Pirate's Cove

Better late then never, right?

President Biden orders Fort Liberty troops to Western NC as part of Helene response

A thousand soldiers from Fort Liberty will “immediately” be deployed to Western North Carolina as part of the response to Tropical Storm Helene, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday morning.

“These soldiers will speed up the delivery of life-saving supplies of food, water and medicine to isolated communities in North Carolina — they have the manpower and logistical capabilities to get this vital job done, and fast. They will join hundreds of North Carolina National Guard members deployed under State authorities in support of the response,” Biden said in a statement.

The soldiers headed to Western North Carolina are part of an infantry battalion task force, the White House said in a statement. Their unit includes a forward support company that can station key resources like fuel, water and mechanics in areas that are still without power or water nearly a week after the storm.

Soldiers will help with the delivery of key commodities like food and water, according to the White House. They will also help FEMA and other agencies participating in the response reach hard-hit areas that remain inaccessible due to catastrophic damage to the region’s roads and bridges from flooding and landslides.

Additionally, the Department of Defense will send 22 helicopters to help with search-and-rescue operations and “dozens” of high-water clearance vehicles.

It’s Wednesday. This all starting going to serious pot last Friday. I can understand wanting to get all the ducks in a row so that all resources are used best, but, it’s Wednesday. This really should have occurred Sunday, when it was apparent that this was a catastrophe. Those helicopters should could have been helpful Sunday, eh? Heck, the state of North Carolina has tasked 700 National Guard members to the mountains at this point.

Interestingly, no reporter in any story I’ve found on the subject (I’m using the local Raleigh source above) managed to ask “what in the hell took so long? What have y’all been doing? You could have had the Bragg, er, Liberty soldiers on the move Sunday.” Obama-Biden sent over 22,000 troops to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake.

Meanwhile, Biden did a quick flyover of Western NC with Governor Cooper. From a political point of view, that’s terrible optics not putting boots on the ground, based on what’s been going on for almost 30 years. If it was Trump who was president and didn’t appear in person every news outlet would destroy him. Remember how they eviscerated Bush43 after Katrina? However, it was better he just flew over. Getting on the ground would create tons of problems and interfere with aid. Just flying over created problems.