unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/02/89)
DOD NEWS BRIEFING BY MR. PETE WILLIAMS, ASD/PA
Posting Date: 09/30/89
UNITEX Network, USA ISSN: 1043-7932
THURSDAY, Sept 28, 1989
Mr. Pete Williams, ASD/Public Affairs
I'd like to welcome Steve Aubin and a group of students from the
Boston University Center for Defense Journalism to our Pentagon
Briefing Room today. I look forward to meeting with them this
afternoon so they can set me straight as well.
A couple of announcements for you. Let me go through in some
detail of where we stand in terms of our relief efforts after
hurricane Hugo. I want to bring you up to date on what's
happened in the following week. We have pre- pared an extensive
breakdown for you that will be available here after the bri ing
is over that indicates -- right down to the last forklift and
generator -- precisely what we have supplied and where. So this
will be available to you. It goes into considerable detail about
personnel and equipment that's been provided to those areas that
have been so devastated by the hurricane. Let me just summarize
them for you. I will go by the area into which relief has been
sent.
In Puerto Rico, over 2,700 National Guardsmen have been called to
active duty to assist in the cleanup and restoration duties. We
have provided portable generators and electric power repair
assistance and we continue to provide one of the primary sources
of fresh water with portable processing units and Navy shipboard
systems. Navy and Marine Corps are providing advisor air
traffic control assistance. The Air Force continues to provide
airlift for massive amounts of relief supplies and equipment.
Navy Seabees are aiding in debris removal, road repair and power
restoration.
In the Virgin Islands, our deployed military police continue to
assist local and federal law enforcement officers in preserving
law and order with patrols. No significant law enforcement
problems have been reported since they arrived. The MPs are
providing security for three food warehouses and 24 newly
established food distribution points on St. Croix. The 40-bed
hospital, which was set up by the 109th Evacuation Hospital of
the Alabama National Guard, is capable of full patient care.
Task Force 140 medical teams are supporting local clinics and an
ambulance crew from the 429th Medical Company even delivered a
baby on September 25th. Army portable water processors and Navy
ships also provide potable water, while Navy Seabees are
repairing transportation and communication facilities. In all,
in the Virgin Islands, we have about 1,309 active military
forces and about 400 National Guard.
In South Carolina, operations are focusing on removing debris,
opening roads, waterways and rail lines and other lines of
communication, ferry opera- tions, and restoring power lines.
The total support in South Carolina involve some 1,400 Army
troops, 3,250 National Guard, 495 Marines, and 600 Navy
Seabees. Naval Base Charleston is providing medical teams to
local area shelters to assist in basic medical treatment and to
provide urgently needed medical supplies, as well as MEDEVAC
transportation when that is necessary. T support is part of
established medical support with local communities. Twenty-two
civilian nursing home patients remain hospitalized at Naval
Hospita Charleston.
Additionally, there are about 600 National Guardsmen helping out
in the State of North Carolina. In all, DoD is providing over
2,500 federal troops to South Carolina, in addition to almost
4,000 North and South Carolina Guards
Not counted in all these totals are the several instances of
local command and installation assistance to their own
respective communities.
So we have all the details for you all broken down, but I wanted
to kind of summarize where we stand on that.
In terms of Colombia, we haven't talked about this for a while,
so I thought I would just review the status of the President's
emergency aid delivery of supplies to Colombia for their
counter-narcotics mission.
So far we have provided about $16 million worth of this
assistance, that includes shipping charges and emergency aid to
Colombia military and civil authorities. Twenty-one people are
currently in country as part of the Presi- dent's program.
There's been a total of seven cargo airlifts to Colombia; more
obviously are to be determined. DDI has for you the precise
breakdown of equipment, which is a cumulative report, but I will
run through it very quickl
For the police: (this is cumulative since the program began)
five UH-1 helicopters; small arms with ammunition; machine guns
with ammunition; grenad launchers with ammunition; Claymore
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