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Originally posted by lifesaver
I can.
When the military invades a country, the first target is securing the airport. Thats what should have been done here. Helicopters land with troops and secure the airport, making sure the runways were useable and setting up the initial command post in the city. Immediately after the runway is cleared for landings, then the C5 Galaxy's begin the process of bringing in materials and bringing out people.(See the Wiki for the C5 Here) In brief.. The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest aircraft in the world. It can carry outsize and oversize cargo intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews can load and off load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings.
Specifically, the first C5 Flights bring in massive numbers of troops and equipment necessary to get to the superdome (about 10 miles away) - I'm thinking bulldozers and chainsaws and heavy trucks so a path can be cleared to the superdome (there are a few routes above water that could be utilized). Once a path is created, then the C5's begin coming in on a rapid basis, bringing in food, water, ice troops and vehicles. Those vehicles take the materials to the superdome drop them off and pick up people and return the people to the airport. Once the system is set up, 50,000 people could be evacuated from the city in a matter of 24 hours.
We're only talking about the evacuation of New Orleans. The city is an extreemly compact urban area, and most of the low income people are in a localized area (pre-storm; post storm, most 'refugees' were at the superdome). The military provides the structure. Also, the I-10 bridge to Slidell isnt the only route in/out of the city. I-10 runs east-west and there is the Crecent City Connection (the signature bridge near the CBD) to the Westbank Expressway (I-10 near the CBD is underwater). Afterall, they did bus many of those refugees out to Texas. So it was doable. I just think the airlift route would have been much more efficient - and not too hard to figure out.
Just a thought.
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C-5 Galaxies huh? That's a cute theory. Just to ask, how many of those do the Army, AF, Navy or USMC have just sitting around on runways, perfectly adapted to such needs? Oh, I'm sure there's hundreds and hundreds of these aircraft just sittin around, perfectly configured for just such an extraction and evacuation situation as this. Oh well, yes, and besides how MANY of these planes there are, I'm sure the LA Gov. and NO mayor have the authority to press these into service. The plain fact is, that if the NO mayor was serious about evac, him and the Gov. wouldn't have blown off Pres. Bush when he CALLED for evac, would have comandeered NO city buses and school buses, and rolled them through the poor neighborhoods and evacuated all they could. Instead they let their political differences blind them to the fact that, holy crap, W might actually have a clue what's good for them, and sentenced a large part of their constitunecy to death by their inaction.
People can smoke screen the blame all they want. They can try to shift the blame to Bush, or Republicans, or Whitey, or white devils all they want, but the true fumble here was by the elected mayor of NO and the Gov. of LA. I would venture to say that the enviornmental movement, who places a value on saving 'endangered' plants and animals in front of flood control and development measures is also partly to blame.