Jun 29, 2006 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Army, Guardsmen From L.I. On The Move Upstate
Experts In Air & Sea Rescue, Troops Ready For Long Haul
by Jennifer McLogan
ISLIP (CBS) ―
The rescue helicopters at MacArthur Airport, filled with supplies, ladders, ropes, inflatable rafts, medicine and tents, prepared for lift off on Thursday.
Crews of U.S. Army and Air National Guard from Long Island were heading into upstate New York communities, just like those is New Jersey and Pennsylvania, submerged by days of relentless rain.
"We will be hoisting people off roofs, moving our people and materials to sites in need," Col. Michael Canders of the 106 Air Rescue Wing said. "And the video we've seen from local fire departments outside Utica and in nearby Binghamton shows dramatically the extensive damage. A restaurant floating away. Citizens in danger."
WCBSTV.com Special Report On Upstate N.Y., N.J. and Pennsylvania FloodingCanders said the desire to help out is in their blood. They've already been dispatched from their Westhampton base for Iraq, Afghanistan and the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast, where the highly skilled para-jumpers repelled into dangerous waters to save lives.
"There is a lot of water up there, and that is what we excel at -- water and air rescue," Canders said. "We use fast ropes, and our people are trained for this. We are professional."
Long Islanders offered their appreciation.
"I'm 90 years old, but I wish I was able to do something like those guardsmen," Phyllis Aragona said.
Added Kimberly Finch: "It's like 9-11, or Oklahoma, people just coming together to immediately help out. I wish that had happened in New Orleans."
Dispatched to the danger zones, the airmen and women have volunteered to stay until the job is done.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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