Being a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard, I have twice been called up to active duty for hurricane relief duty in Louisiana. In 2005, my company, the 1174th was called to active duty with a mission to haul fuel after Hurricane Katrina. We were based in New Orleans. Driving to the base of operations and from the base I could witness the devastation caused by the high winds and flooding. We were assigned to haul fuel, but after arriving at the base, civilian truck drivers were performing the mission. We stayed about a week with some members of the company working security for search and rescue missions and guard duty at the base.
This year, my unit the 1171st Transportation Company was called up to active duty to conduct relief missions for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Being that the 1171st is a medium truck company with flatbeds we were involved in several missions all over the state of Louisiana. Trucks delivered supplies to New Orleans, in and around Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. Overall, the military response was better organized than it was in 2005 in response to Katrina. But we were not happy to live a day and half at the infamous "Chicken Coops" near the Alexandria airport.
Our stay in Alexandria was almost two weeks and the accommodations were better with air conditioned barracks, but with we were in tight quarters. While in Alexandria, my first cousin Kathryn and her husband Jody travelled to Alexandria to visit me.
