Boots on the Ground (Mud?)

From a Major in the Illinois National Guard about being called out to aid the Katrina relief effort:

[I]t was a huge amount of National Guard, from many places - alongside active component soldiers, the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

I see why the Navy was involved. The Coast Guard was a natural too. In fact, if anyone has been slighted in the whole Katrina relief effort, it has been the United States Coast Guard. The Coasties were saving people before anyone realized there was a major problem. They saved thousands and did not receive even a tiny fraction of the credit they were due. It was easier for the press to follow the 82nd Airborne around New Orleans.

I am still shuddering about the 82nd [Airborne] being brought into this effort. I happen to be a big fan of Posse Comitatus, and I am still waiting for someone to give me a good reason for heaving it aside - and not simply because one State of the Union wet its pants at crunch time. Why is Florida able to avoid folding like a broken cot everytime a hurricane slams ashore? Why should North Carolina have it's sovereignty flushed down the hopper whenever a tropical depression forms? You can get all the Federal help you can handle if you just ask for it. Also, I didn't hear of a single governor refusing Louisiana's call for help - EMACs (assistance compacts between states) were flying off the fax machines in every state capital. Wars aside, there are still a few hundred thousand Army and Air Guard available for such a call...

I fully agree. FEMA is not a First Responder, and the failure of local and state governors to know what to do in such emergencies is not grounds for ignoring the Constitution and sending in the 82nd Airborne. He's also correct that the Coast Guard deserves high marks for its efforts. It doesn't have to wait for the governor or mayor to ask it to respond. Rescuing people in such situations is part of its full-time mission.