How Hurricane Katrina/ Hurricane Rita Does Not Compromise United States Armed Forces

United States Armed Forces contribution is always numerous and widespread. The selfless dedication to the well being of United States of America is always on display.

Their is growing criticism of the United States Armed Forces. Take the criticism of United States Army for example. There are about 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, on reserve, and on national guard. Currently around 286,000 soldiers are deployed overseas in 120 countries or around 12.6 percent. Iraq accounts for about 103,000 soldiers. Afghanistan accounts for about 15,000 soldiers. Kuwait accounts for about 10,000 soldiers. About 751,000 or about 74.2 percent are in United States. The federal government has agreed since 2001 not to mobilize more than about 50 percent of national guard in any given state to leave sufficient resources and personnel for governors to respond to emergencies.

United States Armed Forces response has been classified as a costly game of catch up. Even so, national guard were mobilized immediately. 7,500 soldiers from four states were on the ground within 24 hours of Hurricane Katrina. Effective and efficient response given the disruption of transportation infrastructures caused by Hurricane Katrina. Department of Defense response was more effective and efficient compared to Hurricane Andrew. Support request for Hurricane Andrew took nine days. The reaction time was less than three days with Hurricane Katrina and Department of Defense had prestaged resources and personnel in anticipation of requests. Department of Defence cannot act independently. Federal Emergency Management Agency is the lead agency. Requests have to come from governor and requests have to be coordinated with Federal Emergency Management Agency. This means local and state officials have to assess damage, governor has to determine requests, and Federal Emergency Management Agency has to come up with a plan for integrating the United States Armed Forces into the overall requests. Department of Defense packs and moves the appropriate resources and personnel. This has been done. The process has been functioning under the circumstances.

Hard to understand what should have been done and what could have been done. Disaster of this magnitude is to be politicized. Even so, criticism of United States Armed Forces is even harder to understand. The national guard is demonstrating they can fulfill both its state responsibilities and federal responsibilities. Impossible to win in these situations, i.e. Hurricane Charley, when disaster of this magnitude is politicized.