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Task Force Alabama setting up in storm ravaged Mississippi

DefenseLINK:

A private airport here has been converted into a forward operating base from which more than 1,500 soldiers and airmen from the Alabama National Guard are supporting disaster-relief operations for Jackson, George and Greene counties in Mississippi as part of Task Force Alabama.

"We are providing humanitarian assistance, zone recons, and we're providing a presence," the task force's chief of staff, Army National Guard Lt. Col. Nicky Medley, said.

Like many storm victims, task force soldiers are living in austere conditions. Most soldiers are sleeping outdoors, a few in vehicles. Some soldiers also have hurricane-damaged homes, but they are here.

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Ocean Springs, just east of Biloxi, was among several coastal cities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The Alabama Guard descended on the private airport within two days. Today the camp bustles with support personnel.

There are hundreds of vehicles here. Tents and antennas jut skyward from the camp, an unfamiliar tactical sight in this suburban area. Alabama's state surgeon has secured a storefront in a shopping center in nearby Gautier to provide health services and to allow others to donate medical aid.

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In neighborhood streets, massive construction dump trucks ferry tons of relief goods into hard-to-reach areas where survivors depend on the food, water and ice the guardsmen bring them.