#60 Postby SkywarnKR4YO » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:46 pm
As an Air Force officer and recent AETC instructor (although not at Keesler), I can reassure everyone that Brig Gen Lord will not place the students under his command at risk. These are largely young enlisted folks not too long out of basic training. The logistics of moving and billeting these troops is not as simple as it seems (we just can't send them in ones and twos to commercial hotels all over the country, and if you've ever worked with new airmen, you'd understand why...), and as to the zillions of C-5s lying about, that's not the case either.
Barracks (we call 'em dorms) are not the "Gomer Pyle" structures you've seen in the movies, and are particularly built to last (they take hard use like college dorms and Congress doesn't give us the money to rebuild them every 5 years), and environmental stressors are taken into account when they are designed. The runway elevation (usually the lowest part of any AFB) is 34 feet.
You must also take into account what capabilities those airmen will provide post-strike. Runways will have to be cleared of debris -- a personnel-intensive job, Workers will be needed immediately to prepare warehouse facilities and to handle logistical efforts. Why? Because Keesler AFB will likely become much of the hub for relief efforts ovet the next week. Hurlburt and Eglin are, given their elevations and for other factors, not great places to set up an air hub in support of disaster relief.
Keesler is centrally located in the strike area, is not a primary combat capability base as are Tyndall, Eglin, and Hurlburt, and has a ready pool of troops that, to be honest with you, are operationally expendable. Before I get flamed for that line let me explain what I mean. The folks at Hurlburt, Eglin and Tyndall all provide immediate combat capability (fighters, special operations, and critical weapons test and development) to the United States. Why have we gotten all those aircraft and people out? Because we need to bring them back to clean up their bases and get back in the fight, doing their day-to-day jobs. The trainee airmen, however, are not yet qualified to do anything but march and learn, and to be honest with you, every classroom at Keesler could collapse and the immediate effect on the national security of the Unitted States would be exactly zero. In other words, we need the pilots and the trained maintainers to reconstitute their bases and get back on the job, not manhandle relief supplies. The young airmen and officers who are not yet fully trained, however, provide a manpower pool that is capable of making the massive logistics of a relief effort work. A brand-new lieutenant may not have yet have the technical skills to succeed in his Air Force specialty, but he does have the leadership skills to organize and supervise a unit of troops stevedoring airlifted relief materiel and building tent cities and temporary housing for displaced persons after the storm.
Yes, the National Guard will have the lead, but their homes will be gone and their families in trouble, too. So yes, the trainees are operationally expendable--we can sacrifice some training time for a greater need.
These airmen will be safe, and these young men and women, you will see, are going to do their nation some great service in the upcoming days. The oath that they took (for many, their first true, voluntary, legally binding committment as an adult citizen of the Republic) stated their willingness to defend the Constitution of US (and the people, who are the Constitution, after all) against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This hurricane, in a way, is an enemy of the people. When this is all over, we're going to be proud of these airmen and be very glad that they were able to shelter in place, weather the storm, then go out and help their fellow citizens.
My guess is that all this factored into Brig Gen Lord's decision. Give those of us in military leadership positions some credit. We are sometimes portrayed in movies as power-hungry bumbling idiots who like to snap orders at people for no earthly reason. We're decently bright, and believe it or not, we really do care about our troops. The general's decision, I guarantee you, was taken with a lot of deliberation and consultation, and oh by the way, the USAF is one of the nation's leading employers of professional mets, and we listen to them! The hangars may go down (which is why we have to evac the aircraft, for which you as a taxpayer should be thankful--I pay taxes too and I know I'm glad they flew out!) cause they just aren't inherently robust, but the dorms/shelters will be just fine.
Long post, but the points needed to be made. We'll give our lives in combat to protect you from those who would do us harm, but we'll also be there when things are so bad your communities just can't cope, 'cause we live in your towns, too, if only for a short time, and because patriotism to us isn't just saluting the flag, it's taking care of those who live under it as well.
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