Brooklyn Red Leg
Anarcho-Capitalism FTW!
Outside assistance from other state's National Guard units is needed because the Vermont National Guard's helicopter fleet is deployed on a mission in Iraq.
Eight helicopters on loan from the Illinois National Guard were expected to arrive Tuesday night in Vermont to help the Vermont National Guard deliver food, medicine, water and other supplies to 13 Vermont towns cut off from the rest of the state in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.
The outside helicopter support is needed because all six of the Vermont Guards Black Hawk helicopters are still in Iraq, where they and 55 Vermont soldiers are wrapping up a yearlong hospital transport mission, said Lt. Lloyd Goodrow, spokesman for the Vermont Guard.
The eight helicopters being sent in include six massive, double-bladed Chinook choppers and two smaller Black Hawk helicopters, said Vermont Guard Capt. Doran Metzger.
The New Hampshire National Guard sent over two of its Black Hawk helicopters on Monday. The two were used to transport Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, Gov. Peter Shumlin, Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on a survey of flood-damaged areas in the state.
Peter Coffey, deputy director for operations and logistics for the states Emergency Management Division, said the papers requesting the Illinois assistance were approved Tuesday afternoon, and the eight helicopters were en route to Vermont.
Goodrow said the Vermont soldiers in Iraq are on their way home and should be back in the state late this week or early next week. The six helicopters, however, will need to undergo an extensive maintenance check to remove desert sand and grit from their machinery before they are cleared for use back in the state.
Goodrow said that process could take a month to complete. One of the Vermont Guards missions in the aftermath of the Irene-related devastation is to get supplies to residents in about a dozen stranded cut-off towns.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110830/NEWS02/110830022/
I thought we were supposed to have all our combat troops out of Iraq by now...
