North Dakota after a killer blizzard. MOBILITY was our game, and when we took off, you can be sure that help was on the way.
SHOCK and AWE describes me now. I am in total SHOCK over how our Gulf Coast neighbors - TAX-PAYERS who pay for our military forces -- were left to suffer and die, day after day. What happened to MOBILITY???? What happened to HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFT????
Then there's AWE - as in "awe shit" after I received the Keesler AFB damage report from a group of former USAF radar operators and ground controllers. I went to tech school at Keesler in 1972 at the height of the Cambodian bombing raids, to be trained to tell fighter pilots where to go in the war zone.
But the "awe-shit" reaction was not because of flashbacks to that other war. It was in knowing that RESCUE and MOBILITY and HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFT into and out of Keesler AFB was possible before and after Katrina. These assets could have been staged somewhere nearby, gee - like at Scott AFB in Illinois - HEADQUARTERS FOR THE USAF'S AIR MOBILITY COMMAND - and then flown in to Keesler. There could have been a MASS EVAC out of Keesler after the 'cane. The Air Force practices these every day, all over the world.
Brothers and Sisters - I am too emotional to write to the folks at the Air Mobility Command or anywhere else. But I have included the string of addresses from those who were sending around the Keesler Damage Report.
I urge you to write to them, to your congressional leaders, to anyone that could make a difference. Ask them what the hell they spent our Gulf Coast neighbor's tax dollars on, because we know it sure wasn't them. And tell them I sent you.
Name removed, Major, USAFR, retired
Vietnam, Desert Storm, Cold War
VFP Chapter 119 - Tampa Bay
Mom, citizen, tax-payer
From:
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 10:42 AM
To:
Subject: Keesler AFB Meets Katrina
Folks,
Here's what has happened to our own USAF brethren at Keesler AFB, Gulfport MS:
- Base housing was largely destroyed by a 25 foot wave
- There's 4 feet of mud in Maj Gen Utterback's house (2 AF/CC)
- MSG/CC house burned to the ground (gas leak caught fire)
- 6000 USAF members and their families are living in shelters
- The power will be out there for at least 3 weeks
- The 2nd largest USAF hospital (at Keesler) is closed
-- Seawater got into the generator and they have no power
- Commissary/BX mostly destroyed
- Runway is operational; it's the only open airfield in the area
-- Day/VFR conditions only
- Gulfport Airport is closed for the foreseeable future
- The fence around the base is severely damaged
- Keesler had looters last night
-- Maxwell AFB is sending an SF detachment to reinforce the Keesler SF
- Parts of I-10 are under water; at least one major bridge is down
- Keesler has almost no communications (landline or cell)
-- They are relying primarily on radios
This is a tragedy with a capital T
v/r
/SIGNED/
name removed