Tornado’ tests Guard
By H. DAVID WHITE
tornado swept through Yegua
ate Park, on the southwest inlet of
ke Somerville, at 11:45 Saturday
lling ten people and injuring six
:rs.
ot really. But for about 50 Texas
M students in the Texas State
ard it did happen. And they
nd that because of a lack of
uipment they were somewhat
jrepared for the emergency.
'he Texas State Guard, which in
event of mobilization of the Na
nai Guard would assume that or-
lizations’ responsibility, held its
mal spring exercise for the 203rd
litary Police Battalion. This bat
on is made up of three com-
tiies: A Company from
ntsville, B Company from
nham, and my unit, C Company
nmanded by Lt. Joel White, of
an. These three companies, with
tal strength of 59 enlisted per-
t setstlf is and 18 officers, assembled Sat-
special lay, at the Brenham National
rd Armory. All three companies
spent their last two meetings
Jv. Tils paring for this search and rescue
!*
e jump.
J-only.
y sixties
ds pun!
i with s
d adds
■ guitar,
and rave
Britain’
ou have
y typical
^’ery ear-
have a]
usly ban
ulation.
Ve sat in the armory hearing
we don®, at 11:45 a.m., a tornado and
vy rains swept through the
ue State Park area. The briefing
:er explained that the tornado
hed down in an area of the park
re three trailers, with 15 to 20
pants were located. In addition,
n votelii
th otl
rock
How tie
)le. Tie
withlj [ht plane with six occupants was
hose oil
He sets;
■w York,
■ge of nit
words I
yllable
ly tights
with
two-i
ols
lendousl
p up ®
eitemeot
die
istenedf
eved to have crashed at the
e place. The last message heard
d yelnj n it was a distress call to Easter-
imageit id tower.
arrd’hii he whole exercise was co
il ofEhi inated with the Brenham police.
Department of Public Safety,
Washington County Sheriff's
lartment, a local hospital, the
department and two local ambu-
e companies.
k drove out to the park and
u! Cooli in setting up a command post
This was a small camping tent,
t p U lst ch had been rented for the occa-
uitarwos > because the unit does not get
amid tit ! u ?b funds from the state to buy
hough h ipment.
inpressi': ^ nce the CP was set up, the units
divided into two search
>ups: Sierra One and Sierra Two.
as assigned to Sierra One. We
red in a straight line, with a 10-
cord eve 1 interval between each person,
ist rbckfi 1 the CP toward a wooded area,
we reached dense underbrush,
lines closed in and a big gap de-
iped between the two search
ies. The groups were halted and
make ye Attempt to correct the interval
marching along the shore toward
the east. I took the lead in our col
umn of eight people and after about
five minutes of marching I spotted
red in the grass ahead — we had
found the victims.
The victims, also state
guardsmen, had been pre-picked.
They were lying scattered over
about a 100-foot area, much as
would happen in an actual disaster.
A quick look at the victims, who
had paper tags telling what was
wrong with them, indicated that six
were already dead and three were
injured. Of the injured, one had a
broken leg, another had a head
wound and the third had a mangled
hand and was in shock. I asked my
self how we could treat such injuries
without equipment.
A voice came over the small field
radio we were carrying, compli
ments of the National Guard. Sierra
“I spotted red in the grass
ahead — tve had found
the victims”
Two, the other search team, had
found more victims east of us. They
called in a long list of injuries: “Two
victims with internal injuries, three
fractures and one person in shock.”
A request for first aid supplies
would have been useless since the
unit does not have funds for equip
ment, despite the fact that adminis
tration of first aid in a disaster situa
tion is one of the primary functions
of the State Guard.
We asked that stretchers be
brought forward immediately so
that we could carry the victims back
to the CP. But there were six in
jured victims, four requiring im
mediate attention, and only two
stretchers. The equipment shortage
was becoming more evident by the
moment. But the decision was made
to carry out the victims.
We started to carry the victims
along a small, dusty road, resting
every 100 yards to catch our breath.
After 500 yards, we came within
sight of the CP. There we loaded
the victims on a bus for the trip to
the hospital.
After the trip to the hospital we
headed back to the armory where
the critique of the exercise by a
group of officers from headquarters
in Austin was made. They were un
aware of the acute equipment short
age and their major criticism was
the log of events was not kept by
each company.
They complimented the unit on
its efficiency in accomplishing the
mission. But they made no mention
that the victims would have died
because we didn’t have the equip
ment to give them first aid, and
from the time we lost wandering
through the woods in the wrong di
rection because of no maps or com
passes.
Most of the officers were im
pressed with our actions and agreed
with Lt. Col. Frederick West, one
of the inspectors from Austin, that it
was “one of the most realistic exer
cises I’ve ever seen. It is something
you might actually face and you’ve
done a great job.”
One of the enlisted persons on
the exercise, a student from Texas
A&M said, “It was one of the worst
exercises ever. Sure we might have
to face a situation like this but we ll
be just as unprepared then as we
were today, until Austin either
supplies us with the necessary
equipment or gives us the money to
buy it ourselves.”
Another student added, “It’s a
shame that something as potentially
useful as the guard is unable to do
anything because of a lack of equip
ment.”
Armadillos
A real Armadillo would never bite your ankle
softly padded from head to tail,
inside and out. A real Armadillo
will not hide in your
rloaet/liV -it'll keep
right in step with you
wherever you're off to,
because,..
Areal Armadillo
is made only
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THE BATTALION Page 7
TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 1978
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846-6933
made. Trails were cut through
almost impassable terrain as the
ch was resumed.
ome of the guardsmen had to
d on their hands and knees to
through the thick forest. After
ng only 60 yards into the under-
sh we were lost and separated,
began to think we were going
wrong way. Without a map or a
pass we could not be sure; as it
led out we were going at an
e away from our proposed line
narch.
ventually we reached a clearing
the edge of the lake and began
CB
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MSC
ARTS COMMITTEE presents....
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Great Issues
Presents
Cities
Beneath the
93
IBD«o
new car financing
for graduating seniors
And defer
the first payment
for six months.
Dr. John Craven
Director of Marine Programs
University of Hawaii
Wednesday April 19
8:00 p.m.
Students FREE
Others $1.00
Pick out the car you want, drive it this semester, then begin
your payments after you go to work. The Bank of A&M
can put you in a new set of wheels today. Terms include
100 per cent financing (including insurance); deferment
of the first payment up to six months; loan repayment
extended up to 48 months (including the deferred
payment period); and credit life insurance.
Bring your job commitment letter or your application
for active duty month. We can work out a repayment
program that fits your circumstances.
Personal banking department, see Mike Laughlin ’65 or
David Lavergne ’74. Worldwide banking department see
Lt. Col. Glynn Jones (USAF-Ret.) ’43 or Col. Bob Elkins
(USAF-Ret.) ’51.
rnember/fdic
The BANK of A&M
A/o bank /s closer to Texas A&M or its students
111 E. University Drive 846-5721