Marines

AMC poised for the 2006 hurricane season

16 Jun 2006 | 1st Lt. Leslie Brown

The 2006 hurricane season is underway, and Air Mobility Command is prepared to support relief efforts if necessary.

AMC’s preparation for the 2006 hurricane season began months ago when the Tanker Airlift Control Center began enhancing some of its internal processes.

“We updated our operating procedures and spent time identifying and training the personnel who will comprise our contingency response cell during a hurricane,” said Col. Jeff Franklin, current operations director at TACC. “Also, we significantly updated our technology by adding better computers and phones.”

AMC’s Operations Directorate capitalized on its experiences from last year’s hurricanes to prepare as well. The AMC crisis action team developed a working relationship with the 1st Air Force CAT (at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.) during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Paul Williams, operational plans division chief.

“These relationships will certainly improve our responsiveness in future disaster relief efforts,” Mr. Williams said. “Additionally, AMC CAT members have studied Hurricanes Katrina and Rita lessons learned and are better prepared to provide assistance in the areas of personnel accountability, deployed medical and aeromedical evacuation support, and evacuee beddown, including billeting and feeding evacuees.”

As soon as a hurricane track with any probability of a strike on the United States is identified, the TACC begins posturing mobility forces to be able to respond to a number of relief scenarios. This normally consists of placing a number of aircraft and crews in Bravo alert status, meaning crews are on standby and ready to launch in three hours or less from notification.

“Additionally, we place personnel from our base opening and operating forces, known as Contingency Response Group elements, on call,” Colonel Franklin said.

After setting up the contingency response cell during Hurricane Katrina, TACC Airmen rapidly turned requirements into missions for humanitarian airlift assistance to people on the Gulf Coast. Within the first 24 hours of Katrina’s landfall, the TACC aggressively moved search-and-rescue teams and their equipment to Louisiana, and then quickly shifted focus to a hub-and-spoke operation to bring in supplies and rescue patients.

During Katrina and Rita the TACC tasked nearly 900 sorties to support relief efforts. Mobility forces moved more than 14,600 passengers, nearly 3,000 patients, and hauled the equivalent of 686 semi-truckloads of supplies to and from the Gulf Coast region.

“AMC and the TACC are experienced in posturing for these types of events,” Colonel Franklin said. “Responding to natural disasters is one of our key competencies.”
Marine Corps Base Hawaii