Nearly 140 Air National Guard personnel from Texas and Kentucky have responded to parts of Texas that were devastated by Winter Storm Uri, ANG Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh told reporters Feb. 26.
The polar vortex ravaged Texas’ power grid and deprived many citizens of running water.
ANG’s efforts in the Lone Star State have primarily consisted of working with Texas citizens “on commodities and points of distribution,” and figuring out how to care for the state’s population in the immediate term “to save lives, minimize suffering, [and] get Texas back on its feet,” Loh said during a media roundtable held during the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.
Additionally, he said, C-130Hs from the Texas and Kentucky ANGs conducted water delivery missions.
As of Feb. 24, the Texas ANG’s Fort Worth-based 136th Airlift Wing had flown over 26 such missions, moving “nearly 1,300 tons of bottled water” provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to afflicted areas throughout the state, a wing release said.
“Other aircraft, such as C-130Js, C-17s, and various rotary craft, augmented the deliveries,” the release said.
And from Feb. 22-26, the Kentucky ANG’s Louisville-based 123rd Airlift Wing flew 12 C-130H airlift missions, transporting more than 10 tons of food, water, and other supplies to multiple locations in Texas, the wing wrote in a release.
Fourteen Kentucky Air National Guard Airmen took part, it added.
“We’re honored to have had this opportunity to serve the people of Texas,” Maj. Gen. Jason Craig, an aircraft commander with the 123rd AW, said in the release. “We’ve also been humbled by the reception and appreciation that’s been shown to us. This group of Guardsmen performed admirably, showing great dedication to completion of the mission.”