National Guard Leaders See Guardsmen Answer the Call

MORGANTON, N.C. - The National Guard's top officer ceremoniously assumed his new role Tuesday. His first order of business Wednesday was to spend time with National Guardsmen supporting communities affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief, National Guard Bureau, and Senior Enlisted Advisor to the CNGB Tony Whitehead traveled to Tampa, Florida, and western North Carolina to visit some of the several thousand Guardsmen activated there.

"Thank you for what you're doing to help the citizens of our nation," Nordhaus told every Guardsman he spoke with. "You are part of the National Guard's elite forces ready to defend our freedoms and respond when others need help the most."

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend Sept. 26. The storm carved a 500-mile path of destruction through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. Communities were cut off, homes flooded, and millions had no power.

The North Carolina National Guard was activated by the state's governor Sept. 25 and prepared to respond at the request of state and local agencies. Still, the situation in western North Carolina became especially dire.

The Florida National Guard rehearses hurricane response every year and, in many years, puts that practice into action. Hurricane Helene was no different, as nearly 4,100 troops were activated just days before Helene was expected to hit. Most of them staged and ready for post-landfall operations. Others were working in operation centers throughout the state.

North Carolina also regularly prepares to respond to hurricanes, but the rehearsals and planning typically focus on the state's coastal areas, not its western reaches.

The last catastrophic flooding in this region occurred during the Great Flood of 1916. Helene - categorized as a tropical storm once it reached North Carolina - brought 30 inches of rain to some areas. The flooding altered the landscape and left people stranded on rooftops without communications or commodities.

Once Helene left Florida and the devastation to the north became evident, the Florida National Guard's work was no longer restricted to state borders. Florida Guardsmen were among the thousands of Guard troops mobilized to North Carolina via Emergency Management Assistance Compact requests. EMACs are integral to large-scale National Guard domestic operations, enabling states to support and provide forces and capabilities to each other when needed.

"That's the beauty of the EMAC," Nordhaus said, "to see how fast that system works."

Nordhaus and Whitehead toured the North Carolina Guard's Morganton Regional Readiness Center, set up as a joint reception, staging, and onward integration site, where Guardsmen were processed in and out of the area.

There, elements of the farthest-reaching Guard unit sent to North Carolina - the Michigan Guard's 507th Engineer Battalion - were preparing to withdraw from the operation and return home. The unit's primary mission was to clear roads and remove debris.

"There were definitely some emotional days where we saw people that lost everything that they own," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Troy TerHaar, a construction engineer. "God put us in the right place at the right time with the right people for the right circumstance. I'm so proud of everybody in this unit and the initiative they took to get the job done."

Thousands of Guardsmen remain on station while the Department of Defense continues to support search-and-rescue operations, route clearance, and commodities distribution across western North Carolina. Some 1,500 active-duty troops from the Army's 18th Airborne Corps, which includes Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division, were mobilized.

The North Carolina National Guard appointed Army Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison the dual-status commander to lead active troops and Guardsmen and ensure command, control and coordination to get aid and troops where most needed.

Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Garner, the North Carolina Guard's command senior enlisted leader, lives west of Asheville - one of North Carolina's hardest hit towns -and is a high school educator when he is not in uniform. When the storm arrived, he lost power and had no mobile network connection for days. His home was mostly spared from damage, but his community and the surrounding communities were "underwater."

Garner has spent the past three weeks circulating the region to meet with and check on Guardsmen and civilians to ensure they get the support they need.

"It was a way to educate the public on what our capabilities are because, you know, they don't see that every day," Garner said. "They see the big things on the news and things of that nature. But to see it embedded in the communities, I can just tell you from my community, it will not be forgotten."

Garner noted that the integration of active-duty Soldiers with Guardsmen has been seamless. The North Carolina Guard assigned liaison personnel to work in county emergency operations centers with interagency personnel to pinpoint what capabilities were needed and what force packages - whether active duty or Guard -would be best utilized.

"We're doing this thing together just like we did in Iraq and Afghanistan," Garner said. "We've come together for the good of the people we're serving. But it's not just military personnel. It's been churches, civic groups volunteers and supply runners that are bringing it from their town.

"To see this seamless integration between all people that are determined to achieve one goal, which is to help the people in need."

Army Maj. Gen. Ronald Win Burkett II, National Guard Bureau director of domestic operations and force development, said in a media round table Oct. 3 there was "incredible coordination and really some Herculean efforts" by the many National Guard units and federal, state and local authorities.

Across the Southeast, the response continues. Clean-up work, clearing roadways and bridges and distributing commodities are ongoing priorities. Support efforts are evolving from response to recovery.

"Hurricane Helene is one of the most devastating storms that western North Carolina has experienced, and our hearts are with our citizens trying to recover and regain some sense of normalcy," said Army Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, the adjutant general of North Carolina. "The North Carolina National Guard, along with our interstate and state partners, are here until the job is done."

In Tampa, Nordhaus and Whitehead visited a distribution site set up after Hurricane Milton left many homes and roadways inundated with water and citizens without easy access to supplies. Florida Guardsmen and local response agencies supplied water, food and tarps to people. The line of cars was lengthy. Hugs with Guardsmen were frequently exchanged.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Cody Cheeley, an F-35A Lightning II crew chief with the 125th Fighter Wing, Jacksonville Air National Guard Base, was activated on state active-duty orders for Helene support, sent home, and returned to Tampa three days later to help with Hurricane Milton response.

"We are a smiling face to show people that it's going to be OK and it's going to get better," Cheeley said. "It's rewarding. It's nice to be able to see the direct impact of the work that we're doing. One of the main things that brought me to the Florida Guard was to be able to help out in my state where I live."

Whitehead thanked Guardsmen and told them they made the right decision to serve.

"We hear a lot about a lack of propensity to serve among young people," Whitehead told a group of Soldiers and Airmen in Florida. "That's not what I see here. I see motivated and enthusiastic young people getting after it, stepping up, and helping our fellow citizens. The future of our Guard is in good hands."

Hundreds of stranded people have been rescued, thousands of cubic yards of debris removed, and millions of pounds of commodities distributed across the Southeast.

"To me, this kind of a response is a strategic deterrent to our adversaries that they cannot affect America," Nordhaus said. "This type of interagency coordination makes us especially strong as a nation and as a National Guard.

"Working with our federal, state and local partners, there is nothing we can't achieve together," he said.
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Army Lt. Col. Ellis Parks and Air Force Capt. Brittianie Funderburk contributed

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