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 NEWS
 Louisiana National Guard better, stronger 10 years after Katrina By Spc. Joshua Barnett
                Louisiana National Guard
 NEW ORLEANS – Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated southeastern Louisiana.Three weeks
later, Hurricane Rita did the same in southwestern Louisiana. The Louisiana
National Guard played a crucial role in the immediate response to both storms,
as well as the recovery. Efforts were complicated, however, by the fact that many
Guard facilities, including the headquarters at Jackson Barracks and the
aviation facility at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport were destroyed, and many
of the Guard members were personally affected by the storm. Today, the Louisiana National Guard has rebuilt,
incorporating many lessons learned along the way. “Katrina taught us a lot about how we were organized, and
how to better organize,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, adjutant general of
the LANG. “We have a very, very good all-hazards plan now that we actually
executed in Gustav and Ike. It’s still difficult, but it made it much easier.
We’re prepared. We’re ready to go.” With nearly all buildings and infrastructure in the southern
half of the state destroyed, the LANG was essentially starting over with a
blank slate. This allowed for each facility to be designed for current and
future requirements, instead of adapting old facilities for modern uses. It
also presented an opportunity to make the buildings more storm proof. “We had to find a way to rebuild differently – smarter – so
that if any flooding or hurricanes came again, we wouldn’t be as affected,”
said Col. Daniel Bordelon, construction ‎and facilities management
officer for the LANG. This included relocating and splitting up critical
infrastructure and equipment, improving durability, and continuity. One example
was the construction of a new $110 million aviation facility in Hammond, 42
feet above sea level, so that helicopters could be safely based just outside
New Orleans. “It’s much smarter to have it outside of the immediate
impact area,” Bordelon said. Another example was the construction of a $33 million Joint
Operations Center at Camp Beauregard in Pineville. “Locating the Joint
Operations Center in the center of our state makes our emergency preparedness
and response efforts more flexible, so the Guard is well-positioned to respond to
disaster wherever it strikes,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said when it opened in 2009. In total, $640 million was spent rebuilding National Guard
facilities destroyed by Katrina. In addition to improving facilities based on past
experience, plans and protocols were also overhauled to incorporate the
experience and expertise gained during Hurricane Katrina. “The
focus of LANG is always on the future – the next disaster, the next
deployment. We continue to train,
exercise and improve our processes so that we can be more efficient and
effective on the next mission,” said retired Col. Pat Griffin, emergency
management director for Emergency Support Function 7, which is the lead state
agency for logistics and commodities distribution. “What we are capable of
doing today is light years from our heroic efforts in Katrina. “We’ve
also secured a regional staging area capable of holding 500 trucks; we have
everything staged in advance,” Griffin said. “We are ready today for a
large-scale response effort immediately after a storm.” Annually, the joint disaster planning and exercising
conducted in Louisiana has become a national model for readiness, and validates
the LANG’s ability to respond to a disaster of Katrina’s magnitude with much
greater speed, efficiency and expertise than a decade ago. Since the 2005 hurricanes, the LANG’s readiness and response
has been tested through many emergency operations, including Hurricanes Gustav,
Ike and Isaac, the BP oil spill, and flooding along the Mississippi and Red
Rivers.
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