Slate - I always wondered why with Katrina especially we did not have a helicopter carrier set out from Norfolk or whereever their based on the east coast and ready to get to the spot a big one lands in the gulf. copters are amazing things when there is disaster recovery. We took the jets off of the Lincoln (admittedly a lot bigger than an assault ship) when we sent it to Sumatra for disaster aid. I would have thought we would have been quicker to deploy the Navy.
Along these lines, is the 82d or the 101st in the states now?