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AETC Historians produce inside look into Hurricane Katrina recovery

  • Published
  • By Capt. Gideon McClure
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas. (AETCNS) --  Air Education and Training Command historians here recently finished an in-depth look at Operation Dragon Comeback nearly a year after a devastating natural disaster.

Operation Dragon Comeback is the designator adopted by Keesler Air Force Base personnel to describe the recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005.

The study, "Operation Dragon Comeback: Air Education and Training Command's Response to Hurricane Katrina," by Bruce A. Ashcroft and Joseph L. Mason, AETC staff historians, is more than a historical document. In addition, it is a tool that can provide guidance to future generations of Airmen and Air Force senior leadership in recovery efforts after natural disasters.

When Maj. Gen. Michael C. Gould, 2nd Air Force commander, briefly toured the history office on a visit to Headquarters AETC, he asked for lessons learned in restoring bases stricken by past disasters, but unfortunately none existed that were specific enough in regards to the long-term recovery effort, said Dr. Mason.

"We consequently resolved to write, with the help of the men and women of AETC who directly participated in the hurricane response, a study that might prove more useful to future commanders," Dr. Ashcroft said. "In some ways we hope it comes to be used as a how-to manual."

In order for Drs. Ashcroft and Mason to accomplish this goal, however, they needed to take a unique approach to the process of documenting history.

With the next hurricane season only a year away, the historians began writing and documenting the efforts of Operation Dragon Comeback while it was happening.

"Historical studies about previous hurricanes focused on the drama of the storm but didn't get behind the scenes of the planning, the rebuilding, how decisions were made -- those kinds of nuts and bolts issues. We wanted to document those processes," Dr. Ashcroft said.

Most importantly they recognized the need to be on the front lines and have the opportunity to interview and speak with decision makers about how to proceed with the recovery of Keesler AFB, as well as with those affected.

"Probably the most unique thing about this project was that we had the ability to interview more than 100 people from bases around the command," Dr. Mason said. "We have just about 300 pages of transcribed interviews from people who were on the ground there or directly involved in the operation -- which is relevant because in a crisis situation like this you don't really have a lot of written records because people are making decisions on the fly. Fortunately, we had historians throughout the command that helped arrange and conduct interviews."

The interviews conducted by the history office capture not only the effects of the disaster on those personnel displaced to other bases (as far away as Sheppard AFB at Wichita Falls, Texas,) but also the stories of Operation Dragon Comeback specialists that were deployed to Keesler AFB and its surrounding area to assist with base recovery and humanitarian missions. Among those were medical staffs from Lackland AFB, in San Antonio, and civil engineers from Luke AFB, in Phoenix. A large contingent of base operating support also was deployed from Altus AFB, Okla.

In order to meet their self-imposed deadline of the start of the 2006 hurricane season, the AETC staff historians had to accomplish an incredible amount of research, writing and reviewing of manuscripts in a little less than a year.

"We spent about four months doing research and another three months writing. The rest of the time was coordination and publication," Dr. Mason said.

Making it the history office's focus story of the year, the book made its debut online on July 18 and was distributed as a 228-page book Sept. 22. This was critical for the fact that if another hurricane hit one of the many bases in vulnerable areas in 2006 the study would provide a living document as to what worked and what did not in the recovery process.

One of the significant aspects of Operation Dragon Comeback the historians noticed right away was the Air Force team effort in the recovery. People that were usually behind the scenes became key players. Services, finance and personnel functions all of a sudden became highly visible. This fact did not go unnoticed by senior leadership on the ground, either.

"Everyone felt they had a role to play, that they were responsible to help alleviate the suffering and despair that could be felt, and they worked selflessly to make things better as fast as they could," wrote Gen. William R. Looney, III, AETC commander, in the foreword to the study. "I could not have been more proud of their hard work or more satisfied to be a part of this command."

For the historians documenting the disaster of Hurricane Katrina on Keesler AFB, the opportunity to take part in the study provided a huge sense of satisfaction.

"It was exciting for us to feel like we were bringing something to the fight," Dr. Mason said.