August 31, 2005

Camp Shelby, a National Guard training base, has become a command and control center for the Pentagon’s operation on the hurricane-devastated Mississippi Gulf Coast.

About 100 soldiers from Fort Gillem, Ga., arrived at the camp Tuesday night to set up a communications center that will be used to search the United States for military units that can help in search-and-rescue missions and other relief functions, said Col. Richard Steele, Army spokesman.

“We’ll process the requests and get the assets,” he said.

The Pentagon is one of more than a dozen agencies helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency respond to Hurricane Katrina’s destructive force.

As part of Joint Task Force Katrina, the Pentagon also has sent a floating hospital ship to the New Orleans area and two ships filled with water and supplies to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Story Copyright to Hattiesburg American