Air and Army National Guard troops in Louisiana have rescued more than 4,000 people from floods that have hit the state. The state mobilized about 1,200 Guardsmen to work with local agencies to help residents impacted by the floods, including those who are trapped in neighborhoods with washed over roads, according to a Defense Department release. “A lot of these Guardsmen are doing lifesaving in their own neighborhoods, so they’re serving in the communities where they live,” said Air Force Col. Pete Schneider, Louisiana National Guard spokesman. “We are in every part of the state.” As of March 14, Guardsmen had rescued 4,255 people, 354 pets, and issued about 72,000 bottles of water and more than a million sandbags, according to the release.
REFORPAC, the large-scale exercise in the Pacific planned for summer 2025, will be on a scale unseen by the Air Force in recent memory: nearly 300 aircraft spread across 25 locations.