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Joint Task Force Katrina was a joint operation between the United States Department of Defense and the Federal Emergency Management Agency created on September 1, 2005 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi to organize relief efforts along the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The operation was headed by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré, who was appointed by President George Bush to take charge and lead the task force. Task Force Katrina took over operation from Northern command that set up that had set some operation in place before hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Included in this was a joint mission of USAF Reserve Security Forces personnel at Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Their mission was to protect Air Force resources and personnel if the displaced persons being housed in shelters at Kelly AFB were to cause a civil disturbance.

History
JTF Katrina was established the day after hurricane Katrina finished its path through the Gulf coast. It was established on September 1, 2005 to coordinate the Department of Defense (DOD) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief plans for the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. At its creation Joint Task Force Katrina had about 7,000 national guardsmen in Mississippi, 10,000 in Alabama, 6,500 in Louisiana,and 8,200 in Florida ready for duty. These troops had been put in place by Northern Command. First actions taken were flying helicopters for medical- evacuations that were started on September 1. The air crafts for these operations came from across the United states. Some came from as far as California to help in the relief effort. Pilots of these aircraft orders ranged from flying along the coastline looking for survivors and transporting food, water, and medical supplies to all of the refugee camps across the Gulf. Some of these supplies included 5.4 million prepackaged meals -- meals-ready-to-eat, in military parlance -- as well as 13.5 million liters of water, 10,400 tarpaulins, 4,900 rolls of plastic sheeting, 3.5 million pounds of ice, 10 mobile homes, 144 generators, 135,000 blankets, 11,000 cots, 200 tables, 450 chairs and one all-terrain vehicle.

Numerous Naval ships were sent to the gulf to assist in the aid of the Gulf for instance the Iwo Jima amphibious Readiness Group Sailed from Virginia which was a group of ships made up of the USS IWO JIMA, USS Shreveport, USS Tortuga, and USNS Arctic each loaded with disaster response equipment which went to Louisiana to offer their assistance. Also the USNS Comfort which was a hospital ship that came from Maryland to give medical supplies to the relief effort. USNS Comfort served as a way point for injured refugees to be evacuated out of New Orleans. USNS Comfort was also the main place for soldiers and national guardsmen in New Orleans to get food. The USS Grapple also was called in to do underwater salvaging of flooded areas throughout the Gulf coast. USS Grapple’s main focus was salvaging as much of New Orleans as possible

Multiple working staging areas were set up on multiple air force bases that included Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi; Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana ; Alexandria, Louisiana; and Fort Polk, Louisiana. These were set up to speed up movement of supplies and soldiers to get to needed areas. Joint Task Force Katrina eventually was relocated its' base of operations from Camp Shelby to USS IWO JIMA that was in port in New Orleans. The United States Military also had 355 helicopters and 93 planes to the relief effort. Not including the 63,000 Active Soldiers that were also contributing to the cause. These men were in charge of evacuating civilians out of the effected parts of the Gulf Coast.

Opinions
There are some opinions that Joint Task Force Katrina was formed and did not respond fast enough to act in response to Hurricane Katrina. Some felt that there should of been evacuation orders to get all of New Orleans evacuated because of how high risk it is to major flooding in a hurricane. This is because it is a below sea level valley and had been predicted if a levee were to be damaged and go out that the death toll from that could be north of 40,000 people. There was no such order though, but 80 percent of New Orleans was evacuated prior to the storm. The main issue that some people had issues with was the 20% that was still in the city were people who could not afford to evacuate or were physically inescapable without assistance, and the Joint Task Force Katrina did nothing to aid in this matter until after the Katrina had passed. The Government needed to do more in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina when they did act it was in response to Hurricane Katrina instead of before it.

Other Opinions of Joint Task force Katrina is that it was the biggest and quickest response in US history. With Having 50,000 national guards men onsite the day after the Katrina's landfall contributing to the relief effort. Joint task force Katrina did run into some issues with communication, but it did serve as a great lesson for the next large scale natural disaster. By the end of Joint task force Katrina it was felt that it did its job and ended in sucess. People with this opinion hope for The US government to learn from the short comings of Joint Task Force Katrina to better serve the people in need in the next large scale natural disaster.