By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
More Kentucky Air National Guard members are in Texas to help with Hurricane Harvey rescue operations and medical evacuations.
An eight-person assessment team from the 123rd Contingency Response Group departed this week aboard an Air Guard C-130 headed to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, according to Col. Bruce Bancroft, the unit’s commander.
Once on the ground, the team will assess the physical condition of the airport and evaluate its ability to support relief operations.
A second group of 38 Airmen from the same unit will leave this evening for the same location. They will bring all the equipment needed to rapidly establish airfield, aeromedical evacuation and cargo operations, including communications gear, power generators and all-terrain forklifts for the off-loading of humanitarian assistance arriving by airlift.
“We expect to be operational within a few hours of landing in Houston,” Bancroft said. “Our first task will be to facilitate the aeromedical evacuation of patients. To make that happen, we will be offloading one C-5 aircraft that’s bringing in the equipment and personnel for a DASF, or Disaster Aeromedical Staging Facility.”
A DASF is a field medical unit, staffed by specially trained doctors and nurses, that provides for the care of patients who are being evacuated to hospitals are other care facilities.
“We are 100 percent ready to execute this mission and get relief to the people of Texas,” Bancroft said. “Our prayers and thoughts are with the folks in Houston, and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to put our skills into action. At a time like this, we’re all Texans.”
This is the second group from the 123rd to head to Texas. About a dozen Kentucky Air National Guardsmen were deployed to Texas on Sunday and are conducting airfield operations at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston and rescue missions in Pearland and Friendswood, Texas.
“We are looking for people who are trapped in their homes or on rooftops because of the flooding,” said Maj. Aaron Zamora, director of operations for the Kentucky Air Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron. “Once the residents are safely in the boats, our Airmen are providing medical care if needed and transporting them to the nearest shelter.”
It is not known how long the deployment will last, or if more Kentucky Air National Guard personnel will be sent to Texas.