This occasional paper examines the effectiveness of the United States Army's response to Hurricane Katrina, focusing on what the Army did and how it responded in the face of a large-scale disaster unlike any other ever faced before.

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Hurricane Katrina, in Aug. 2005, was the costliest hurricane as well as one of the five deadliest storms in U.S. history. It caused extensive destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas. Some 22,000 Active-Duty Army personnel assisted with relief-and-recovery operations in Mississippi and Louisiana. At the same time, all 50 states sent approx. 50,000 National Guard personnel to deal with the storm¿s aftermath. Because the media coverage of this disaster tended toward the sensational more than the analytical, many important stories remain to be told in a dispassionate manner. This study offers a dispassionate analysis of the Army¿s response to the natural disaster by providing a detailed account of the operations in Louisiana and Mississippi.

This occasional paper examines the effectiveness of the United States Army's response to Hurricane Katrina, focusing on what the Army did and how it responded in the face of a large-scale disaster unlike any other ever faced before.

"This volume in the Borden Institute's history series will describe forward US Army surgery from the 1700s to the present time. The book will look at advances in medicine and surgery that improved the lot of the American soldier. In particular, the book will examine the impact of disease upon troop strength, which had special impact in the Revolutionary War through the post-Civil War period. Forward surgery in the modern sense came of age in World War I. The challenge of so many different theaters of conflict in World War II will be examined from the portable surgical hospital of the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations to the surgical evacuation hospital teams of the European Theater of Operations. The evolving care models will feature the story of the Korean War mobile army surgical hospital. The defining performance of helicopter air evacuation in Vietnam, along with improved surgical techniques, will be discussed. Finally, the many advances of forward surgery from the post-Vietnam era to the present will be presented."--Provided by publisher.

This book presents the fullest account yet written of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Rooted in a wealth of oral histories, it tells the dramatic but underreported story of a people who confronted the unprecedented devastation of sixty-five-thousand homes when the eye wall and powerful northeast quadrant of the hurricane swept a record thirty-foot storm surge across a seventy-five-mile stretch of unprotected Mississippi towns and cities. James Patterson Smith takes us through life and death accounts of storm day, August 29, 2005, and the precarious days of food and water shortages that followed. Along the way the narrative treats us to inspiring episodes of neighborly compassion and creative responses to the greatest natural disaster in American history. The heroes of this saga are the local people and local officials. In often moving accounts, the book addresses the Mississippi Gulf Coast's long struggle to remove a record-setting volume of debris and get on with the rebuilding of homes, schools, jobs, and public infrastructure. Along the way readers are offered insights into the politics of recovery funding and the bureaucratic bungling and hubris that afflicted the storm response and complicated and delayed the work of recovery. Still, there are ample accounts of things done well, and a moving chapter gives us a feel for the psychological, spiritual, and material impact of the eight hundred thousand people from across the nation who gave of themselves as volunteers in the Mississippi recovery effort.

When Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi on August 29, 2005, it unleashed the costliest natural disaster in American history, and the third deadliest. Haley Barbour had been Mississippi's governor for only twenty months when he assumed responsibility for guiding his pummeled, stricken state's recovery and rebuilding efforts. America's Great Storm is not only a personal memoir of his role in that recovery, but also a sifting of the many lessons he learned about leadership in a time of massive crisis. For the book, the authors interviewed more than forty-five key people involved in helping Mississippi recover, including local, state, and federal officials as well as private citizens who played pivotal roles in the weeks and months following Katrina's landfall. In addition to covering in detail the events of September and October 2005, chapters focus on the special legislative session that allowed casinos to build on shore; the role of the recovery commission chaired by Jim Barksdale; a behind-the-scenes description of working with Congress to pass an unprecedented, multi-billion-dollar emergency disaster assistance appropriation; and the enormous roles played by volunteers in rebuilding the entire housing, transportation, and education infrastructure of South Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. A final chapter analyzes the leadership skills and strategies Barbour employed on behalf of the people of his state, observations that will be valuable to anyone tasked with managing in a crisis.

U.S. G.P.O. sales statement incorrect in publication.

The Combat Studies Institute (CSI) is pleased to announce its latest publication in the Long War Series, Occasional Paper 29, Army Support During the Hurricane Katrina Disaster, by Mr. James A. Wombwell. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 storm and was the costliest hurricane as well as one of the five deadliest storms in the history of the United States. It caused extensive destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas. The most severe loss of life and property damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the levee system catastrophically failed, flooding the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes.In preparation for and reaction to the hurricane, the United States Northern Command established Joint Task Force Katrina at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to act as the Active component's on-scene commander. Some 22,000 Active-Duty personnel eventually assisted with relief-and-recovery operations in Mississippi and Louisiana. At the same time, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 3 territories sent approximately 50,000 National Guard personnel to deal with the storm's aftermath. These men and women were instrumental in the rescue-and-relief mission, often using their own initiative and resources in the chaotic aftermath of the storm. Because the media coverage of this great national disaster tended toward the sensational more than the analytical, many important stories remain to be told in a dispassionate manner. One such story is the response by US Army personnel, both the Active and Reserve components, within the broader governmental effort to mitigate the horrific effects of the storm. James Wombwell's study offers just such a dispassionate analysis of the Army's response to the natural disaster by providing a detailed account of the operations in Louisiana and Mississippi. Much good work was done by the Army team, but Wombwell shows that there is still room for improvement.Sadly, we have not seen the end of natural disasters in the United States, ensuring that the US Army once more will be called upon to provide assistance in their aftermath. The insights gained from the Army's experience following Hurricane Katrina, as delineated in James Wombwell's study, will make that future response even more focused and efficient. CSI-The Past Is Prologue!