The recently-promoted top officer of Illinois' National Guard says he'll incorporate lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. A decade ago, Katrina hit. Major General Richard Hayes Jr. went to New Orleans.
"I never understood what a disaster meant until I took the 500 soldiers and airmen with me."
Go for a half an hour north to south, or east to west ...
"and in every direction you drove, everything was destroyed. Completely destroyed."
Hayes, who was appointed Illinois National Guard's commanding officer in late May, says he learned then that you can't wait until a disaster has happened to plan for it.
"Worked for years here in the Illinois national guard, as well as the rest of the Dept. of Defense has, in developing plans that look at: What is our worst of days? Visualizing those, understanding the problems, and then having plans to be prepared against those."
The Guard will test those plans this week during a simulated response to a 7.7 magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid Fault in southern Illinois .
Hayes spoke with reporters following a ceremony at Camp Lincoln in Springfield today with the governor. He was pinned with a second star, as he was promoted from Adjutant General to Major General.
