JACKSON - Even with thousands of Mississippi National Guard soldiers deployed to Iraq, military leaders say they were able to adequately respond to Hurricane Katrina by using the troops that were available and resources from other states.
Nearly 4,000 of Mississippi's 12,500 Guard soldiers and airmen are deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Had we not had these soldiers and airmen deployed and they participated in the relief efforts of a storm of this magnitude, we would have had to have outside help anyway," said Lt. Col. Tim Powell, a Mississippi Guard spokesman. "I don't believe there is a state in this country that could have conducted hurricane relief efforts on this scale to adequately respond without help from other states."
Nearly 15,000 soldiers from Mississippi and across the country were called up for the relief efforts here, Powell said.
Long convoys of camouflage military vehicles from throughout the country could be seen snaking along Mississippi's major highways in the days following the storm. Emergency officials say the response was rapid only because a plan was already in place.
Powell said officials were able to draw on Guard units in other states to beef up to a division-sized response of 14,000 soldiers within days by using the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, commonly known as EMAC, which allows states to share resources.
"EMAC is a great system. You can't do it all by yourself and we brought in a tremendous amount of resources," said Amy Carruth, a Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman.
"Could I have imagined how bad the storm would be? No. But we were prepared."
Powell said that every natural disaster provides a learning experience for emergency workers but, overall, he was proud of the relief effort in Mississippi. "From what I saw, and from all accounts, the Mississippi Guard responded according to plans, and morale was very, very high," he said.
There were 170 Mississippi Guard soldiers - including liaison teams, engineering units and military police officers - sent to the state's three coastal counties before Katrina made landfall, he said. Another 800 soldiers were positioned at Camp Shelby some 80 miles inland and responded immediately after Katrina made landfall.
Powell said the relief effort continues to operate on an enormous scale. The Mississippi Guard alone has delivered over 37 million pounds of ice, 4.5 million gallons of water, and almost 4 million MREs - meals ready to eat. Guard aviation units have flown almost 2,000 missions.
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