Thursday - September 01, 2005

Send In The Marines!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military will increase the National Guard force in the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf states to 30,000 amid growing lawlessness in New Orleans and mounting relief needs, and it dispatched an aircraft carrier to the region, officials said on Thursday. This would bring to nearly 50,000 the number of part-time Guard and active-duty military personnel committed to the biggest domestic relief and security effort in U.S. history after Monday’s onslaught by killer Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana and Mississippi were hardest hit.

“We will not tolerate lawlessness, or violence, or interference with the evacuation” of New Orleans, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told a news conference. “I’m satisfied that we have ... more than enough forces there and on the way.” Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the Pentagon’s National Guard Bureau, said an additional 4,200 military police troops would be moved into New Orleans over three days and would be under command of the governor and state officials.

“This is not martial law,” Blum told the news conference, adding that the Guard members would only support local law enforcement officials. Each U.S. state has its own part-time National Guard force, which traditionally is at the command of the state’s governor to mobilize for emergency duties ranging from police work to disaster response. The Navy said it was sending the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman to join an armada of vessels off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Air Force said it was adding a high-flying U-2 spy plane to the relief effort to take pictures to help relief efforts at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Navy also said the hospital ship USNS Comfort, based in Baltimore, is expected to set sail by Saturday and reach the region in seven days. The floating hospital has 12 operating rooms and up to 1,000 patient beds, but will be configured initially for 250 beds, the Navy said. It will first stop in Florida to load additional medical supplies and personnel. Army officials said they were preparing for the possibility of deploying larger numbers of active-duty troops to the stricken region, but no deployment orders on that scale had been issued. “Units have been informed to stand by in anticipation of future requirements,” said Army spokesman Paul Boyce. “That has happened throughout the southeastern United States. No word on numbers at this time, merely that a number of units have been given a standby heads-up.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/01/2005 at 07:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner