Hours before Hurricane Isaac's full effects were to be felt in New Orleans Tuesday, Army National Guard Capt. Mark Castillon and his soldiers rolled up on a burglary scene in the Bywater neighborhood. Several New Orleans police officers converged on the shotgun home in the 1000 block of Independence Street, and they already had a suspect in custody, a middle-aged with a lengthy rap sheet.
A New Orleans police officer and a National Guard soldier walk in the 1000 block of Independence Street in the Bywater neighborhood Tuesday, after searching a house after a burglary. As of Tuesday morning, 4,158 Louisiana troops were mobilized to respond to Hurricane Isaac.
And in a scene reminiscent of the months following Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, the police officers and a detective searched the house accompanied by a soldier who carried an M-4 assault rifle, as other armed soldiers stood nearby on St. Claude Avenue beside their Humvees.
"We have a familiar relationship with NOPD," said Castillon, a Harahan resident who commands Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery Regiment, a storied unit known as the Washington Artilleryat Jackson Barracks. "We're both serving the community as best as we can during this emergency. This is what we're here for, to assist the community."
From Belle Chasse to Zephyr Field in Metairie, and from Chalmette to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, National Guard soldiers and airmen are fanned out across the region, preparing for search-and-rescue missions, gearing up to clear streets of debris and assisting local law enforcement agencies. In Hammond, National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are housed in storm-proof hangars, their crews waiting for winds to die down.
They're also showing a daunting presence. At the Morial Convention Center, soldiers with assault rifles milled about besides their armored Humvees. At the St. Bernard Parish line on St. Claude Avenue, two airmen armed with an M-4 rifle and a shotgun stood watch with Sheriff's Office deputies.
Troops in the area include infantrymen and engineers, said Maj. Marc Prymek, support operations officer for the 199th Brigade Support Battalion, which stood up an operations center at the convention center. He declined to say how many troops are in New Orleans, where Humvees appear to be a common sight.
The Louisiana National Guard had mobilized 4,158 troops as of Tuesday morning, a slight increase over the day before, and the state has asked the Defense Department to pay for up to 8,000 troops for 180 days, Gov. Bobby Jindal's office said Tuesday.
Of them, 680 troops are in Orleans Parish, according to the National Guard.
Another 35,000 troops and almost 100 aircraft are available for mobilization to the Gulf Coast states if needed, the National Guard Bureau reported.
Jindal said during a Tuesday morning press conference that the Louisiana National Guard has posted 23 liaison teams with local governments; 13 communications teams are in the region, along with 921 security vehicles, 531 high-water vehicles, 40 aircraft and 74 boats.
A handful of those boats are stationed at Jackson Barracks, where soldiers were preparing to hunker down for Isaac. First Lt. Ryan Collins of Pineville, executive officer of the 844th Engineer Company, was among the troops who pushed down into southeast Louisiana starting Monday, when more than one-third of the Louisiana National Guard was mobilized.
He and about 50 soldiers in his Ruston-based unit arrived at Jackson Barracks about 2 a.m., Tuesday, with flat boats and heavy earth-moving equipment, some of which is staged in Chalmette. The boats would be used for rescues, he said, while the heavy equipment would be used to clear roads after the storm passes.
"These missions are a little more personal," Collins said of responding to state emergencies. "It's kind of like protecting your own. You're not doing it because you're told to do it. You're doing it because you want to do it."
Paul Purpura can be reached at 504.826.3791 or ppurpura@timespicayune.com.
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