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their commodores and provide their skills and qualifications . It was stressed to the Auxiliary that no member should “ self-deploy .”
Thomas : Auxiliarists being Auxiliarists , they just got to the command post and looked around and said , ‘ Okay , someone needs to help check people in . We need some food here .’ They pitched in there in every way possible .
The focus shifts to Beaumont
As the storm moved back offshore and regained strength , the Coast Guard ’ s focus shifted to the east to the Beaumont , TX ., area .
Thomas : When this storm shifted to Beaumont and dropped 30 inches of rain on Beaumont , the Coast Guard was the first there with our aircraft . We had a forward operating base for aircraft at Southland Airport , but we had no communications with our aircraft , so the Coast Guard Auxiliary mobilized a communications trailer .
The Auxiliary communications team and equipment was critical to the success of the air mission . Cmdr . Tina Pena , who is our commanding officer of the air station in New Orleans , was the task force manager . She utilized that trailer in order to track and task more than 50 aircraft of the Coast Guard and other agencies to execute more than a couple hundred rescues in that area . That was because of the capability that the Auxiliary brought us . In [ the Eighth District ] for example , we had an Auxiliary cell set up ; they were critical in doing our accountability for the Auxiliary but also in helping us understand what the Auxiliary could bring to the fight .
Lessons learned
What has been learned from the Auxiliary response to Harvey and how will that influence operations going forward ?
Thomas : One of the concepts that I think was proven out was this concept of an Auxiliary Incident Management Team , where Auxiliarists who are specially trained and experienced in ICS can deploy to this incident . We used them in Houston to great effect and I think one of the lessons we are going to pursue form this may be formalizing a number of Auxiliary [ Incident Management Teams .]
What did you learn that you will now take forward in your career ?
Thomas : The “ lessons learned ” process is ongoing and will take a number of months , but there are some initial lessons . I will tell you though , having been involved in a number of major incidents in the past , including Katrina , Rita and Deep Water Horizon , and even before those , our nation has improved our ability to respond to these things . And , even in Katrina , our nation responded to that hurricane better than any nation in the world could do . We are just getting better . But there are always key lessons learned .
In the case of Harvey , we saw the 9-1-1 system being overrun . Just so many people making calls for help that the county couldn ’ t handle it , and then , the state couldn ’ t handle it , and eventually , someone told [ the public ] to call the Coast Guard and so the Coast Guard was getting more than a thousand calls per hour . We eventually adjusted to that . We innovated on the fly so that we could track all those calls and respond to them in priority order .
There are a number of other key lessons that have to do with how we flow logistics support . The Commandant established a Deployable Operational Logistics [ DOL ] a number of years ago . That command was incredibly effective . As the operational commander , all I had to do was ask ; I did not have to arrange the logistics and so I think one of the key lessons here is that our DOL has been really effective .
Team Coast Guard was Semper Paratus
The Coast Guard ’ s successful response to Harvey is credited to its adherence to preparedness and teamwork .
Thomas : We had our reserve forces , we had our civilians working overtime and we had our incredible volunteers there , right side-by-side . It was something the Coast Guard , and the nation , to be proud of .
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